METHODOLOGY & RESULTS (SURVEY)
3.1 Research subjects
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CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY & RESULTS (SURVEY)
This study begins with a survey in order to investigate some overriding correlations among the concepts. In addition, as explained later in this chapter, to complement the responses to the survey, this survey is treated as a pre-test, whose results will be used for the author to continue to carry out interviews with some of the survey respondents in order to uncover some truths and findings that add weight to the significance of the results gathered through the survey. As a result, this chapter will focus on the survey as a pre-test and will discuss some simple findings.
In the next chapter, the questions to the intensive interviews will be partly based on the results of the pre-test.
3.1 Research subjects
The aim of this study is to find out whether users of Causes will continue to participate in real life political activism concerning Proposition 8 and same-sex marriage legislation after being involved in specific cause groups and carrying out the actions mentioned above which are defined as the uses of Causes. This section will briefly outline some fundamental concepts related to Proposition 8 and then discuss the process of selecting subjects to take part in the survey and the interview.
3.1.1 Proposition 8, its proponents and opponents
Wikipedia.com provides a detailed account of the California Proposition 8.
According to the article on Wikipedia.com, Proposition 8, also known as the California Marriage Protection Act, was a ballot proposition and constitutional amendment passed in the November 2008 state elections. The measure added a new
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provision, Section 7.5 of the Declaration of Rights, to the California Constitution. The new section reads: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” By restricting the definition of marriage to opposite-sex couples, the proposition overturned the California Supreme Court’s ruling of In re Marriage Cases that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry.
The campaigns for Proposition 8 were led by the ProtectMarriage.com organization and raised $39.9 million. Some of the ideologies on which their claims were based were that heterosexual marriage was an essential institution of society, that if the constitution was not changed, children would be led on to believe gay marriage was okay, and finally that gays did not have the right to redefine marriage for everyone else.
On the other hand, the campaigns against Proposition 8 were led by Equality for All, a renowned gay activist group. They raised $43.3 million. The basis of their argument is that the freedom to marry is essential to the society, that the California Constitution should guarantee the same rights and freedom to everyone and that having different sets of rules because of differences in sexual orientation is unfair.
3.1.2 Selection of subjects
Even though there are two camps of political campaigns which are dedicated either for or against Proposition 8, this current study will only focus on one of them, namely those against Proposition 8 and for same-sex marriage. There are several reasons for this choice. First of all, the objective of this study is to find out the relationship between online activism and conventional activism. Therefore, even though incorporating the ideologies of marriage from both camps will be valuable, for a study on this scale, such incorporation might complicate the matter to the extent behind the comprehension of this study. The ideologies, however, can be a
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valuable variable to take into account for future studies. Secondly, the Internet is especially valuable for those who are socially marginalized to reach their political aims. As a result of that, it is reasonable to select the Cause groups which are dedicated to overturn Proposition 8.
The application of Causes on Facebook has a function which allows users to search for cause groups of a subject matter. By typing in some key words of the subject, a list of cause groups related to the subject will appear on the screen. First, the key words, ‘Proposition 8’ were used to do the search. A list of 35 cause groups (as of 2010/3/10) dedicated to Proposition 8, both for and against, appeared on the screen. The author then chose the three cause groups on the list with the largest numbers of members. They are respectively DEFEAT Proposition 8 (109,617 members as of 2010/3/10), REPEAL Prop 8 (43,315 members as of 2010/3/10) and Don’t eliminate same-sex marriage in California (3,874 members as of 2010/3/10). The reason these three groups were selected is because they have the largest numbers of members and thus can maximize the number of respondents to the survey. However, due to the lack of survey respondents, the author then chose and input the key words, ‘same-sex marriage’ to do the search. A list of 94 cause groups (as of 2010/4/10) appeared on the screen. Some of the groups are also on the previous list.
Excluding these overlapping groups, another four groups were chosen because of their size. These groups are namely One Million for Same-sex Marriage (444,583 members as of 2010/4/10), Marriage = Person + Person (11,373 members as of 2010/4/10), Legalize Same-sex Marriage (2,108 members as of 2010/4/10), and Support Same Sex Marriage both Gay and Lesbian (2,600 members as of 2010/4/10).
Respondents are recruited through a few channels. First, the author sent out emails to the administrators of the groups and asked them to forward the link to an online survey to the users of the groups. The users were invited to fill out the
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questionnaire online. In the second stage, due to a lack of response, the author then went on to each group and sent individual emails to some users and asked them to forward the link as well. At the same time, the author also asked some friends who are also members of these groups to fill out the online questionnaire and to forward to their friends the link to the questionnaire.