Web survey about online drug discussion

[tronica]

Web survey about online drug discussion






Monica Barratt (PhD student from the National Drug Research Institute at
Curtin University) invites you to complete an anonymous 15 minute survey
about online drug discussion, drug information sources, online forums and
pill testing. You are eligible to complete the survey if you:
(1) have ever used ecstasy/MDMA,
(2) have ever used online forums,
(3) usually live in Australia, and
(4) are at least 16 years old.

Survey Link:
https://drugsonforums.turningpoint.o...dex.php?sid=24
This survey is part of a larger research project I'm doing (my PhD) which is described in more detail on the project website.
Project website:

Drugs on Forums
Comments are welcome!

Thanks so much,
Monica

Click here for more information, the location, the djs and the performers.

Click here for reviews.

[Cassie]

I fit into all those catagotorys!!

[trixydafairy]

i just filled in this survey and i think they are trying to find out which websites to have the police moniter so everyone just be careful of your answers cause we dont want any jafp members getting in trouble cause we are all good people!!!

cheers

[Cassie]

Well im not oging to take part i dont want work being able to see it.

[TrU_tRaSh*#BaG]

sorry, but i dotn like these kind of surveys

[Cassie]

Yeah i wouldnt do it either.

[_Aaron_]

what a fucking boring survey

[Red Delicious]

Originally Posted by trixydafairy

i just filled in this survey and i think they are trying to find out which websites to have the police moniter so everyone just be careful of your answers cause we dont want any jafp members getting in trouble cause we are all good people!!!

cheers

Donna its the reason I dont answer those surveys.

And I second that...we are all good people!!!

[Cassie]

Yeah but the cops dont care if your a good person or not. They just wanna get people arrested so they make more comissions. (i wish i got bonuses)

[tronica]

Hi everyone

Thanks first to Josh for supporting the survey and allowing me to post it up here.

Just to address some of your concerns - I'm certainly not involved with the police in any way. I'm a research student at Curtin University (WA) and the study is part of my PhD. You can google my name to get heaps more about who I am and what I've done so far in the drug research field.

The data is kept securely - I use HTTPS for the survey and then I store it on an encrypted drive once downloaded. You can't be individually identified if you participate.

I also won't be reporting on the names of forums people are using. I am collecting that information so I can get a sense of types of forums - eg. what they focus on (dance scene, drug-related forums, general lifestyle ones, etc), how big they are (local, national, international), and whether they have strict or not-so-strict rules about drug discussion. I'm also keen to know how involved you are with forums - because I think this involvement relates to strength of community. I have a few hunches about the topic but it's quite exploratory research so we will see what participants have to say!

I can understand your concerns though - you're right to be cautious about who you talk to about something like drug use. But I assure you that I have done my best to minimise any risks to my research participants.

Yes, I would recommend completing the survey in a private location - rather than at a workplace. Wouldn't want someone looking over your shoulder when filling out confidential details!

Sorry to the person who found the survey boring. Well, I can't please everyone I've had heaps of positive comments about it from respondents too. Happy to hear more from you all - critical comments welcome.

[TrU_tRaSh*#BaG]

sorry, i dont think ill be doing the whole thing but im happy to post in the pole.

[Cassie]

Well good luck.

[TrU_tRaSh*#BaG]

if its confidential though, nothing should be able to happen to the info people gave and there shouldnt be any chance of anything...

[tronica]

Thanks!

If you do end up checking out the survey, remember you can always leave any questions blank that you would rather not answer - I've designed it so no questions are compulsory.

[tronica]

Originally Posted by TrU_tRaSh*#BaG

if its confidential though, nothing should be able to happen to the info people gave and there shouldnt be any chance of anything...

This is correct - any identifying information provided is kept confidential, as per any research in this country that attains ethical approval.

