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Participants required: Autism, Social Media & Quality of Life

Elly Gay

Elly Gay

Active Member
Autism, Social Media & Quality of Life Study

Introduction:

Hello, I'm Elly and I'm a Psychology student at University of East London.
I also have a sibling with autism.

About the research:
  • I'm investigating the relationship between social media use and quality of life in adults with autism.
  • Social media is a widely debated topic but its use among adults with autism is less understood.
  • I want to find out how adults with autism use social media and whether it has the capacity to impact positively on their lives.
  • Any adult (autism diagnosis or not) can take part in the study as I require a range of responses.
  • The study is an online questionnaire which is completely anonymous. The questionnaire should take about 15 minutes to complete (please see link below).
  • The research has been ethically approved by the supervisory board at UEL.
  • I've attached a poster which gives a little more information to the background of my study.
Contact details:
If you have any questions or would like more information, don't hesitate to get in touch at [email protected].

Survey Link:
https://uelpsych.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eYcaO2gqaZXmZ3T


Many thanks in advance

Elly
 

Attachments

  • Autism, Social Media & Quality of Life (2).pdf
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Last edited:
I believe another researcher has come to this forum previously with a similar study on use of social media by individuals with autism. But, regardless, I like to support students in their studies, so I tried to take the survey - but, it does not let me go past the consent stage - even with all the boxes ticked and the 'I consent to participate in the study' selected. It prompts to "tick all the statements to confirm that you have read them" even though they are all ticked. So unfortunately, I cannot proceed.
 
Hi Monachapia,
Thanks so much for highlighting this.
I'm looking into this now and trying to sort it!
I really appreciate you feeding this back.
Elly
 
Hi again,

The link is now working.
Many thanks again for your support.

Monachapia - if you did want to complete the survey - you would need to delete the previous attempt from your browser history then it should work.

Many thanks

Elly
 
As with every other study I've looked and those I've participated in, this one has real design flaws. For one, a significant number of questions are about feelings, which I found impossible to answer. Many of the subjects are things that I have chosen, so how I feel about them is irrelevant. For instance: "No one really knows me well." That's because I've chosen to live that way.
"My interests and ideas are not shared by those around me." Actually, I deliberately don't share them, as a general rule. "My social relationships are superficial."
By choice, so there is no reasonable yes/no answer about how that feels.

And then there is the two questions in one:
"I tend to have very strong interests which I get upset about if I can't pursue." I do have strong interests, but getting upset (more likely, annoyed) depends on how you mean that. Prevented from pursuing them, somehow, or just being interrupted?

With this kind of half-assed design, which is very typical, even for professionals, it's no wonder that NTs draw all kinds of erroneous conclusions about autistics. So I think this is the last one I'll waste my time with.
 
Thank you, the survey now works for me.
I find the questions difficult to answer, however. I don't have friends, there's just people who happen to know I might exist somewhere. The only social media I use is Instagram to post art. I really struggle to provide useful feedback with the way you've presented the questions, because it assumes the existence of social relationships... I don't really communicate with other people at all, except reply back on comments left on IG by random strangers.
 
Catana said:
With this kind of half-assed design, which is very typical, even for professionals, it's no wonder that NTs draw all kinds of erroneous conclusions about autistics. So I think this is the last one I'll waste my time with.
Click to expand...

There's absolutely no need to be rude, and you're not obligated in any way to participate in the surveys that crop up.
 
Catana said:
As with every other study I've looked and those I've participated in, this one has real design flaws. For one, a significant number of questions are about feelings, which I found impossible to answer. Many of the subjects are things that I have chosen, so how I feel about them is irrelevant. For instance: "No one really knows me well." That's because I've chosen to live that way.
"My interests and ideas are not shared by those around me." Actually, I deliberately don't share them, as a general rule. "My social relationships are superficial."
By choice, so there is no reasonable yes/no answer about how that feels.

And then there is the two questions in one:
"I tend to have very strong interests which I get upset about if I can't pursue." I do have strong interests, but getting upset (more likely, annoyed) depends on how you mean that. Prevented from pursuing them, somehow, or just being interrupted?

With this kind of half-assed design, which is very typical, even for professionals, it's no wonder that NTs draw all kinds of erroneous conclusions about autistics. So I think this is the last one I'll waste my time with.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your feedback - I do appreciate the limitations of an online survey and I assure you I will not be making any widespread or generalised conclusions from this data. The main aim is to find out more about how social media is used. I will be able to feedback the limitations of the study design you have highlighted in the final report - they are very valid!
 
Monachopia said:
Thank you, the survey now works for me.
I find the questions difficult to answer, however. I don't have friends, there's just people who happen to know I might exist somewhere. The only social media I use is Instagram to post art. I really struggle to provide useful feedback with the way you've presented the questions, because it assumes the existence of social relationships... I don't really communicate with other people at all, except reply back on comments left on IG by random strangers.
Click to expand...
Thanks so much for your feedback Monachopia and for taking part in the survey. I will be sure to reflect your comment about assuming the existence of social relationships in my report as well, it is a very valid point and one I had not considered. Thank you so much for your time.
 
Elly Gay said:
Autism, Social Media & Quality of Life Study

Introduction:

Hello, I'm Elly and I'm a Psychology student at University of East London.
I also have a sibling with autism.

About the research:
  • I'm investigating the relationship between social media use and quality of life in adults with autism.
  • Social media is a widely debated topic but its use among adults with autism is less understood.
  • I want to find out how adults with autism use social media and whether it has the capacity to impact positively on their lives.
  • Any adult (autism diagnosis or not) can take part in the study as I require a range of responses.
  • The study is an online questionnaire which is completely anonymous. The questionnaire should take about 15 minutes to complete (please see link below).
  • The research has been ethically approved by the supervisory board at UEL.
  • I've attached a poster which gives a little more information to the background of my study.
Contact details:
If you have any questions or would like more information, don't hesitate to get in touch at [email protected].

Survey Link:
https://uelpsych.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eYcaO2gqaZXmZ3T


Many thanks in advance

Elly
Click to expand...
All I have to ask of you is to share your results with those who participated.
 
Apparently I completed it.
I was surprised that there was no Submit button to click.
I saw "100%".

I kept thinking there'd be the usual fill in the blank area for comments.
There was none.
That was frustrating and disappointing.

I answered all the questions regarding social media under the assumption
that this forum be considered social media.
 
tree said:
Apparently I completed it.
I was surprised that there was no Submit button to click.
I saw "100%".

I kept thinking there'd be the usual fill in the blank area for comments.
There was none.
That was frustrating and disappointing.

I answered all the questions regarding social media under the assumption
that this forum be considered social media.
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for participating. Its really useful hearing the feedback. It has made me think a lot about the pros of a qualitative study as opposed to a quantitative such as this one. A quantitative study just can't capture the breadth of people's experience. I'm inspired to take a qualitative approach next time!

Thanks also for highlighting that it wasn't clear when you had finished. This is important, I am going to try and adjust this.
 
I too answered using this site as 'social media'.


Something I didn't understand,

If I chose strongly disagree,
It could be thought In some way I had found a way to cope or conquer,
Using social media was the way forward to combat loneliness for example.

When I wasn't lonely in the first place.
It wasn't applicable to me.

I think I may have 'strongly disagreed' as there was no 'not applicable' option. :)
 
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