Atlanta Vampire Alliance [AVA]

[Merticus]

Camille
House Member

Joined: 10 Aug 2004
Posts: 580

PostPosted: Mon Sep 25, 2006 3:47 am Post subject: VEWRS and AVEWRS Reply with quote
The Vampirism and Energy Work Research Survey (VEWRS) and the Advanced Vampirism Research Survey (AVEWRS) are two fairly massive surveys each put out by the Atlanta Vampire Association. They’re an attempt to collect some serious data on the community.

The site for the surveys is at: http://www.vampiresurvey.com/

The surveys are massive. The VEWRS has 379 questions, while the AVEWRS (meant to be answered only after the VEWRS) has 609 (plus basic demographics to connect the two surveys).

To date the VEWRS has had about 171 returned and the AVEWRS about 20. The minimum threshold for usability of the study is 250 and 150 respectably.

Obviously, this was a fairly ambitious project. Over a thousand dollars have gone into the printing and development costs alone.

Now there have been several concerns regarding the studies and various questions. I’d like to start up a dialogue about the study. This topic will be a place to express views about the study and have questions answered. To start, I’d like to ask a few of my own:

1. Do you feel the study was too ambitious?

2. Do you feel that the length of the study acts as a sort of filter which limits the types of people who are likely to respond?

3. How is the data from the study eventually going to be released (in what format, etc) (for the AVA people)

4. If you could do it over, what would you change about the effort? (To the AVA people)

5. Do you feel studies like this are good for the community? Why or why not? (To Everybody)


I’m just seriously curious here to get people’s views.

~Camille
_________________
"We’ve talked on aim, and email, though half the time I think she’s doing an anthropological study on me Smile.. " - Lono


Daesang
Veteran

Joined: 30 Dec 2005
Posts: 181

PostPosted: Mon Sep 25, 2006 2:50 pm Post subject: Reply with quote
I thought I'd give some initial thoughts about this before doing the surveys themselves ... and a more extensive review will probably follow afterwards. Not sure how useful my results will be though since I'm not really a vampire.

On first sight I do think this study looks a bit too ambitious. almost 400 questions is a lot, a lot to answer which can have negative effects on the quality of the answers later on .. but especially a whole lot to score and process in order to get results from it. It's also very clear that only 20 people of the 171 answerred the longer secondary survey.

Studies like this can be very good for the community .. or very bad, that all depends on the manner of profesialism which is used to give meaning to the data. It's very easy to misinterpret or even 'deform' the data (or layout) given by these surveys on purpose to prove what you want to prove. I think it's a great initiative but I can't say anything about it really until we know what their conclusions are and how they exactly came to those conclusions.

*goes to take the survey now*

I've filled in the survey up to the part where it deals mainly with vampiric experiences, groups and beliefs.

A first remark ... they do speak of remaining neutral and unbiased but to be honest I don't find that the introduction comes over as neutral at all. I suspect that their intentions are far from neutral as well since they are a part, most likely a very active one, of the community they research. Let alone the name itself and the subjects they target. I personally have difficulty accepting the neutrality of the project.

As a general conclusion I think that this survey can be somewhat interesting in terms of checking the variety of the targeted population, which is most likely rather limited. However I don't quite see its use beyond giving an overview of the vampire population they managed to reach.

The whole is too general and still pretty biased to draw any useful conclusions if you ask me however. The only parts I really find interesting and worth reading are the ones about the demography as well as the ones about the physical and mental health of the vampire community members.[/quote]

Richard
Veteran

Joined: 12 Apr 2006
Posts: 678

PostPosted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 2:51 am Post subject: Reply with quote
Isn't the basic problem with voluntary surveys is that the data doesn't give an accurate representation of the community as whole, because only those people with access to the survey and a desire to complete them will do so?

I'm up to question 400 and I've already noticed that the survey is very misleading; no I don't get chronic headaches, though when I do feeding and energy work often helps... where's the little box for that?

Wouldn't it be easier to just have "if no go to question 390 so that you don't have to read questions that arn't applicable, and click not applicable because of this?"

Now I'm at question 418 and I've noticed that these questions are very relative; 405 asks if certain foods give me abnormally excessive energy, though is whats this reletive to? Other foods? Deep feeding? It's very rare that I would use the term "abnormally excessive energy" for myself (but then I'm very greedy and too much is barely enough).

