citrakayah | Signal Boost -- SCIENCE!

Want to participate in an anonymous online psychological study about Therians, Otherkin, and Therianthropy? In appreciation, you will be invited to take part in a draw for one of eight $25 Amazon gift certificates. Click here to enter. http://tinyurl.com/ne2vhk9

The study is being conducted by social scientists at the University of Waterloo (Waterloo, ON, Canada), Renison University College (Waterloo, ON, Canada), and Niagara County Community College (Sanborn, NY, USA). The research team, some of whom are animal identified themselves, have agreed to share the results with our community when they are ready to publish. Savage (content administrator and community service coordinator, Werelist) is the current study advisor.

If you are over the age of 18 you are eligible to participate. You will be asked a variety of questions about a variety of beliefs and psychological experiences, including felt insight, unusual perceptual experiences, supernatural experiences, intentionality in the world, psychological well-being, and identification as a Therian, Otherkin, furry, or related identities, along with demographic information. The survey should take 30-40 minutes to complete.

When you read the questions, keep in mind that the folks asking them are good scientists, and good science means that they won't be judging or deciding ahead of time what your answers should be. Your answers belong entirely to you, which means that there aren't any wrong or bad answers as far as they're concerned! Only honest ones, whatever those may be for you personally. Your answers are yours alone, and they will be respected as a true reflection of your personal experience, whatever that may be.

Good scientists don't decide ahead of time that people are supposed to answer a certain way, and they may ask all kinds of questions including some you don't think apply to you at all. And that's okay if they don't - just say so honestly, and that counts as a right answer. If some of the questions do apply to you, you should feel free to say that, too.

The research team has not decided ahead of time what they think your answers should be. It would be very bad science if they had! So please feel free to express your own true answers, the ones that accurately reflect how you think and feel, and don't worry that anyone is judging you no matter what those answers are. That definitely isn't what is happening here.

The survey uses Qualtrics(TM) whose computer servers are located in the USA. Consequently, USA authorities under provisions of the Patriot Act may access this survey data. All responses will be downloaded from Qualtrics and saved on a password protected computer located on the University of Waterloo campus, to which only a few authorized investigators will have access. Information and the anonymous data provided by participants will remain confidential and will be stored indefinitely on a secure, password protected computer in a secure area at the University of Waterloo, the Niagara County Community College, and on the researchers’ password-protected home computers, to which only authorized researchers have access.

This study has been reviewed by and received ethics clearance through a University of Waterloo Research Ethics Committee. However, the final decision about participation is yours.

If you have any questions about the study details please contact the researchers using the email addresses listed below:

Courtney Plante, B.Sc (Honors), M.A., Graduate Student, University of Waterloo: cplante@uwaterloo.ca
Dr. Sharon Roberts, Assistant Professor, Renison University College: serobert@uwaterloo.ca
Dr. Kathy Gerbasi, Professor, Niagara County Community College: kgerbasi@niagaracc.suny.edu
Savage, Werelist administrator. savagefeline@gmail.com

Thank you so much for doing your part to contribute to our own better understanding of ourselves. The more (over 18) folks you can get to take part in the study, the better it is for us!

- Savage