University of Exeter study on Vapers - Participants needed!

[amb236]

Hello everyone,

A student colleague and I are looking for people in Exeter and surrounding areas to take part in a study exploring the vaper identity. 
If you have been using e-cigarettes for 6 months or more, whether or not you smoke cigarettes, we’d love to talk to you.



What’s involved?

This study seeks to deepen our understanding of e-cigarette use and vaper identity by talking to users. We will be conducting one to one interviews lasting approximately 1 hour in which we will explore themes surrounding well-being, health behaviour and what it means to be a vaper.
Ideally these will be held on the University Campus but we may be able to make arrangements to travel to you. 


If you’d like to take part, please email [e-mail]



Lead Investigator: Dr Avril Mewse, Department of Psychology, University of Exeter.


Many thanks! 

[Chrissie]

Hello & welcome amb236

Just to let all forum members know, amb236 kindly requested permission to post this & approval was given for her to do so.

[prr]

Go on then amb236, I live in Newton Abbot and have been exclusively vaping for 3 years next month.

[Greg]

Welcome to AAEC amb236

Why restrict yourself to Exeter and surrounding areas in the age of Skype and FaceTime etc ?

[djs]

I'd love to help, but it's a long way for me.
However, if you wanted to 'ask the forum' some useful questions I'm sure you'd get some useful answers.

The problem (as I see) it with many studies is they don't really ask enough of the good questions and skirt around some obvious stuff.
For example there are a load of people out there who have not quit smoking and therefore get classed into a dual-fuel category where studies then go on to suggest e-cigs perhaps aren't as effective as they 'make out'. There is nothing to say anybody should be doing anything (smoke, vape, dual-fuel), but given the hundreds of thousands of people who think e-cigs are rubbish because they buy rubbish e-cigs is kind of sad for the movement.
Of course, I would argue that too many of the ineffective e-cigs require too much will-power (not enough nicotine yield), whereas the modern kit (non-tobacco-company) is straight-in Nicotine-Craving slaying hardware.
This sheds and interesting light on what the tobacco companies 'want' us to buy. It also might well mean that the NHS goes on to waste millions (and I mean many noughts...) on products which simply refund the tobacco companies in a decidedly ironic way.

Anyway... I'd be up for a questionnaire.

Good luck.

[meganemerald]

Sound interesting! But I'm not in the Exeter area either. Would like to hear your results though

[amb236]

Jan 20, 2016 21:31:07 GMT prr said:

Go on then amb236 , I live in Newton Abbot and have been exclusively vaping for 3 years next month.

Thank you for the Wecome Chrissie! 

prr - Thank you! Your time is very much appreciated. Can you drop us an email with your availability to arrange an interview? Many thanks.

[amb236]

Jan 20, 2016 21:33:59 GMT Greg said:

Welcome to AAEC amb236

Why restrict yourself to Exeter and surrounding areas in the age of Skype and FaceTime etc ?

We are aiming very much for a qualitative in depth, 'data rich' approach. We feel this is best acheived by meeting face to face for the best quality of communication. I admittedly use skype frequently for personal use, but this is a small study and we really want to focus in on individual experience. When people are at home using skype or facetime there are often distractions, that and we like to meet new people in person!

 

[Chrissie]

Jan 20, 2016 21:47:26 GMT amb236 said:

Jan 20, 2016 21:33:59 GMT Greg said:

Welcome to AAEC amb236

Why restrict yourself to Exeter and surrounding areas in the age of Skype and FaceTime etc ?

We are aiming very much for a qualitative in depth, 'data rich' approach. We feel this is best acheived by meeting face to face for the best quality of communication. I admittedly use skype frequently for personal use, but this is a small study and we really want to focus in on individual experience. When people are at home using skype or facetime there are often distractions, that and we like to meet new people in person!

 

Could you give us an idea how far you are willing to travel to meet people in person?

[Greg]

Jan 20, 2016 21:47:26 GMT amb236 said:

Jan 20, 2016 21:33:59 GMT Greg said:

Welcome to AAEC amb236

Why restrict yourself to Exeter and surrounding areas in the age of Skype and FaceTime etc ?

