Dissertation Data Collection

[Elle2]

Hello everyone, I am looking for people to help me with my dissertation on preppers. I am looking for people 18-65, who consider themselves preppers, have been prepping for at least 6 months and that participating in online prepper activities such as this forum.

Your identity will be held in the strictest confidence. Only I will know who you are. There are about 9 questions and you dont have to answer any that make you uncomfortable. The interview lasts 30-60 minutes. Send me an email at the address below if you want to participate or have any questions.


Hello Fellow Preppers,



The topic of the proposed research is “The Preppers: A Multiple Case Study of Individuals Who Choose a Moderate Survivalist Lifestyle”. The study will be conducted to solicit preppers’ opinions and views about the prepper movement. The purpose of this study is to identify the prepper movement and to provide valuable information to help understand the different aspects or characteristics of this movement.

You are invited to participate in this study by agreeing to an in-person or telephone interview. Nine questions will be asked during this interview. The interview session will last approximately two hours. Follow-up or probing questions may be necessary to solicit additional information or to clarify your responses. The data collected will be used solely for the purposes of the study.


All information provided will be confidential and anonymous. If you are willing to participate, kindly provide the following information: name, email address, and contact number via email to [email protected]. After data collection approval, you will be contacted to schedule an in-person or telephone interview. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me using the above email address or 505-358-5114. Thank you for your willingness to participate in this doctoral study.

Sincerely

Lee’Ann Imel-Hartford, Doctoral Candidate
Northcentral University

[urbnxr]

Would you consider doing an online interview, via an instant messenger or chat service? I'd love to help with your research (currently stranded in Thesis Land myself), but I'm not crazy about giving out my personal information, which may be a common theme with others here.

[Elle2]

hmmm. I would have to ask my professor. It would have to be something that i would be able to take away a transcipt of the chat. Also I would need to have you sign an informed consent form with your name anyway.

I'm glad you asked this. Your name will not be in my dissertation at all, you would be assigned a participant number and only I would have access to your real name. If I use a transcriber or someone to help with stats, they will not have access to your name and will sign a confidentiality statement. The only information I will have on you is your name and email address if you email me to send the consent back and forth and a phone number. You can call me from wherever you like.

This information will be kept separate from the research material. Your answers will only have your participant number. There will be one sheet of paper that will have both your name and participant number so I can keep stuff straight. That is kept locked up. No one will have access to that and it will eventually be destroyed.

The phone I am using is a disposible phone. The sim card will be destroyed after I am finished with my research.

I will ask my professor.

Thanks
Lee'Ann

[Elle2]

I asked my professor. I am allowed to do my interviews via face-to-face, telephone, or video conference after a informed consent form is signed.

Thanks
Lee'Ann

[Buffy]

Would you share your reasons for selecting this as your topic?

[Elle2]

As a prepper myself and someone who is retired military I feel that is important that people understand who we are. The angle of the dissertation is that preppers are a benign social movement.

[Per Ardua]

It seems that a lot of folks here jump all over requests like this. I usually find myself defending the people making the request and suggesting if others don't want to participate then just don't.

But not in this case.

This particular request triggers my "something smells bad" alarm:

- Contact e-mail is a hotmail address.
- On-line 'university' with no ability to search graduate students
- Disposable phone and destroying of SIM card?
- A search on the exact name given only gives two results (this thread and one on another prepper forum).
- The post on the other forum gives then name of a supervisor (Mohamad Hammoud, PhD). Looking for this supervisor online had mixed results and he specializes in Information Technology and Project Management - seems like a poor match with the topic of 'social phenomena or preppers'. (BTW, I think this is the supervisor: http://it.linkedin.com/in/mohamadhammoud )
- posts seem to want to massage the readers ego a little too much (us poor misunderstood preppers).


It just smells fishy.

My 2 cents worth.

[maine-marine]

here is the contact page for the school... if anybody wants to check things out

http://www.ncu.edu/about-northcentral/location

[ZenDog]

Have you tried the New Mexico or Arizona groups yet? I think that you are dealing with a group of people that tries to maintain their anonimity as much as possible. So, I believe you're going to have to gain people's trust before they start to discuss these issues with you. Perhaps try to meet people in your area that may frequent "prepper" stores? OR, there have been conventions that have been held in varoius areas in the US, have you tried to make contacts there or identify a person that the preppers trust and then work through that person to make contacts?

Either way, I suspect most people are going to be very wary of you until they get to know you.