434 "Do you relate you meditation practices to your personal Vampirism?"
I relate everything to my personal Vampirism.

I have better things to do with my energy than answer a survey that doesn't take that into account.

Surrender
Regular

Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Posts: 83
Location: Reno

PostPosted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 11:46 am Post subject: Reply with quote
Just spotted this topic, and thought I'd answer, since I filled out the survey.

1. Do you feel the study was too ambitious?

Too ambitious? Nah. It was ambitious, but not overly so. I don't know what the information is going to be used for, but as a survey, it was remarkably broad; the people hosting it obviously did their homework.

2. Do you feel that the length of the study acts as a sort of filter which limits the types of people who are likely to respond?

Yes. The size of the test, and the types of questions, are quite daunting at first glance. It was a little startling to have a big fat packet of paper dropped into my lap, to the words: "This is the FIRST part of the test, there's more later."

I think it's all to the good, though: the people filling out the test do seem to take themselves and the study seriously; it's not short enough to get the sorts of silly answers one might expect from this kind of study.

3. How is the data from the study eventually going to be released (in what format, etc) (for the AVA people)

You know, I'd really like the answer to this one too...

5. Do you feel studies like this are good for the community? Why or why not? (To Everybody)

Yes, I definitely think that a reality check like this test is a good thing for the community. I also think that keeping count of how many serious vamps there are, without taking any names or addresses or contact information, can be very helpful to improving our status as a demographic out there. The vampire subculture is often overlooked, and we're simply becoming too numerous to do so anymore.

Things like this test, used effectively, help ease the rest of the world into a gentle understanding of a 'new' subculture's presence, and lessens some of the shock people might get from our 'sudden' appearance.

Personally, I thought the survey test was very interesting. A tad tedious, but most tests are.

As far as whether the test would be 'easier' if they made the kinds of spot changes Richard was discussing, I'd have to say I disagree. The point of the survey wasn't to be easy, it was to be as thorough and all-embracing as is possible in our community. However, I'm sure they'd enjoy any criticisms we might have, so perhaps we could take those kinds of suggestions to them, for version 2.0 of the survey, should they decide to do it.
_________________
Love and Power, Beauty and Pride in all things.

Daesang
Veteran

Joined: 30 Dec 2005
Posts: 181

PostPosted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 2:34 pm Post subject: Reply with quote
That is the main question I have about the survey ... what is the point of it? (a serious question to someone who co-operated on it, mind you ... not a sarcastic way of saying it has no point Razz )

It is definitely an interesting study and I admire the people who put so much work and money into this survey. They definitely made a huge effort to be as professional as possible and did a good job. However, this could be me because I work in a scientific setting, the most important thing of any study/experiment is lacking here. A clear goal, a hypothesis or question they wish to research.

This gives me the impression that it is a survey to gather some interesting general data but with questionable representability towards the general vampiric subculture, for the reason Richard mentioned basically. This gives it a very limited use in my eyes ... unless they used these surveys to scan their target population and will use these results to look for oddities, which they can then create more specific studies for. Those would become particularly interesting but that also means this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Whether the selection that happens because of the length of the survey is good or bad ... I can imagine both cases happening. I can imagine that it scares the not-serious people off but at the same time I can imagine that it scares serious vampires with not that much time off as well. I can also still imagine that there are non-serious ones that have too much time on their hands and still fill the survey in.

Either way it is a factor that influences your responces and those factors should be avoided, if possible, in general studies like this. I do think they could have left out quite some questions .. for example the otherkin ones. While I found it fun to see that they had some questions about that, since I'm more familiar with the otherkin community than the vampiric community, I don't see why they just couldn't ask one question: Do you believe in otherkin? It'll give them just as much useful information as the whole package of otherkin related questions. Keep the detailed questions for a follow-up and focus on one part only then so that you can get more detailed data on one topic.

Surrender
Regular

Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Posts: 83
Location: Reno

PostPosted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 8:15 pm Post subject: Reply with quote
Well, my personal criticism of the test was a bit different. I don't see any reason for any of the otherkin questions, except for one thing: a number of vampires identify with the otherkin community as otherkin, meaning that their vampirism is because they are otherkin.

