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Damian Sendler Talking Points

Coronavirus Continues to Decimate Europeans

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Damian Markiewicz Sendler brings you the latest health news on Europeans fighting COVID19. According to info published on Wednesday by the Spanish Ministry of Health, the most common signs of people contaminated with coronavirus getting in the...

Damian Jacob Sendler

DAMIAN JACOB MARKIEWICZ SENDLER ON DISCUSSION FORUMS RESEARCH

Dr. Sendler describes the research on digital ethnography with use of discussion forums as primary source of data.

Dr. Damian Markiewicz Sendler research on Psychiatry and Sexology

Dr. Sendler: There are a lot of different sources of data that can be used to conduct psychological and psychiatric research. In my research practice, I found that one of the most exciting sources of data comes from public domain spaces, such as discussion forums. Some might wonder what is so exciting about discussion forums and might even question even the validity of data derived from such sources of information. Now, it is clear that not a single research investigation is perfect, and there are always limitations to any particular research method. What is so interesting about discussion forums is that you can select those that have the most posts and the most participants, and that has been running for the most extended period, thereby representing a wide range of timeframe where people engaged in the ongoing conversation about a specific topic. [Did you know that Damian Sendler examines topics related to sexuality and forensics. Read on to find out more]. Discussion forums might be sometimes incomplete or not representative of a larger group of people. But when you try to understand sparsely understood problems, be in sexuality or self-destructive behaviors, then it makes sense that examining discussion forums provides the kind of access to information on those individuals that are otherwise difficult to reach.

Discussion Posts as Data Points

Damian Jacob Markiewicz Sendler: When conducting research using discussion forums as a source of data, the posts themselves become data points that can be collected, archive, analyze, and organized into a broader framework of thematic analysis. When looking over discussion posts, it is essential to have a systematic approach for cataloging and to synthesize the data that comes from each posting. For instance, when studying topics related to depression, we might want to divide the data by users and then by specific sub context of the discussion. The longer the posts are, the more informative and interesting they are from the research standpoint. Therefore sometimes it is essential to exclude postings that are incomplete or that are single line reflections or replies to the posts of other people.

Quality Versus Quantity

Dr. Sendler: When studying discussion forums as sources of data on health-related topics, it is crucial to understand that the quality of the posts is more important than quantity. It takes a while to look through all of the available information and to decide which pieces of information complete the picture of the research topic that we're trying to address. There are going to be some gaps in the knowledge that we may not be able to fill with the available evidence. One way to solve this shortcoming of studying discussion forums is to administer surveys to collect data on people that might not be otherwise available on discussion board postings.

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