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Zephyrhawke: Critique of Cabiria Article
Kate Zephyrhawke
Dr. Downey– Virtual Worlds Research
Critique of Cabiria article
Feb. 7, 2009
Dr. Jonathan Cabiria is a professor of psychology at Baker College in Flint, Michigan. This article discusses first the social construction of identity and how certain populations, such as gays and lesbians, are marginalized, often leading them to have negative self-image, feelings of loneliness, isolation, depression and so on. As identity is the primary psychosocial construction for an adolescent trying to fit into the adult world, it is extremely important for families and educators to look out for the well-being of teenagers and to find ways to address problems they may face adjusting to their social circumstances. Research has shown that a person's self-esteem and self-concept can change in response to either positive or negative remarks made by others, and those who are marginalized may become withdrawn or actively antisocial in self-defense. In a 1987 study at a center for gay and lesbian people in New York City, researchers noted that the most frequent problem presented was isolation–social, emotional, and cognitive–and often resulted in suicide ideation or suicide attempts. Dr. Cabiria predicted that experience in virtual worlds would provide a safe space for these marginalized people to become comfortable with their sexual identity, to begin to interact with others in a low risk environment, and to develop coping skills to deal with possible negative experiences in the real world. Cabiriafound that not only did the virtual environment of Second Life provide positive benefits for these marginalized people, but that these benefits transferred to the real world. These same kinds of benefits could be of enormous value in education for troubled adolescents who are not performing to their potential.
Introduction:Dr. Cabiria’s topic does seem to be an important one for society, not just for a small segment of the population, such as gays and lesbians, but for many other minority groups who are marginalized for any number of reasons that people may be or perceive themselves as outside the norm and not well accepted. The language is quite clear and readable, not dense, ponderous and pretentious as research articles can often be. Thereis no distinct literature review, since, according to the Grounded Theory methodology, this would give preconceived notions about what to look for. There is, however, adiscussion of the concepts of the social construction of identity which references previous research, and in this the paper is positioned well. The problem is well-defined as well as significant: gay and lesbian adolescents often feel isolated to the point of suicide ideation or suicide attempts. Cabiria based his prediction of the positive results that would ensue from engagement with others in the virtual world on the Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotions(Fredrickson, 2001), which posits that people can best develop both resilience and skills to cope with stressful or negative environments through small positive experiences (in Cabiria, 2008 p. 5).
Methods:This is a qualitative study based on Grounded Theory– a methodology used in the social sciences which emphasizes generation of theory from data in the process of conducting research. This is the reverse of traditional methods: from the data collected, key points are marked with codes, the codes then grouped into similar concepts, which are then formed into categories. These categories form the basis of a theory (or hypothesis). Cabiria used software analysis tools and manual coding for the creation of categories. The data was collected from questionnaires as well as semi-structured interviews. He employed content analysis of both the interviews and the open-ended responses of the questionnaires to discover emerging themes while comparing and contrasting participant responses. These are appropriate implements for a qualitative study which concerns 1) the construction of multiple identities, 2) responses that elicited tacit knowledge and subjective understandings/interpretations, 3) delving in-depth into complexities and process, 4) little-known phenomena (Marshall & Rossman, 2006, in Cabiria, 2008). While 130 participants composed the initial sample population, 32 were selected for the first phase of the study and 14 were selected to complete the full study. All completed three questionnaires and participated in a minimum of two hour-long interviews. SPSS Text Analysis for Surveys was used to search for meaningful terms and categorization; the results were compared with hand-coding during the search for emergent themes and theories. Since Cabiria also used an audit trail, recording his actions (process notes, intentions notes, personal reactions notes and instrumentations notes), other researchers can determine how conclusions were drawn. While extraneous data are possible, considering the fluid concept of self being studied, I don’t see them as significantly altering the outcome, and the data collection instruments seem appropriate, reliable, and valid.
Results: I thought the results were clearly stated, although Cabiria did not provide his questionnaire or interview questions; my assumption is that this was a space constraint of the publishing journal.
Discussion: The findings were well-summarized. Although various aspects of affect were explored, the study was rather simple, looking mainly for psychological benefits transferrable to the real world. I wondered if further analysis would reveal specific details and patterns of benefits, some greater than others, or if there were areas of no benefit. Cabiria didn’t mention this. The discussion does lead back to the study’s objectives, and I can’t think of any alternate conclusions to the research as discussed. His prose is concise, clear, and correct, his arguments rational. I would have liked to have known more about the settings and the demographics of the participants as well as how they were selected– this seems like a glaring omission.