I don't buy it, but I admit I don't know everything, so I just take the idea with a grain of salt.

But I do have to say this: belief isn't crucial to my vampirism. I'm fairly skeptical about things. The 'woogy' stuff I accept as reality are the things I've experienced personally, in a repeatable circumstance, with repeatable and verifiable results, so they're not as woogy.

So, a question like 'do you believe in otherkin' would be a problem for me. No I don't. I've met them, so I don't have to believe in them; I've seen the difference in them, long before they've identified themselves to me as 'otherkin.'

So, that would be a moot question for me.

But, I see your point. They did kind of wax eloquent about the whole otherkin thing in my opinion as well.
_________________
Love and Power, Beauty and Pride in all things.


Merticus
PostPosted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 7:15 pm

I'm limited on the time I have at the moment to fully answer these posts, however, I will attempt to clarify both the intentions, scope, and specifics regarding the survey on a point by point basis.

Current Response Statistics:

VEWRS Average Age Of Respondent: 28 (1978)
VEWRS Male To Female Ratio: 37% M :: 63% F
175 Responses Since March 22, 2006

AVEWRS Average Age Of Respondent: 29 (1977)
AVEWRS Male To Female Ratio: 14% M :: 86% F
22 Responses Since August 1, 2006

In addition to the stats that are publicly available on www.vampiresurvey.com we maintain detailed records of the demographics, geographical locations, and path/belief leanings, etc. for respondents. We maintain regular contact with a variety of "elders" and assorted individuals within the Community answering questions such as these on an almost daily basis. The surveys are not just thrown out into the Community for anyone to answer. We posted, e-mailed, and sought out specific venues both online and offline for the distribution of this survey. On or about October 15th we will implement a secondary phase of direct contact and an in-depth explanation campaign for the surveys based on the conversations, questions, concerns, and experiences we have encountered thus far. There is a methodical process we employ behind the scenes to ensure we are reaching or providing the opportunity for response by a large cross-section of this Community and such will become apparent at the cessation of our research. To safeguard the purity and purpose behind this study we sometimes have to sacrifice saying what we want to regarding how the data will be handled and fully realize that sometimes this decision is at the peril of not receiving support from others in the form of a “completed survey”. We will obtain the threshold needed for analysis for both surveys during the course of the next 90+ days. If the general Community were able to read through the stacks of surveys we have received back to date, I’m confident they would be pleased at the quality of responses and the write-in’s addressing many of the same questions or concerns raised here. Such will be taken into account in our analysis as this is a dynamic study.

Initial Questions From Camille:

1. No. Now will I still hold this position when I'm half blind and cursing myself for insisting on such a comprehensive body of questions... check back next year :)

2. It could be argued as such. While we recognize that the length and scope may have an adverse affect on those we wish to be answering, we personally are able to conclude half-way through this study that it has seriously discouraged lifestyler/roleplaying individuals from participation. If that means we have one less survey to read through where the respondent makes claims of being 1,000 years old and not capable of walking in sunlight then I consider such a success.

3. Basic demographics etc. will be released to the Community in online form. We are intending for the correlated data, findings, and detailed conclusions to be released in published form. The process of properly correlating the data for both of these surveys will likely extend until the end of 2007. We will not release half-analyzed data nor rush to meet an arbitrary deadline at the sacrifice of the quality of our work.

4. Allow us time to answer this question at the cessation of the study. Likely there would have been combinations of various surveys released at one time with narrow focuses, however, I could argue why we did not go that route also. We literally have a two foot stack of revisions, edits, and corrections made on these surveys. While many will argue "oh we shouldn't have asked that, or forgot this, or phrased this right or wrong" - let me assure you there are explanations behind 98% of some of the things that "stand out" or that one considers "out of place". Many relate to red-flags and multiple cross-questioning that we are intentionally looking at in responses to determine both the validity and sincerity of claims made.

5. Yes, otherwise we would not have invested literally months of our time into the development of such. If anything they raise questions for both the Community and the individual. We have received countless e-mails to the effect of: "While I don't agree with everything outlined in your surveys, they allowed me to realize things about myself I never did before..."