However there are usually potential risks in research that researchers need to address. For example, people completing the survey who might want assistance for drug related issues should have that sort of information available. I have some buttons on the side of the survey at all times that link to drug information phone lines and a web-based counselling service that gives referrals - for anyone doing the survey who thinks they may need it.

[Red Delicious]

Im still wary of anyone asking about drug use.

[Cassie]

Originally Posted by tronica

Hi everyone

Thanks first to Josh for supporting the survey and allowing me to post it up here.

Just to address some of your concerns - I'm certainly not involved with the police in any way. I'm a research student at Curtin University (WA) and the study is part of my PhD. You can google my name to get heaps more about who I am and what I've done so far in the drug research field.

The data is kept securely - I use HTTPS for the survey and then I store it on an encrypted drive once downloaded. You can't be individually identified if you participate.

I also won't be reporting on the names of forums people are using. I am collecting that information so I can get a sense of types of forums - eg. what they focus on (dance scene, drug-related forums, general lifestyle ones, etc), how big they are (local, national, international), and whether they have strict or not-so-strict rules about drug discussion. I'm also keen to know how involved you are with forums - because I think this involvement relates to strength of community. I have a few hunches about the topic but it's quite exploratory research so we will see what participants have to say!

I can understand your concerns though - you're right to be cautious about who you talk to about something like drug use. But I assure you that I have done my best to minimise any risks to my research participants.

Yes, I would recommend completing the survey in a private location - rather than at a workplace. Wouldn't want someone looking over your shoulder when filling out confidential details!

Sorry to the person who found the survey boring. Well, I can't please everyone I've had heaps of positive comments about it from respondents too. Happy to hear more from you all - critical comments welcome.

Still sounds suss. Why would you download it on an encrypted drive?? your only seraching info for an assisgnment phd whatever. Thats alot of effort or a celver answer to distract us from the truth???

[30yroldclubboy]

Stop being paranoid.
There is only an ISP address to catch you... & you could always say it was someone using YOUR computer.
The survey seems legit BUT the questions are too generalised.

[Cassie]

Im not paranoid... just carefull.

[tronica]

Originally Posted by Red Delicious

Im still wary of anyone asking about drug use.

Originally Posted by Cassie

Still sounds suss. Why would you download it on an encrypted drive?? your only seraching info for an assisgnment phd whatever. Thats alot of effort or a celver answer to distract us from the truth???

Obviously the survey is voluntary. It's your choice whether to complete it or not. Of course I'd love your support as I can see that JaF has a strong sense of community, from my time looking around here.

I believe the issue here is about trust. I'm asking you to trust me to do the right thing with your information - remembering that you can't be identified anyway. Even so, the findings I put together will be presented publicly in research papers in the future (anonymously). Some people don't want to be involved in helping research because they are suspicious about how research findings are used. Other people want to help research because they want to contribute their opinions and experiences to try and help shape drug policy.

Many years ago when I first decided I wanted to go to a rave, I did some online searching and ended up posting in an online forum similar to this one for people in Perth. A week later I had met up with the crew from that forum, and went to an event with them. It was a much better (and safer!) way of getting involved in the scene. So this topic has come out of my own (positive) experiences of how forums can provide a community of like-minded friends and connections into scenes where drugs are used. Of course, other forums that are more focused on drugs have more practical information and things like pill reports - which are also of interest to researchers because they have the capacity to make drug use safer for people who avoid dodgy pills in this way.

I've said previously that one way you can check me out is to google my name (eg. "Monica Barratt - Google Search ) . There's absolutely no reason why I would want to deceive anyone. I really value the people who have put the time in to contribute to my study and I'm hoping to give as many people that opportunity as possible.

To answer your concern about why I would bother to use an encrypted drive - this is because I was concerned about the highly unlikely (but possible) scenario of someone either stealing my laptop or hacking into it. If this happened, they would not have access to the data. So this is just an added protection for an unlikely scenario, and gives me (and the respondents) a little bit more confidence in my security procedures!

(Oops, long post - but hope that explains it all a bit more - thanks!)