Forums / Discussion / Meme Research

Hey Good Guy Gregs,

I’m a University of Chicago graduate student conducting research on memes and internet culture, and I’m looking for adults aged 18 and up to participate in online interviews about Advice Animals! Specifically, I’m gathering data on how creators and consumers understand Advice Animals in relation to themselves, others, and as media itself. Interested? Check out the details below:

-Interviews should last only about 30-60 minutes
-Interviews will be conducted over Google Hangout or Skype
-Everyone from casual consumers, “reposters”, and OC producers are encouraged to take part
-I will only ask for first names and ages. All other questions will be strictly related to your experiences with and opinions about Advice Animals and meme culture
-Participants must be 18 years or older (sorry kids)
-Interviews will be audio-recorded and video-recorded and saved to an external hard drive, reviewed only for the purposes of this research study

-PLEASE BE AWARE this research will be conducted online, and your confidentiality will be maintained to the degree permitted by the technology used. No guarantees can be made regarding the interception of data sent via the Internet by any third parties. I will, however, use careful precautions to protect data confidentiality once it is collected.

If you think you’re interested in participating, send me a PM or post a reply. I’ll either send you my @uchicago.edu address for you to reach out to, or you can directly PM me your email and I’ll send along further information regarding the study/an official consent document to review.

Hmm…
Got any proof that you're who you say you are?

Well, not sure what constitutes proof, but here's a dropbox link to the consent form, which details the study. I was a little unsure of whether I could post such a thing to the forums (it has my name/contact info), but I'd end up sending this to anyone who was interested anyways:

Consent Form

Relevant excerpt:

Who can I contact if I have questions or concerns about this research study?
If you have questions, you are free to ask them now. If you have questions later, you may contact the researchers at:

William Carosella
(650) 996 0985
wcarosella@uchicago.edu
IStudyMemes@uchicago.edu

Morris Fred (this is my academic advisor)
mfred@uchicago.edu

If you have any questions about your rights as a participant in this research, you can contact the following office at the University of Chicago:

Social & Behavioral Sciences Institutional Review Board
University of Chicago
5835 South Kimbark – Judd 333
Chicago, IL 60637
Phone: (773) 834-7835; Fax: (773) 834-8700
Email: sbs-irb@uchicago.edu

Here is also a pic of me with my UChicago ID card – date assigned is from when I started as an undergrad:

Well, you may want to change your avatar so that people won't mistaken you as a spambot.

Fair enough, thanks for the pointer!

im only 17, but i gotta say this is really cool of you dude. I hope lots of people sign up

Damn, I'm just 17, well next time. But till that good luck to your project!

Yeah – it's unfortunate that any sort of study that involves under 18 participants requires way heavier procedural oversight, even if it's just for interviews :-/

Thanks for the support though!

Hmm this could be interesting. I'm gonna seriously consider this. Haven't had a good chance to rant about Advice Animals yet. You might wanna consider doing this same thing for hashtags, then you'd have no shortage of participants from this site.

I'm interested. Sure, I'll take part.

When would these interviews be taking place?

University of Georgia student here. I'm a communication minor and I know exactly how it is with these kinds of studies, especially with how hard it is to get participants. I might have some time to help if you need it.

I'm willing to participate in your study.

It's funny, I'll be a University of Georgia student next semester. Right now I'm at Kennesaw.

You got featured on the front page.

Hey all,

Thanks for expressing interest and volunteering your time! Interviews should be next week or the week after, I'll reach out to y'all individually to set up times. I'm in the middle of a move this weekend so Internet access is sparse as I traverse the country, but those who kindly volunteered, expect PMs sometime Sunday to schedule :)

This is a cool idea. Way back when I was in college I wish I'd been able to do studies like this! I thought there may be an upper age limit but no, so even though I am older than y'all put together I would still like to participate ;) Gotta love memes :)

I did the interview on Monday afternoon, and I had a great time.