Other Topics To Address:

Neutrality: The VEWRS and AVEWRS are neutral in the sense of the paths, beliefs, and ideas held by the Community. Careful attention was given to the terminology, presentation of multiple viewpoints, and provisions for both sanguine, psi, and other forms of vampirism. They are not neutral in the sense outlined in our Purpose statement of highlighting that vampirism is an evil, immoral, and a dangerous practice. Furthermore the individuals who drafted these surveys hold no agenda or political viewpoints within the Community. Questions were contributed from persons of virtually all paths and beliefs and we have endeavored to downplay the House [AVA] involvement as such is irrelevant. Our House is a neutral, non-affiliated, non-ritualistic, non-singular path entity comprised of members of an average age of 33-35 with similar socio-economic and educational backgrounds and a cumulative community involvement of over 70+ years. In summary, the surveys are neutral to the standpoint of our Community, however, not neutral in the sense that we are independent researchers from outside of the Community. Such was never stated nor do we hold such viewpoint.

Breadth: These surveys could have easily topped 1500+ questions... statistically for every two questions we kept one was tossed. This study simply attempts to lay the foundation for future researchers to expand into more in-depth lines of questioning - a roadmap for others to follow. In order for detailed anthropological, psychological, or phenomenological research to be properly conducted on a community a foundation must first be established. Forums come and go and accounts of individual’s experiences are spread far and wide. In order to be able to firmly grasp the overall scope of such data there needs to be an exploration into the shared commonalities, differences, and developing trends in a concise and centralized format.

"I'm up to question 400 and I've already noticed that the survey is very misleading; no I don't get chronic headaches, though when I do feeding and energy work often helps... where's the little box for that?"

398. Do you experience frequent headaches such as migraines, tension, sinus, etc.?
(Check All That Apply)

Yes - Migraine (Severe Neural Vascular - Long Lasting & Multiple Types)
Yes - Tension (Stress, Tension, Depression, Physical Or Psychological Triggers)
Yes - Sinus (Inflamed Or Blocked Sinuses - Pressure On Nose Bridge/Cheek/Forehead Bones)
Yes - Cluster (Multiple Occurring Intense Headache Throughout 24 Hour Period)
Yes - Hormone (Female - Menstrual Or Hormonal Related)
Yes - Organic (Abnormality In Brain Or Skull)
No

399. If you suffer from frequent headaches do you feel that they are sometimes caused from a lack of vampiric feeding?

Yes
No
Not Applicable

Healing and/or alleviation of pain through energy techniques (vampiric feeding or otherwise) is discussed in section 2 of the AVEWRS. The questions regarding headaches in section one are not meant to be misleading, they are simply outside the scope of study in that particular section. We limited our scope of certain questions to expand on them in previous and/or later sections of the survey. We could not reasonably provide a free response section for each and every question asked nor would such adhere to any standard of acceptable survey question format. It is important to read each question, even if not applicable, for two reasons: First, there are several unique instances that apply to some but not the other and utilizing the "skip to question" approach would seriously skew the results if later a question in another section relating to such was answered in the affirmative. Secondly, requiring there to be a response on each question allows the researcher to determine the pattern of answering (to some "No" means "Not Applicable" and to others "Not Applicable" means "No") and to highlight any contradictions in answering - intentional or otherwise (ie: 1.] Do you own any pets? A: No 2.] What type of pet do you own? A: Dog; By default these questions would have to be excluded from analysis as true intent can't be determined)

In Re: 405; since the question is concerning food, it would be interpreted to be "abnormally excessive energy" in relation to your own personal baseline of food consumption and subsequent energy obtained. The word "abnormally" is used to distinguish excess energy the general populace would not obtain from the same level from typical consumption. For example: Most would agree 5 cups of coffee containing an average of 300 mg of caffeine each would give one a excessive energy boost (or a headache) but for one to claim "I had a glass of milk or a piece of rye bread" and felt the same effect as I would from 5 cups of coffee is an entirely more intriguing prospect altogether. Such is clearly evident as the question goes on to ask the respondent to indicate the types of food.