We are aiming very much for a qualitative in depth, 'data rich' approach. We feel this is best acheived by meeting face to face for the best quality of communication. I admittedly use skype frequently for personal use, but this is a small study and we really want to focus in on individual experience. When people are at home using skype or facetime there are often distractions, that and we like to meet new people in person!

 

Your prerogative of course amb236 but I'd have thought Vaping enthusiasts would be your best source of information and you'll find lots of those here, not sure how many you're looking for though or how many here reside in your limited area.

[Greg]

Jan 20, 2016 21:51:19 GMT Chrissie said:

Jan 20, 2016 21:47:26 GMT amb236 said:

We are aiming very much for a qualitative in depth, 'data rich' approach. We feel this is best acheived by meeting face to face for the best quality of communication. I admittedly use skype frequently for personal use, but this is a small study and we really want to focus in on individual experience. When people are at home using skype or facetime there are often distractions, that and we like to meet new people in person!

 

Could you give us an idea how far you are willing to travel to meet people in person?

I'm guessing Aberdeen is out of the question 

[amb236]

Jan 20, 2016 21:37:41 GMT djs said:

I'd love to help, but it's a long way for me.
However, if you wanted to 'ask the forum' some useful questions I'm sure you'd get some useful answers.

The problem (as I see) it with many studies is they don't really ask enough of the good questions and skirt around some obvious stuff.
For example there are a load of people out there who have not quit smoking and therefore get classed into a dual-fuel category where studies then go on to suggest e-cigs perhaps aren't as effective as they 'make out'. There is nothing to say anybody should be doing anything (smoke, vape, dual-fuel), but given the hundreds of thousands of people who think e-cigs are rubbish because they buy rubbish e-cigs is kind of sad for the movement.
Of course, I would argue that too many of the ineffective e-cigs require too much will-power (not enough nicotine yield), whereas the modern kit (non-tobacco-company) is straight-in Nicotine-Craving slaying hardware.
This sheds and interesting light on what the tobacco companies 'want' us to buy. It also might well mean that the NHS goes on to waste millions (and I mean many noughts...) on products which simply refund the tobacco companies in a decidedly ironic way.

Anyway... I'd be up for a questionnaire.

Good luck.

Hi djs, thanks for your comments. A study using survery method was undertaken last year by a student colleague of mine, which was an excellent peice of work, currently seeking publication. We are hoping to get a bit deeper into the meaning of being a vaper, which is why questionnaires arn't appropriate this time. Like you say, there's not enough out there in the research body that speaks directly to users, and when questions are asked, they are limited in their focus. We will be asking a lot of open questions, allowing the interviewee to really share their opinions, experiences and thoughts. It will be loosely guided but we are using a thematic analysis approach, so we are really hoping to get the ideas and the lead from the people we speak to. 

[prr]

Will do amb236

[amb236]

Jan 20, 2016 21:51:19 GMT Chrissie said:

Jan 20, 2016 21:47:26 GMT amb236 said:

We are aiming very much for a qualitative in depth, 'data rich' approach. We feel this is best acheived by meeting face to face for the best quality of communication. I admittedly use skype frequently for personal use, but this is a small study and we really want to focus in on individual experience. When people are at home using skype or facetime there are often distractions, that and we like to meet new people in person!

 

Could you give us an idea how far you are willing to travel to meet people in person?

Yes, of course, it might help knowing that. I have a car so can travel to participants homes to fit around work potentially, however I am restricted by childcare issues and also fuel costs. As we are an undergraduate research project, there is very limited/non existant funding. My research partner Victoria has more time but doesn't drive. We are hoping to fill the number of participants needed in the Exeter area for this reason. 

[Deleted]

amb236

Hello.

A few questions:.

What is the purpose of this research? Ie what do you hope to garner from it?

Is it being funded by anyone outside of your university or is it being conducted for anyone outside of your university?

Will the sample be filtered by using demographic analysis? For example people who earn more money than others may be able to afford better vaping equipment therefore making the experience better. Those who are unemployed or low wages earners may not have the funds to purchase better equipment and therefore might not get from vaping what others might. Would this not skew your data and give you spurious results? Or do you intend on weighting the data to remove these variables?

These three questions come off the top of my head. I'll have many more once I've considered it further.