By the way, I reviewed your posts and tentatively confirmed some of what you have said: former military (Air Force, Master Sergeant, retired in 2006), US Forestry Service-Program Specialist 2008, read your dissertation blog (2011), and several of your posts in other forums from last year and recently. The phone number is from Duncan/Buckhorn NM, but it says its a landline.

Anyway, just doing some fact checking.

[Elle2]

I appreciate everyone's concerns. I am a prepper and understand everyone wanting to maintain their anonymity. The reason why its difficult to find things about me online is because I avoid putting myself out there, just like many of you do.

I can assure you that I am a real student at a real university. You can contact my academic advisor, Dr. Allyson Wolf at 1-888-327-2877 ext 3402 or [email protected]. She can confirm that I am a student and who my dissertation chair is.

The object here is to learn about the prepper phenomena and conduct an objective research paper to educate the public on who we are. Anyone who may be concerned over the destruction of the sim card, this is procedures that were established with my Internal Review Board in order to ensure participants anonymity and is not an unusual practice.

During the interview process if you wish to stop at any time or do not want to answer a particular question, that is your choice.

Please email me at [email protected] if you have any questions.

Thanks
Lee'Ann

[Cavalry Trooper]

Thanks for the clarification. It did seem like a front to perhaps a government sponsored smear campaign or intel gathering. Wait the government would not do this ....

[Buffy]

Originally Posted by Elle2

I appreciate everyone's concerns. I am a prepper and understand everyone wanting to maintain their anonymity. The reason why its difficult to find things about me online is because I avoid putting myself out there, just like many of you do.

I can assure you that I am a real student at a real university. You can contact my academic advisor, Dr. Allyson Wolf at 1-888-327-2877 ext 3402 or [email protected]. She can confirm that I am a student and who my dissertation chair is.

The object here is to learn about the prepper phenomena and conduct an objective research paper to educate the public on who we are. Anyone who may be concerned over the destruction of the sim card, this is procedures that were established with my Internal Review Board in order to ensure participants anonymity and is not an unusual practice.

During the interview process if you wish to stop at any time or do not want to answer a particular question, that is your choice.

Please email me at [email protected] if you have any questions.

Thanks
Lee'Ann

Why not structure your research so that you harvest your data from this site? There are preppers/survivalists in every flavor here. Not difficult to track by user name, that would give you a much broader sample.

[Per Ardua]

Messages like the one below go a long to way to alleviate my concerns over the validity of the request because it provides easily verifiable information. I haven't done so but it does give one the ability to do if they wish.

Originally Posted by Elle2

I appreciate everyone's concerns. I am a prepper and understand everyone wanting to maintain their anonymity. The reason why its difficult to find things about me online is because I avoid putting myself out there, just like many of you do.

I can assure you that I am a real student at a real university. You can contact my academic advisor, Dr. Allyson Wolf at 1-888-327-2877 ext 3402 or [email protected]. She can confirm that I am a student and who my dissertation chair is.

The object here is to learn about the prepper phenomena and conduct an objective research paper to educate the public on who we are. Anyone who may be concerned over the destruction of the sim card, this is procedures that were established with my Internal Review Board in order to ensure participants anonymity and is not an unusual practice.

During the interview process if you wish to stop at any time or do not want to answer a particular question, that is your choice.

Please email me at [email protected] if you have any questions.

Thanks
Lee'Ann

[Elle2]

Hi all,
Everyone asks excellent questions. I am doing both interviews and blog analysis. The purpose of the interviews is to get people's personal experiences. Since forums are generally a "closed" environment, vice blogs, I need the person's permission to use their words. The interview is a series of 9 questions that describe how YOU feel to be a prepper. Its about the person's lived experiences. Since this is considered a case study and its qualitative in nature more indepth information is needed in order to identify themes.

I will not use your name in my study. Just a participant number.

Lee'Ann

[Elle2]

Hello everyone, I am still looking for participants. If you are interested please email me at [email protected]

[Elle2]

Hi Everyone,
I still need about 12 more participants. Please email me at [email protected]

Thanks
Lee'Ann

[Elle2]

I am still looking for about 2-3 more particpants. If you are interested please contact me at [email protected]

[sodfarmer]

Originally Posted by Buffy

Why not structure your research so that you harvest your data from this site? There are preppers/survivalists in every flavor here. Not difficult to track by user name, that would give you a much broader sample.

isn't this site copyright protected? and everything submitted property of the sites owners? just asking