405. Do you find that certain foods give you abnormally excessive amounts of energy?

Yes
No

If yes, which foods: _________________________________________________________________________

Re: 434; "Do you relate you meditation practices to your personal vampirism?" - the question is asking if you draw parallels between your meditation practices and your personal vampirism, it has NOTHING to do with relating EVERYTHING in your life to your personal vampirism. The question has a specific purpose, intent, precedent, and covers a precise topic. If you wish to answer how you relate your personal vampirism to “everything” in your life refer to the following questions:

542. From the viewpoint of your own personal vampirism, how would you describe the scope and strength of the relationship with your family, friends, and co-workers?

545. What mundane, business, or personal decisions arise based on standards, priorities, or values directly pertaining to your personal vampirism?

915. Describe the particular elements, their functions, and symbolism of the ancient or modern spiritual beliefs that you choose to incorporate into your personal vampirism.

In addition, approximately 5-7 more questions deal specifically with defining how your personal vampirism ties in with your everyday life.

Re: "The point of the survey wasn't to be easy, it was to be as thorough and all-embracing as is possible in our community. However, I'm sure they'd enjoy any criticisms we might have, so perhaps we could take those kinds of suggestions to them, for version 2.0 of the survey, should they decide to do it."

I couldn't add more to what has already been said here regarding the scope of the surveys. We very much appreciate all constructive criticisms regarding these surveys as they will be integral to both our analysis and our conclusions when that time comes. We remain available at all times to answer questions regarding these surveys and will strive to clarify anything one may be unclear about. Do not attempt to dissect the surveys question by question because they are not designed to function or be interpreted on that level - we realize for some this may be difficult to grasp but the "big picture" needs to be taken into account.

Re: "unless they used these surveys to scan their target population and will use these results to look for oddities"

Such is exactly one of the primary purposes of this research - to examine the aberrant data and conveyed experiences of others that will become apparent as the correlation process ensues. As stated above, future research endeavors will come about as a result of this research; whether they are conducted by us or others. The "package" of otherkin questions refers mainly to section 5 of the AVEWRS and is important to establish relationships of vampires with the otherkin community; especially since a large portion of vampires also identify themselves as "otherkin". By the numbers, less than 1% of the entire survey question body even mentions the word "otherkin" and the primary questions to encompass a correlation of vampires with otherkin are found in the VEWRS:

170. Do you acknowledge the existence of Otherkin?

171. If yes, which types of Otherkin and other various subclasses do you believe exist?

172. Which types of Otherkin do you consider yourself to be?

and in the AVEWRS...

982. If you acknowledge yourself as being Otherkin describe your personal experiences and characteristics in the following areas: (Note: Please Check “Vampire” If Applicable)

I. Awakening & Awareness
II. Physical, Mental, & Psychic Traits
III. Requirements & Weaknesses
IV. Community Social Structure
V. Distinction: Spiritual Or Metaphysical?

Bottom line... this research is being conducted by the Community for the Community. Personally I would rather avoid "outside" researchers attempting to propose such a study at this point in time as the basic core questions regarding demographics, genetics, beliefs, and Community have not been addressed - hopefully this will change perceptions in the outside or mundane community as well as increase the knowledge and understanding of our own Community. Such is the hypothesis, stated purpose, and intent of these surveys - increasing knowledge and awareness across a broad field of study while seeking to provide qualitative evidentiary claims that vampirism and those who identify with such operate in stark contrast to the common misinterpretations and negative rhetorical attitudes held by the general public.

- Merticus

House [AVA] Founding Member
www.atlantavampirealliance.com
www.merticus.com

[Merticus]

Surrender
Regular

Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Posts: 84
Location: Reno

Thanks, Merticus! I think that answered all my questions pretty well!

*grins*

Eclecta
Newbie

Joined: 07 Nov 2005
Posts: 36
Location: Atlanta, GA

Sorry it has taken me so long to get back over here to this..

1. Do you feel the study was too ambitious?
Too ambitious? No way. There are so many things that were cut out of the surveys because they were getting way to long. But in some way, every question on both of the surveys is there for a reason, but we do realize that our reasoning for asking certain questions isn't obvious, and that throws some ppl. We are hoping that everyone will take the time to fill it out so that we can show the relevence of every question after we complete the data analysis.

