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Please help me with my Ecstasy Research - Phase 1 recruitment going on now!

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akdavis said:
I have noticed that some people are quitting the study when the study asks you to type the word "password" into the log in box. This is ONLY becuase I wanted to keep participation completely anonymous. So, when you type the word in the box the survey site creates an ID number that they then use to determine if you are the winner of the $50.00 E-gift card when you complete the survey. Sorry if there is any confusion.

Thanks!!

Alan
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If you have noticed this 'trend' - why don't you issue people who log on an annon username and password for them to use for the full test. Obviously if a user chooses to be fully annon (not choosing the system generated username / password) then they cannot expect to be accepted into the 'prize win'.

I'm sure that the majority of people wishing to apply to your study would do so - more for sharing information than 'winning'!
 
Good advice! Thanks so much for your interest and support, without a forum like this I wouldn't be able to do this research!

Bearlove said:
If you have noticed this 'trend' - why don't you issue people who log on an annon username and password for them to use for the full test. Obviously if a user chooses to be fully annon (not choosing the system generated username / password) then they cannot expect to be accepted into the 'prize win'.

I'm sure that the majority of people wishing to apply to your study would do so - more for sharing information than 'winning'!
Click to expand...
 
I noticed you started a new thread 'Questions' -Hey everyone,

I have noticed that ALOT of you have viewed my research thread that I posted earlier this week (over 200). But many of you have declined to participate. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns that I can address in order to help you make the decision to participate. To make sure that the study is secure I may answer you in a Private Message, but the info will be readily available to you.

Thanks so much,
Alan

I have a few - Have you used Ecstasy - Your age - and what your looking for / hoping to gain from the information you seek?

Your questions are very vague and I found the fixed replies often simply didn't correspond with the questions being asked.

The first few pages before I came here to question you, seemed to be aimed at new (and young people) .

A question that stuck out for me was -

I am completely taken with using ecstasy

Do not agree at all Moderately disagree Slightly disagree Neutral Slightly agree Moderately agree Completely agree

I love MDMA and have been using for many years (more than the maximum of 60+ times allowed on your site) - what does 'taken' mean / how would the results be understood. Being completely taken by something means something different for every user - you could have used MDMA once and be completely taken by the experience /the drug - you could also use the drug on a regular bases as your taken by the experience/the drug.


Using ecstasy is in harmony with the other activities in my life
Do not agree at all Moderately disagree Slightly disagree Neutral Slightly agree Moderately agree Completely agree

Buying MDMA is illegal - buying drugs is the only criminal offense that I (and a lot of the people on this site) have ever committed. The criminality of the drug certainly is not harmony with other aspects of my life. However my choice to get high on MDMA is certainly in harmony with my other adult choices that I make. My fear is that your results on this specific question is that you could say - 95% of people who completed the survey had no issues with breaking the law to get high.

The next section - 'Reasons why you take ecstasy'
For me these questions are again 'strange' -

I take ecstasy to dance all night

Definitely not / Definitely so

If I'm clubbing then yes - If I'm chilling at home then No! Again a lot of the questions are geared at young users ? I personally couldn't care how cool people think I am because I'm using MDMA :D


Next section - Past 12 months use

Do you abuse more than one drug at a time?

Yes
No

Again this is a loaded question - you instinctively suggest that somebody is unable to 'use' drugs and they automatically 'abuse' them. A lot of people will flit over the question (same as the random peanut video / wet dog on a beach story) and reply yes to this and again give an inaccurate reply. Your report (based on the replies) could again say 95% of people who replied admitted they abuse several drugs at a time.


Please do not misunderstand this reply - I am genuinely concerned at the way the information gathered will be used / manipulated and I will certainly not be allowing this 'survey' to be advertised/promoted/allowed on Pillreports. I have also contacted the site administrators with my concerns about your questions.
 
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I really wish that you would take a moment to discuss this before making your decision. If you then felt the same then I would remove it myself. But I don't think that we can adequately discuss this through email or posting, if nothing else, I would really like to hear your perspective more fully so that I can help change the direction that you feel so strongly about.
that said, you do realize that many people have already taken this survey and not had the same problems that you did. So, clearly, there are those that don't feel the same way. Shouldn.t they have the opportunity to decide for themselves?
 
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akdavis said:
I really wish that you would take a moment to discuss this before making your decision. If you then felt the same then I would remove it myself. But I don't think that we can adequately discuss this through email or posting, if nothing else, I would really like to hear your perspective more fully so that I can help change the direction that you feel so strongly about.
that said, you do realize that many people have already taken this survey and not had the same problems that you did. So, clearly, there are those that don't feel the same way. Shouldn.t they have the opportunity to decide for themselves?
Click to expand...

