Monday, October 29, 2007

8 - Coding Dissociation Online

Mallory Biblo: Red Blog
Kristina Moore: Blue Blog
Brianne Winngate: Purple Blog

Braithwaite et al. (1999) coded messages found in an online support forum for those with disabilities in order to measure social support in online groups. Our group blog coded messages found in a Google support room for those individuals suffering from a dissociative disorder.

Google Groups – alt.support.dissociation
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.support.diabetes/topics?lnk=gschg

The six online group support factors we observed were:
1.) Information (support providing other individuals with advice, referrals, situation appraisal and teaching)
2.) tangible assistance (support in which one shows active participation either by performing a direct task or expressing willingness to assist others)
3.) esteem support (support in which others strengthen another individual’s importance, competence and rights through compliments)
4.) network support (support connecting similar others)
5.) emotional support (support for an individuals emotions by giving affection, encouragement, prayer, etc.)
6.) humor

Our findings are attached below:

% inter-rater reliability 0.608333333
frequency % of msgs
Information 16 0.8
Tangible assistance 4 0.2
Esteem support 15 0.75
Network support 16 0.8
Emotional support 19 0.95
Humor 3 0.15


Our results differ from Braithwaite et al’s. (1999) results in a number of ways. Braithwaite found information support to appear extremely frequently, accounting for 31.3% of social support providing in an online support group. We observed information support to appear much more frequently, for it was observed in 80% of all messages. Both Braithwaite and our group found that tangible and network support were not observed very frequently, each appeared in less than 10% of all messages. Our group coded a much higher rate of esteem support than Braithwaites’s online group (75% as compared with 18.6%). Additionally, emotional support was given much more frequently in our dissociation group (95%) as compared with Braithwaite’s disability group (40%). On the other hand, humor was observed much more frequently in Braithwaite’s messages and rarely observed in our messages. Braithewaite’s inter-rater reliability (80%) was 20% higher than our groups inter-rate reliability (60%). These percentages are expected because we had difficulty fully understanding the meaning of these new terms and the messages were extremely ambiguous.

Wallace’s numbers states that increased numbers reduce helping behavior. This happens because of a decrease in “noticeability,” the use of other people to interpret our environment, and the diffusion of responsibility. We can relate Wallace’s numbers to our findings in Google’s dissociation support group because even though there were only a few posters in each group, there were high levels of emotional and esteem support. These few posters felt more socially obligated to provide the other few individuals in their group with support because it is a smaller online community. The messages relate also to the four dimensions of attraction to online social support found by Walther and Boyd. These four dimesions are: social distance, anonymity, interaction management, and access. Social distances allows for the appreciation of the greater expertise available in the larger online social network. This was clearly seen in our messages, people asked for and respected advice of others in the online world. Anonymity allows for increased ability to avoid embarrassment and increased confidence in providing support. The posters of the messages wrote extremely personal things probably because the other individuals in the group didn’t really know who they really are. Interaction management allows users to appreciate the ability to craft messages carefully and to read at their own confidence. Posters were able to take the time to write what they wanted other to see and could read other posts at their own convenience. The forth dimension, access, allows people to get support online whenever they want or need it. Posters of the messages we read could post messages or read others’ messages 24/7.

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