2. Do you feel that the length of the study acts as a sort of filter which limits the types of people who are likely to respond? Indeed it does act as a filter. In fact, some of us from AVA took quite a while to get our own surveys turned in. But the fact of the matter is that we are looking for quality over quantity in responses to the surveys. Personally I feel like those who take the time to answer in detail are precisely the ones whose voices I want to hear while we are doing the data compilation. So, that being I do realize that if it was shorter we could get more responses, but then the surveys would be missing so much.

3. How is the data from the study eventually going to be released (in what format, etc) (for the AVA people) We want to make all the knowledge available for anyone who wants it. But it is going to take some time, and we need to have a good amount of responses before we can even begin to answer that question.

4. If you could do it over, what would you change about the effort? (To the AVA people) I suppose I would have nothing I could complain about needing to change. After all the editing and meetings we had going over and over and over this survey prior to its release, I can't say that there's anything I feel like we should change, unless of course you mean with the knowledge we have about its reception, etc after the fact.. but that's a diff question, I suppose.

5. Do you feel studies like this are good for the community? Why or why not? (To Everybody) I think it is important for us as a whole community to be heard as well as understood so that we can discourage those who don't know or understand us from labeling and blaming all of us for the faults of someone whom they beleive to be part of us when in fact they aren't. Well that's justone reason.. there are more, but you get the point.

Gesigewigus
Regular

Joined: 16 Aug 2004
Posts: 75
Location: Toronto

1. Do you feel the study was too ambitious?

I don't know, just because something hasn't been done on such a scale doesn't make it too ambitious, but as a whole it was ambitious. Yeah, a circular answer.

2. Do you feel that the length of the study acts as a sort of filter which limits the types of people who are likely to respond?

Definitely, I felt I should do it, as I did the first one, but it took me a couple of hours to work through. I'm currently between jobs, but if I had found it when I was still working, I don't think I'd have gotten through it, I wouldn't have had the time. Not just time, dedication for other people would be an issue, the willingness to answer so many questions.

5. Do you feel studies like this are good for the community? Why or why not? (To Everybody)

I do, I think it gives people a chance to really voice their views, rather than people gathering views from what people are saying on forums or at gathers, this allows for more discussion.

My only real problem with the survey, was not every answer had a neutral option, when it was asking good/bad positive/negative, some did, but a lot didn't, so I had to decide what I thought was closer, for something I didn't think was good or bad, but just was.

Merticus
Newbie

Joined: 04 Mar 2006
Posts: 11
Location: Atlanta, GA

A specific set of standardized questioning formats were utilized in the drafting of these surveys. In some instances the conceptual complexity of combining "strength" of feelings and agreement in one set of options (pro and con) outweighed the occasionally used provision of a middle or neutral category. Since many questions deal with subjective subject matter we ask "completely" and "generally" agree or disagree statements or universal sliding scales. Depending on the specific topic we made a determination within the sections whether to include a "No opinion", "I'm not sure", or "Neutral" option based on the desirability of forcing the respondent to make a thoughtful decision. There are many downsides to providing neutral or middle ground categories in research surveys such as these. The places where we did exercise such warranted them or adhered to a specific purpose or goal in mind. See citation below:

"Many researchers offer a middle category. A category like that will appeal to some respondents, but it probably does not hurt to make respondents commit themselves. Moreover, that middle category becomes a haven for those people who lack the information needed to have an opinion about a question. Those people are different from ambivalent informed people. They should be identified separately, with a screening question, and they should not be placed in a middle category between those who agree and those who disagree." - Fowler, Jr., 1995 & Schuman & Presser, 1981.

- Merticus

[Merticus]

Camille
House Member

I agree from the perspective of an emotional being that I’d rather only fairly sane people complete the survey – it makes us look better. That said is it actually correct to do it that way? Does it not skew the results in such a way as to lower the value of the survey?

You say you’re going for quality over quantity in survey responses, yet there’s also a minimum threshold for viability. How sure are you guys of meeting that threshold? What will you do if you don’t?

I’m definitely not questioning the time and effort involved in putting the survey together. The implementation was fairly good – though I do agree with some posters here that in a few cases there was no clear way to answer some of the multiple-choice questions which in some ways will end up with some odd responses. I know there were a few places where I personally had trouble finding answers which were actually correct both in technicality and in intent – but that’s pretty much inevitable with a study like this.

