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Daniel Williams Surveys
By Daniel Williams
Survey 1: Overview
This survey is meant to help me get a general overview of Otherkin society and help narrow down areas so that later I can identify particular areas or aspects to study. If you do not feel comfortable answering a question or part of a question, please do not feel you have to. However, saying why it is you do not want to answer helps me know what the "boundaries" are, and avoid asking similar questions in the future, saving your time and mine. If a question is unclear, you feel you want to add a question or tell me something out of the scope of the survey, or for any other reason you want to contact me, my e-mail address is d_lievwilliams@comcast.net
The more detail you tell me, the better my information will be and the description of Otherkin culture will be more accurate in my ethnography. Do not be afraid to repeat what you have already shared in a previous question. Selected quotes will be used from this survey as well as interviews, and the completed ethnography will be given to at least www.otherkin.org and my cultural anthropology professor. The ethnography may even see larger circulation. Unless explicitly requested otherwise, any information could be included in this report. However, the interview will be compared in an objective manner with others, and nondisclosure of stated private information will be completely honored, so please feel free to share anything you may feel is important.
Please answer these question thoughtfully and take you time, but I also ask that you do so in a timely manner. The more surveys I receive and process, the more specific and relevant future questions will be, which will reflect in the end the accuracy of the ethnography. In general, the more questions you can answer, the better the Otherkin will be represented. This ethnography is due on November 26th, and I would like at least a week to process and write everything, so consider Wednesday, November 19th the deadline for having your input be considered. You may send in information after that date, but I cannot guarantee it will be included. If what I see indicates that the Otherkin cannot be fully represented in the scope of my assignment, I will present an abbreviated for to my professor and continue working on the ethnography on my own time. Already I know the Otherkin are a fascinating and misunderstood culture, and a formal study such as this may help clear many misconceptions and help the Otherkin community further define itself as a real, unique cultural and spiritual people.
1. For my records, what is your name, age, and educational background? Only Kin names will be used in the report, unless you desire otherwise. You have the right to complete anonymity, if you choose. Age may be specific, or not if you prefer (i.e. teens, 20s, middle age, senior). Educational background may include non-credit college courses, after-high school GED degrees, and professional internships/apprenticeships.
2. What do you feel are the characteristics of being Otherkin which make you distinctive from society in general?
3. What is your Kin, and how did you come to realize this?
4. Please describe how important you feel being Otherkin is when interacting with other Otherkin, both online and face-to-face.
5. Please describe how important you feel being Otherkin is when interacting with humans, both online and face-to-face.
6. Between Otherkin and humans, which group do you feel more comfortable with? Why?
7. Would you say that part of being Otherkin is finding a balance between your Kin and human aspects? If so, please describe what you do to maintain (or find) this balance. If not, how would you describe the co-existence of a human exterior and Kin soul and any challenges this may pose?
8. What is a normal week like? Not a schedule, but the high and low parts, the parts you look most forward to and the parts you are least eager to go through. How much of this do you ascribe to you Kin identity? What do you feel is similar to a normal week of an average human?
9. How would you describe your overall worldview? For instance, do you consider yourself a member of a particular religion? How do you think being Otherkin colors or affects your belief system?
10. On a scale of 1 to 100, "1" being utterly scientific and "100" being utterly spiritual, how would you rate yourself? What do you think "utterly scientific" and "utterly spiritual" mean? What part do you think this plays as your identity as Otherkin?
11. This survey is just the first in several I hope to distribute. If you wish to participate in future, more focused surveys, please indicate. Also, if you feel you have special insight or experience in Otherkin culture, I would be interested in conducting an interview, so please contact me if this is so.
Thank you for completing this survey. Again, if you have any questions, unsure what a question is asking, are unclear about the terms I am using, or have further input you would like to provide, feel absolutely free to e-mail me. I check twice a day, and will always respond as soon a I receive a message. If you know of other Otherkin who would like to participate, feel free to give them this survey (unedited, if you please).
-Daniel Liev Williams
Cultural Anthropology Student, Lane Community College
d_lievwilliams@comcast.net
Survey 2: Focus on the Were Communities
This is the next in a series of surveys for an ethnography on Otherkin culture. This survey is being distributed only to those who have responded to Survey 1. Allow a considerable amount of time to answer these topics, as many of these questions may require a good deal of time to thoughtfully answer. There will not be another survey until after the preliminary report is finished.
This survey has a number of multiplied-choice sections. If you feel that none of the options listed apply to you, please make your own statement, but try to answer the question. Please read each question carefully, as some can be very complicated. If there is any confusion to what a question means, please e-mail me before you answer the question, and continue with the survey. I am much more likely to help clarify something if it is brought up separate from the survey response.