I have removed my comment as per your request - I personally feel that the information that you gain from the fixed replies could be used in a very negative way if that is your intention. Out of the 'over 200' replies that you have had how many of them are from people over 30? Out of the replies you received how many them are already high / drunk (a question you didn't ask)?

It would be interesting if after the survey is finished you actually publish the 'results' with the question / statement you are going to be using the replies for.
 
Hello,

Thank you, I appreciate your consideration of my request.


I would still really like to understand your comments more fully, I hope you consider working with me closer to address your concerns and the aims of this study. The end goal of this study is to develop appropriate questions so that clinicians working with ecstasy users can understand why people use ecstasy and what keeps them
Motivated to use despite (some users) having negative experiences. Some people want to stop using and can't. Others don't seemto have the same problems. But understanding the motivations and desires of BOTH groups will help the scientific and clinical community when working with them.

I think your view is a valid perspective worth understanding. I hope you feel comfortable telling me (perhaps in a PM or here if you prefer) what ways you would prefer I asked those questions, what questions you thought were missing, how your motivations are different because of your age or history of use, what you would change in the study, how I could make the questions more representative of ALL users and not just the ones that you think this was aimed at. Etc. If you want, I can email you a PDF of the all the questions so you can see them again.


Thank you,
Alan



Bearlove said:
I have removed my comment as per your request - I personally feel that the information that you gain from the fixed replies could be used in a very negative way if that is your intention. Out of the 'over 200' replies that you have had how many of them are from people over 30? Out of the replies you received how many them are already high / drunk (a question you didn't ask)?

It would be interesting if after the survey is finished you actually publish the 'results' with the question / statement you are going to be using the replies for.
Click to expand...
 
Oh, and I would be more than happy to share all theresults with you, this forum, the administrators, etc. So that you can see how this research will be used.
 
RE: Why not a lot of people are taking the survey

I just wanted to give you some feedback in response to your second post -

I would be happy to take the survey, but you require that participants have taken MDMA at least 6 times in the past six months and at least 20 times total. Now, clearly plenty of my fellow bluelighters meet this criteria, but I would venture to say that this rules out a lot of the ecstasy-consuming community (including me). You may have noticed that members of this forum are constantly urging newer users to wait at least 30 days between episodes. Clearly some people ignore that advice, but I'd say that by and large the bluelight community seems pretty responsible about their MDMA use.

So just FYI - a lot of people who use ecstasy regularly may not use it often enough for your study. Perhaps you designed your study knowing this, but I just figured I'd let you know.
 
Hi, I'm more than happy to discuss this with you further - I wasn't trying to be awkward with my posts but I couldn't understand the fixed replies to the questions being asked. How you wish to proceed is your choice - If we continue here people will be able to comment / add their thoughts. If we take this to PM you will have only my personal opinion - what do you think will be the most beneficial ?

Either way a PDF of the questions would be great - I did copy them last night as I read through the survey but a PDF would be easier to go through.

MDMA use is very varied amongst people - some don't enjoy it, some abuse the hell out and there are people in the middle. Normally what happens is people discover the drug and then abuse the hell out of it (honeymoon period). What were trying to promote on the site is safer use (to avoid problems down the road [sleeping patterns, short term memory, paranoia, depression, brain zaps, turning into an Etard!] etc).

Send me the link to the PDF and we can start from there :)
 
infinitejester said:
So just FYI - a lot of people who use ecstasy regularly may not use it often enough for your study. Perhaps you designed your study knowing this, but I just figured I'd let you know.
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- They didn't know this - I'm glad you looked at the questions in detail also (I thought it was just me :D) - from the explanation they sent me this seems to be a questionnaire (aimed at frequent users/abusers) in the making.
 
Im pretty sure they are looking for ecstasy abusers not users, and ecstasy "addicts" (which is nothing like being addicted to heroin). Bearlove is right though some of these questions seem like they are trying to make ecstasy seem bad, which it isnt when used correctly. I think a simple rewording of most questions could help a lot
 
Folley said:
Im pretty sure they are looking for ecstasy abusers not users, and ecstasy "addicts" (which is nothing like being addicted to heroin). Bearlove is right though some of these questions seem like they are trying to make ecstasy seem bad, which it isnt when used correctly. I think a simple rewording of most questions could help a lot
Click to expand...

Thank you :) - I will work with the OP on this. (Mind you they have opted not to receive PM's at the moment so :0)
 
This message was originally meant for a PM but as the OP has switched off the function ...

Hi there - lets just start this again now that I have a bit of understanding your point of interest.

I personally hated the survey and found a lot of the questions pretty insulting (hence my hostile replies). This isn't the first time we have had people gathering information on the site only to completely misquote us in their findings (One of the guys even did a face to face interview and it was edited to hell making all drug users = Bad people).

Now that you have explained that the information gathered is going to be used as a 'questionnaire' for abusers it makes more sense. The thing you have to understand is there really isn't a black / white answer for why you do something and asking them to agree / disagree with a statement is missing the point / issue / reason with /for abuse.