~Camille


Merticus
Newbie

The choice of the individual presented with the surveys whether to complete them based on either the factors of time, knowledge, experience, or other extenuating circumstances are neither the responsibility of the researcher nor affect the spirit of this particular study. As a point of clarification it needs to be stated that the two surveys constitute a study of the vampire community, not a statistical overview crouched in pure quantitative measurement. The overall study does not require a specific numerical tabulation of data, a comprehensive cross-sectional exploration of viewpoints, or concessions made to those who do not grasp either the concepts or applications presented in the surveys. These standards and thresholds of "viability" are ones we have chosen to strive to attain to ensure a diversity of opinions and case study examinations that speak to the qualitative aspects of these surveys; whereas the core number of responses will adequately provide us with representative demographic data. We are on track to attain "quantitative viability" (in numbers) to satisfy these demographic or background conditions and what many fail to realize is that we have already satisfied the conditions we set forth in the purpose of this study. If only 10 persons had taken the time to present us with insightful, intellectual, and meaningful dissertations of their lives as a vampire then this study was a success. Having received over 202 surveys back with over 90 days left in this study "qualitative validity" will not be an issue even if we only obtained a hypothetical 200 for the VEWRS or 75 for the AVEWRS. The importance and measure of the usefulness of this study will be in the form of the analysis and conclusions drawn from correlated vampiric related data, not from how many vampires have brown eyes and live in Idaho.


Richard
Veteran

Just trying to read between the lines of the last post, though my eyes are a bit blurry from the information overload...

Are you saying that you believe you will get an accurate understanding of the entire Vampire community and its diversity through the presentation of a survey where only a specific type of Vampire, those that believe filling out such a survey is best use of their limited resources, will complete it?

Are you also saying that it's not the responsibility of the researcher to create a survey that will influence a broader range of individuals to believe that filling it out is the best use of their limited resources?

Are you also saying that in getting 10 revealing responses, than your study of the Vampire community will be a success, because this will make for a better use of your limited resources?

Forgive my ignorance, but I was one of those people who fell asleep in the statistics lecture and was only taking it to complete a finance/business degree.


Richard
Veteran

LMAO... I think I just worked out why I could never stay awake in the statistics lectures; ambient energy!


Merticus
Newbie

Reading between the lines is exactly what must be done at this stage... technically aspects of this are being debated or revealed in reverse without respect to the process. The respondent typically is never presented with this level of detail regarding procedural and pre-analysis methodology as it really "could" skew the results. But seeing as the questions are being raised we're doing our best to address them while trying to walk that fine line.

Absolutely not. This research is only as comprehensive as the persons whom choose to complete the surveys. For this reason we are carefully tracking the attitudes, path beliefs, experiences, etc. of respondents to check against what we already generally know to be representative in this Community. This study is very uncharacteristic of most "research" studies as the researchers are also the respondents / participants and maintain intimate or detailed knowledge of the Community and condition they are researching. This being said, we are fully aware of the need to avoid bias and gather responses (no matter the numbers) that at least put forth all the major attitudes expressed through the years. We addressed much of this in the following series of posts located in summary on our local forum.

http://www.atlantavampirealliance.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=7

No, we are implying that these surveys represented our best attempt at the time and what could be argued as the best attempt to date to provide a vehicle for mass gathering of pertinent data on vampirism. Great strives were taken to provide the respondent with the opportunity to express their belief system, range of past and present experiences, philosophical or spiritual ideals, and interactions with the Community itself. Virtually all major paths, Houses, beliefs, theories, and prevalent ideas are discussed in these surveys. The unique distribution of the surveys (the hundreds of e-mails that aren't public knowledge, the phone calls, the in-person travels to gatherings, etc.) directly to persons of *diverse* ideologies, the posting to major vampirism related boards, groups, etc. all help to "influence a broader range of individuals".