There has been a number of individual who have chosen to post their answers for Survey 1 on forums. While this is of course your choice, some of the questions on this survey may be uncomfortable to share with the public. Some of these questions are intensely personal, but also I feel very important to understanding Weres and Otherkin in general. I will use my judgment on what is too personal to include in the ethnography, but if you indicate that you wish something to be withheld from the ethnography I will absolutely honor that request.
In the following weeks I hope to be conduction a number of interviews. I have Yahoo Messenger ( handle: dlievwilliams) and AOL Instant Messenger (handle: dlievwilliams). If you wish to have an interview over one of these services please e-mail me your handle and I will try to schedule a time. If you have another free service that you would prefer, tell me were I could download it and I'll see what I can do.
Again, if there are concerns, questions, or comments regarding this ethnography, feel free to e-mail me at d_lievwilliams@comcast.net.
1. What topics do you discuss online with other therianthropes? If you do meet other were face-to-face, do you discuss similar topics? For each topic that you mention, please rate it on how often and how important this topic is to you on following scales:
5- Often discuss
4- Frequently discuss
3- Sometimes discuss
2- Rarely discuss
1-Never discuss
A- Critical topic
B- Very important topic
C- Somewhat important topic
D- Not an important topic
E- Not an important topic at all
Why do you rate the topics the way you did?
2. How much do you value your online interactions with other therianthropes?
A. Critical ( i.e. necessary for daily mental well-being)
B. Very important (i.e. feel uncomfortable when you haven't for a while)
C. Somewhat important ( i.e. could function well without but is always nice when you do)
D. Not very important ( i.e. usually dull, but sometimes do it anyways)
E. Not important at all (i.e. never interact, or have no emotional attachment to interactions)
Why?
3. *The following question may take a great deal of time to answer. Please allow yourself as long as necessary to thoughtfully complete it. Sometimes dreams are very traumatic. If you do not want a dream mentioned in the ethnography, please say so.*
Have you ever had dreams that you feel relate to you being a therianthrope? If you have, what were these dreams? Please be as detailed as you can. If you have had a number of the same dreams, please approximate how many time they have been repeated. If you have shared any dreams with the community, what were they? Again, if you have shared dreams, how important was it for you that you share these dreams, using the following scale?
A. Critical
B. Very important
C. Somewhat important
D. Not very important
E. Not important at all
Why did you rate the dreams the way you did?
4. What do you think, if anything, you have learned about being therianthrope that is directly related to something you have read on the Internet? If any of these resources are essays or articles, please indicate where I would find them. Please rate how much you value these resources using the following scale.
A. Critical
B. Very important
C. Somewhat important
D. Not very important
E. Not important at all
5. What is your definition of Otherkin, and what is your definition of therianthrope?
6. What forums and websites do you frequent or like the most? Why?
7. Using the following scale, how often do you interact with Otherkin that are not therianthrope?
5- Often
4- Frequently
3- Sometimes
2- Rarely
1-Never
And how much to do you value these interactions?
A. Critical
B. Very important
C. Somewhat important
D. Not very important
E. Not important at all
Why?
8. How much do you feel you know about other Otherkin Kin? Please describe what you know about or define dragons, elves/fae, and vampires. If there are other categories of Otherkin that you feel are important, please discuss them as well.
9. There is a general consensus in the online communities that some who claim to be therianthrope or Otherkin are not. How do you feel about this? What reasons do you think people might do this? If you believe you have had encounters with such individuals, please describe them.
10. How do you think most people would react to you yourself being therianthrope, and the Were/Otherkin community at large? How do you feel about this?
11. *Warning: the following question involves a topic that some find extremely disturbing.*
In my research I have heard references to a class of people known as "Hunters". What do you know of them? Have you or anyone you know had a personal encounter with such a person? How dangerous do you feel "Hunters" are?
Thank you for your continued participation in this project. This and the previous survey will go toward a preliminary survey of Otherkin culture, which I will hand in to my anthropology professor on November 27, 2003. However, I will continue this ethnography beyond that class until I am satisfied that I can present and accurate and balanced view of Otherkin. I do not know how long this will be, and in fact I have begun considering making a career of Otherkin study. There will be future surveys, perhaps many more. I will continue to accept new responses and participants, and I still encourage current participants to post Survey 1 on message boards, e-mail copies to those who might be interested, and continue the enthusiasm that has inspired me to take this project from a one-term college paper into something more, whatever that might be.
(Note: Survey 2 is essentially the same for elves, dragons, and vampires)