Are you looking to prove a pattern or phenomena using numbers or anecdotes (or a mix - I feel this is better for individual cases). Your original survey was purely pattern and I can't understand how it could be used to help anyone (as everyone is different).

If your looking to gather information for that particular user then why not think along the lines of -

Why do you take ecstasy
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
Other - explain

Based on your above answers how does it feel on ecstasy
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
Other - explain

When not using ecstasy how is the same experience
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
Other - explain

Do you see where I'm coming from? Is this the information you're trying to gain or have I misunderstood your goal?

Bear :)

(BTW WTF is the video / beach story about ? If you had asked a set of control questions and then shown a trance event / people partying and then asked the same control questions I would bet that you would have received a very different response).

Safe
Bear
 
Hey everyone,

sorry, I was out of town for the weekend, just getting back today...

I didn't turn off the PM, but I guess it can only hold 10 messages, and once that was full it didn't allow anymore.




Bear, I will send you a link to the pdf document tomorrow when I get to my office, and I would really appreciate and feedback that you have. I would also like to open that up to anyone who requests it. but, i would ask that they receive it AFTER participating so that seeing the questions doesn't change how they respond.




Folley, and others are right, this is aimed at people who use more ecstasy than others. Understandably, I am most interested in WHY some people can learn to moderate their use and why others aren't able to do this. That is partly what this research is aimed at as well.





Bear, to answer your longer message that was intended as a PM. I appreciate your concern, I know that there is no way that I can prove that I won't do that, but I can tell you that I am only interested in this from a "data" perspective. Meaning, that I don't want to quote anyone or use personal information from people. Rather, I want to look at the numbers and try and draw inferences based on what I find. Then, use the feedback that I get from you and others on here to make it better and more representative of what you and others believe to be an accurate picture for your community. I will only be using this information to understand why different people may choose to use ecstasy, why different people react in different ways to it, and what compels some people to continue using. I hope that makes sense.




To all others, I appreciate your time in doing this. There are people that are winning the gift cards. Sorry if that wasn't you, but know that I am grateful for the time your spent with the study.



Alan
 
Hey,

I wanted to address some of your questions more directly.

Part of the confusion here is how research in psychology and the addictions is conducted. Unfortunately, its about numbers and data. Not about individuals. What we are always trying to get at is what is representative about the whole population. So, we use averages alot to try and get a picture (albeit a little blurry picture sometimes) of what is going on across and entire group of people based on the few hundred that we may actually get information from. This doesn't mean that what we find is true for each and every person in that community, but it does mean that it may be true for many of them.


Therefore, the fixed answers are necessary. However, what is not necessary it what answer options are available and I would greatly appreciate any "fixed" answer options that you felt were better than those provided.

I totally agree that there is never a black and white answer for why people do things. Understand that this study is one tiny piece of a MUCH larger body of research aimed at understanding that question. I am only interested in this tiny piece becuase the problem is so complex that you could never understand it across a population becuase of the variability in people. However, we can understand parts of it that may transcend individual experience and be indicative of larger portions of this community.


I like the options that you provided. To be honest, the ONLY reason that I didn't use open answer format is becuase of the time commitment it would require for people to answer. I didn't want to take up more of peoples time than they were willing/able to give.


As for the last part - some people are shown different videos for that very reason. And the last paragraph is meant to decrease any craving that you may experience as a result of watching some of them.


Alan


Bearlove said:
This message was originally meant for a PM but as the OP has switched off the function ...

Hi there - lets just start this again now that I have a bit of understanding your point of interest.

I personally hated the survey and found a lot of the questions pretty insulting (hence my hostile replies). This isn't the first time we have had people gathering information on the site only to completely misquote us in their findings (One of the guys even did a face to face interview and it was edited to hell making all drug users = Bad people).

Now that you have explained that the information gathered is going to be used as a 'questionnaire' for abusers it makes more sense. The thing you have to understand is there really isn't a black / white answer for why you do something and asking them to agree / disagree with a statement is missing the point / issue / reason with /for abuse.

Are you looking to prove a pattern or phenomena using numbers or anecdotes (or a mix - I feel this is better for individual cases). Your original survey was purely pattern and I can't understand how it could be used to help anyone (as everyone is different).

If your looking to gather information for that particular user then why not think along the lines of -

Why do you take ecstasy
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
Other - explain

Based on your above answers how does it feel on ecstasy
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
Other - explain

When not using ecstasy how is the same experience
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
Other - explain

Do you see where I'm coming from? Is this the information you're trying to gain or have I misunderstood your goal?

Bear :)

(BTW WTF is the video / beach story about ? If you had asked a set of control questions and then shown a trance event / people partying and then asked the same control questions I would bet that you would have received a very different response).

Safe
Bear
Click to expand...
 
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