looking for skydivers to participate in an online study

[nancyfrye 0]

Hi - I'm a professor of psychology, and also dating a skydiver. I'm conducting an online research study now, looking at how people perceive the risks of skydiving. I'm looking for skydivers and their spouse/relationship partner who would be willing to spend 30-40 minutes answering questions. Any questions can be left unanswered, and it's possible to save your responses to come back later, if you don't have a 30-40 minute chunk of time all at once.

Here's a link to the study: http://myweb.liu.edu/~nfrye/skydive1/consent.php

All the technical glitches should hopefully have been caught, but if you run into any - or have any questions about the study - please send me an email at [email protected]

[skydiverkeith 1]

With all these studies, you guys should have figured something out by now...

Blue skies,
Keith Medlock

[nancyfrye 0]

we've figured some stuff out -- but if we knew it all i'd be out of a job

[skyrider 0]

Join us...go step out of an airplane.. yoru questions wil all be answered...

BUT if you figure out how to put it into words, so that people understand.......You will be the first!

[bdb2004 27]

For what it's worth, I'm a skydiver...and a professor of psychology, who studies risk taking and risk perception, and alcohol abuse. Go figure.

[theonlyski 3]

Quote

For what it's worth, I'm a skydiver...and a professor of psychology, who studies risk taking and risk perception, and alcohol abuse. Go figure.

Lots of free data all around you!

"I may be a dirty pirate hooker...but I'm not about to go stand on the corner." iluvtofly
DPH -7, TDS 578, Muff 5153, SCR 14890
I'm an asshole, and I approve this message

[nancyfrye 0]

I have skydived a few times, but had a bad meeting with a taxiway that resulted in a broken back. That let me both see the appeal and the risks first hand to skydiving -- which was part of what prompted me to think of doing a study about it. You're right about the experience being hard to put into words!

[nancyfrye 0]

I started out as primarily a relationships researcher, and am just getting into the area of risk perception -- it looks like a great area to study, with lots of possibilities!

[d_squared431 0]

Quote

Hi - I'm a professor of psychology, and also dating a skydiver. I'm conducting an online research study now, looking at how people perceive the risks of skydiving. I'm looking for skydivers and their spouse/relationship partner who would be willing to spend 30-40 minutes answering questions. Any questions can be left unanswered, and it's possible to save your responses to come back later, if you don't have a 30-40 minute chunk of time all at once.

Here's a link to the study: http://myweb.liu.edu/~nfrye/skydive1/consent.php

All the technical glitches should hopefully have been caught, but if you run into any - or have any questions about the study - please send me an email at [email protected]

TPM Sister#130ONTIG#1
I love vodka.I love vodka cause it rhymes with Tuaca~LisaH
You having a clean thought is like billyvance having a clean post.iluvtofly

[riggerrob 558]

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For what it's worth, I'm a skydiver...and a professor of psychology, who studies risk taking and risk perception, and alcohol abuse. Go figure.

"

......................................................................

I tried both, but when the alcohol abuse started interferring - with the skydiving abuse - I quit alcohol.

[bdb2004 27]

At the risk of letting this thread devolve into something intelligent....a while back a colleague (a relationships researcher) and I discussed conducting a study where one partner was a moderate-to-heavy drinker and the other was not, and we would examine (mis)match in partners' perceptions of risk and subsequent real world consequences of alcohol consumption over an extended period of time. The project never came about, but I suspect that many (but certainly not all) of the same underlying mechanisms that we would have observed would manifest themselves in your study as well. I'd be interested in seeing your results when they are eventually ready for publication....

[bdb2004 27]

Lol.

[nancyfrye 0]

I'll post a summary of results to dropzone.com, and on the study site, once I finish data collection and analysis.

[wmw999 2,136]

It'd be interesting. I noticed that in your "types of jumps" categorization you left out all student and videographer activity, unless you torture them into being formation skydiving because you're relative to someone. Likewise following students out after dispatching static liners (some of us are old )

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[nancyfrye 0]

I had a feeling there were groups I was leaving out! Thanks for pointing those out -- it won't work to add them to this study, since I already started data collection, but I'll add them to future studies.

[wmw999 2,136]

I might have to re-think that "do you think it would be interesting to watch a car wreck" question. I just took a look at People of Wal-Mart and I can't seem to tear my eyes away

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[OlympiaStoica 0]

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I might have to re-think that "do you think it would be interesting to watch a car wreck" question. I just took a look at People of Wal-Mart and I can't seem to tear my eyes away

Wendy P.

Thanks Wendy ... curiosity had me click on that link ... and now I'm going to be on my computer for a while ...

O

[JackC1 0]

I think I would have set up the questions where you have to assign odds to certain events differently. If I thought I had even a 1% chance of hitting the tail on exit or having a canopy collision or a high speed malfunction or being seriously injured on my next jump, I'd seriously consider quitting. 1% is a significant risk.

As a rough estimate of the odds, I take how many jumps I've done and how many times these things have happened to me. The results are that for most of the events you list, the odds are generally much closer to 0% than they are to 1%, so I answered 0%. The odds are definitely not zero though so I wonder if the resolution of your poll might cause people to underestimate or overestimate the odds and skew the results.

[Southern_Man 0]

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t People of Wal-Mart and I can't seem to tear my eyes away

Wendy P.

That makes me want to tear my eyes out.

"What if there were no hypothetical questions?"

[nancyfrye 0]

That's a great point - and part of what I'm trying to get at in the study. Different people may think about the likelihoods differently, and use different ways to make estimates of them. Part of what I want to do is see what's related to the likelihoods that people estimate.

[wmw999 2,136]

I went about it the same way, but I saw the "exit accident" as far less serious -- I've done mostly RW, and hitting the door is just something that happens every now and then. Hitting the tail is different. But my husband never has line twists, and hasn't had any malfunctions; I do get line twists sometimes, and have had malfunctions; so I include those actuals in my calculation of probability (i.e. yeah, I said I had a higher chance of malfunction than my husband does). And I used tenths and hundredths of a percent, although even then the chance of fatality and very serious injury are probably overstated.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[JackC1 0]

See I didn't even realise I could use 10ths or 100ths of a percent. I just used the slider and had a choice of 0% or 1% so I either grossly overestimate the risk or ignore it altogether. Neither are a true reflection of what I think.

[castrodavidd 0]

Hum, the only risk I calculate is how often I can go skydiving before my wife divorces me. Which means she would take all the money and then I wouldn't be able to skydiving anyways. Hows that for a no win situation?

[nancyfrye 0]

Sorry about that. I'll make that clearer the next time I use that measure. But your responses in whole number percentages will still give an idea of your perceptions. Thanks for helping out w the study!

[nancyfrye 0]

That's exactly the sort of thing that made me want to study skydivers and skydivers' relationships. Good luck w your dilemma :)