Week 4

At the time of my posting, I will have just returned from Italy and will be incredibly jet-lagged. That being said, the research must go on! From talking with some native Italians, I’ve gathered that they still view psychology, and mental health as a whole as a taboo subject and dislike discussing them. In their words: “I would rather drink wine”.

I have begun the creation of my survey and have been researching methods to make it as neutral as possible. I plan on using a mix of open-ended and close-ended questions in order to obtain the information needed for my project. Because of this, I plan on placing the open-ended questions first so as to not interfere with the results. Open-ended questions have the participant give their own answer, rather than choosing from a list of answers. The open-ended questions I plan on using are going to be based on the fears themselves, along with their potential causes/effects. The closed-ended questions, on the other hand, have the participant choose from a group of answers. An example of this would be multiple-choice questions. Close-ended questions are going to relate to the extent to which those fears affect the person. Through this, I can create a quantitative scale by which to measure the severity of their phobia. I plan on utilizing Likert scales as they are easy for people of all ages to record their answers. A Likert scale is a form of close-ended question that measures how strongly the participant agrees/disagrees with a provided phrase or idea.

The actual phrasing of the questions has been something that I have been struggling with as the questions need to be brief, and complete (by complete I mean not leaving any room for confusion). The word choice used also matters as different words with different connotations can affect results, specifically with regard to something as abstract as phobias. I have to find a way to convey the point without being problematic or triggering.