Looking for input

[ncait]

Hi everyone. I am currently working on the preliminary stage of my thesis. My topic is bdsm, in particular, what draws people to it and the communication necessary for such a relationship to work. I will be building on this over the next 2 years, but for now, that is what I am looking at at this stage. Currently, I am attempting to create my research method. It will be a combination of survey and interviews. Unfortunately, I am experiencing some writers block. I am having trouble coming up with what questions to ask for the interviews. I am trying to use mostly open ended questions so I can obtain qualitative data without making a participant overly uncomfortable.

I guess what I'm asking here, is for opinions on what kind of questions would produce the best results for my purpose. I am not looking for participants at this time. My survey will mostly be rating the importance of certain values on a scale. If you have any values you like feel free to say.

Anything helps. At this point, I am not actually conducting the research, just preparing to. Thank you

[lj]

My immediate thought is that you have a huge subject to examine, and you may have to focus on a particular area.

Any survey requires a sample group - will you draw your sample from a specific type, for example if you ask questions to people on this site, I suspect you will get responses from mainly men (judging by thefrequency of posting by gender) and a high number of solo players (whether solo by choice or for other reasons) Go to a Munch and the sample will be totally different. Ask a church group, totally different again!

As you are interested in what draws people to BDSM, I would start by asking if your interviewee (from whatever sample) thinks they are kinky, how they define kinky, what makes them think they are kinky, would they like to be kinky but haven't ried to be (I use "kinky" as it is not quite so threatening as BDSM, which after all stands for "Bondage, Domination and SadoMasochism")

You could use a series of questions starting at the "vanilla" end of kink, rating the answers on a 1-5 scale - some of the BDSM quizzes might give you some pointers on suitable questions

Once you have established a person's potential as a suitable subject, you can then investigate their actual involvement.

Is this going in the right direction?

[ncait]

That is the right direction. The questions you mentioned will be posed in year 2 of my thesis (it is a 3 year thesis). For now, I am focused in on communication and values. Things like how conflict is navigated, how likes /dislikes, expectations, daily communication happen. This will then be contrasted to vanilla relationships. My supervisor recommended this approach for first year due to the lack of formal research in the field pertaining to my end goal.


As for sample, I will be using a n=50-100 model. Gender, dominant/sub status will be via random sampling. I will also have a n= 30 control group of vanilla. I have already attended several munches and several forums, groups to gauge interest.

My problem is less what to study, and more the how to get the info I want via open ended questions, servey data. The open ended questions are what is giving me trouble because I know what info I want, just cant figure out a good way to get it. And thanks to ethics council restrictions at this stage ( I can post here about it because it is viewable to the public and I am not actually gathering data), testing my questions is a very grey area

[Shannon SteelSlave]

Welcome back, Cait. I would like to 1st compliment your courage in taking on this controversial subject as a project.
I agree with LJ that "kink" could be used as a softer and more general term to approach people with.
Let me know if you want me to list out some good base questions to ask. Not sure if that is what you are looking for, and not sure if you want to hear any you may have thought of on your own.
1 suggestion is that if you can use anonymous data for tough questions, you can post a poll here with the explanation that it is thesis research, and I am sure most everyone will participate to help for that reason. You may even get some helpful responses, but the option always exists to remain unknown. Let me know if you need any help posting a poll, we can work it out in the background. (PM, email)
Thanks for your contributions and keep up the good work. Shannon salutes

[Shannon SteelSlave]

Another of those comfort words you might try is "play". To describe actions such as gag play, pony play, ect. Can also be used to describe what we talk about doing here. Be it bondage, role play, bdsm tasks. Just a quick thought I wanted get down in writing before I lost it.

[ncait]

Thanks for the input shan. First of all, I never left! Just been kinda lurking.

The plan for the actual research demands anonymity due to ethics so that isnt even on my radar.

Also, you are falling into the same trap I've been struggling with. This is a 3 year long project. I'm in the first year. The eventual goal is to analyze why people are drawn to kink, and what they get out of it (other than a good time ) right now though, all I am studying is communication and values and how they contrast to vanilla relations. Things like conflict navigation, partner selection, expression of desires, and setting of boundaries.

[bound_jenny]

I am studying is communication and values and how they contrast to vanilla relations. Things like conflict navigation, partner selection, expression of desires, and setting of boundaries.

In my experience, the basis for a good BDSM relationship is trust. There needs to be a mutual trust between the Dominant and the submissive for it to work (basically, one of the mechanisms of partner selection). The submissive puts his or her safety in the hands of the Dominant - so there's an important trust right there. Who would entrust one's own safety to someone whose motives, practices and attitude are dubious? Who regularly ignores safe words? Not me!

The Dominant must also trust the submissive to be honest about what they are looking for. Proper decisions need proper input.

Which all comes to conflict navigation, expression of desires, and setting of boundaries - I'd put that under the global umbrella of negotiation. Both partners must negotiate their preferences, limits, safe words, etc. before any scene starts.

This type of communication may flow over into non-kink life, which could be a great asset for anyone working in a domain where communication and negotiation skills are needed. Or in a couple, more importantly, where communication and conflict resolution are part and parcel of everyday life. It could be that some communication pitfalls of vanilla couples are avoided (not always, but I can't see how such skills cannot help...).

Yes, I admit, in the end, a gross summary of the goals sought by each partner is simply, a good time . Both need to walk away (preferably) from the completed scene with a sense of fulfillment, of satisfaction, of contentment that everything that was sought out had been found (and sometimes some extra pleasant surprises ). This satisfaction and contentment boosts morale and could contribute to a healthier social life in general. It's much more interesting to talk to someone who's full of contentment than to a grumpy, angry person (and there a lot of those... ).

Basically, grumpy people need more kinky sex.

That's my angle, my 2 cents worth.

Hope that helps you find your angle for your study.

Good luck and have fun doing it.

Jenny.