No, two components of this study need to be understood before going any further and we concede a background in research methodology is helpful to the onlooker; and as Camille stated understanding the complexities and inevitabilities of encountering "gray areas" during research such as this is important to take into account. We are using a mixed methodology in this research... while aspects of these surveys lend themselves to statistical analysis (Demo, Medical, Cultural, etc.) the VAST majority of these questions are qualitative or cover subjective subject matter that can't be analyzed pro rata or by charts and graphs. Aside from the fact this is a mute point since obviously we have received more than 10 responses, (the majority of which are actually revealing) the fact that individuals are discussing and examining the vampiric condition in detail for themselves, the universal application or unity we have witnessed within the Community from StrigoiVii to Kheprian to Independents taking the time to complete these surveys, and the groundwork that is being laid for future researchers and more in-depth examinations is a success unto itself. The analysis and conclusions drawn from each question and the series of related questions will occupy pages upon pages *each* of paragraphical commentary, background, citation, and conclusions; not just fancy charts, graphs, and tables.

[Merticus]

zeroATL
Newbie

Joined: 15 May 2006
Posts: 5
Location: Atlanta

Richard wrote:

Just trying to read between the lines of the last post, though my eyes are a bit blurry from the information overload...

Are you saying that you believe you will get an accurate understanding of the entire Vampire community and its diversity through the presentation of a survey where only a specific type of Vampire, those that believe filling out such a survey is best use of their limited resources, will complete it?

Are you also saying that it's not the responsibility of the researcher to create a survey that will influence a broader range of individuals to believe that filling it out is the best use of their limited resources?

Are you also saying that in getting 10 revealing responses, than your study of the Vampire community will be a success, because this will make for a better use of your limited resources?

Forgive my ignorance, but I was one of those people who fell asleep in the statistics lecture and was only taking it to complete a finance/business degree.


Not at all; but when your eyes un-cross Smile see if this looks reasonable...

First: this survey doesn't try to "explain vampirism." There won't be a final judgement on what a vampire is or isn't, why we exist, how much blood a woodchuck chugs before you can call it a "real vampire." There will be NO definition of "real vampire" arising from this effort.

There will be a strong statement on what vampires have now reported vampirism is like, for the correction of some existing academic publcations, and the edification and curiosity of our fellow vampires.

Basically, if you consider yourself a vampire, this survey is to gather data on what *you say* your life is like, with respect to certain speficic topics. We got our topics from what vampires talk about a lot. Headaches are a common complaint, for example. We simply want to know if a consistent number of people complain of them, and in what capacity; many vampires have wondered the same thing on messge boards for years, but there's been no central study that tells them, "yes, this is definitely commonly reported, and the numbers suggest that a majority of vampries MIGHT share this problem." Or, "no, buddy, it's really just you."

Real misinterpretation in this study would come from us trying to answer different questions than the ones that the data actually addresses. We're gonna try not to do that! Smile

i.e. we can't prove people are telling the truth about their psychic experiences. We can prove that so-and-so number of vampires claimed to have psychic experiences, and provide analysis that such responses could be a factor in any number of correlative data points. That data does NOT "prove" that "vampires are psychic," however.

So, your questions:

1- Surveys always represent sample populations not whole communities, and we wanted to make sure that many types of vampires had the opportunity to fill one out if it so moved them to. It sounds like you're categorizing a new "type" of vampire based on whether one fills out the survey. I don't feel that that's sound logic; individuals will be moved to spend the time (or not to) on this for various reasons, not because of a shared typology or ideology.

2 - Dunno what you mean about the responsibility of the researcher to convince people to take the survey. Coercion and cajoling ain't our bag. If it doesn't seem like a good idea to you, we don't want you to fill it out.

Maybe this is more what you mean? We did our best to 1) provide a venue in which real vampires could present their experiences accurately and 2) select the aspects of vampires' lives that they want to describe for themselves and hear about from others. We hope that our effort toward those ends would intrigue other vampires and convey our respect for the experiences of our people. It doesn't necessrily follow that every vampire would want to fill out the survey because of that. Many seem to be content to talk about it on Livejournal or whatnot. Some are ignoring it. That's OK, too.

3 - And regarding the 10 responses, not exactly; there's a statistical threshold at which proper analysis starts to become meaningful - we hope to get that number back soon. 10 surveys won't tell us everything we need to know about vampires. 2000 surveys wouldn't do that, either. But to have meaningful analysis of the data we do collect, it helps to have a reasonable amount of responses. Someone out there wrote a nifty textbook and told us how many responses would make sense for the number of questions we asked.

Does this address some of your questions?