Social Media, Sociality, and Survey Research

CHAPTER 10

Recruiting Participants with Chronic Conditions in Second Life

Saira N. Haque and Jodi Swicegood,

RTI International

Second Life (www.secondlife.com) is a virtual world where individuals represent themselves through avatars. (An avatar is a graphical representation of the user that can exist as an extension of self or as an alternate character.) Once created, the physical appearance of an avatar can be customized, and some users choose to create multiple avatars. The purposes of Second Life include socializing, entertainment, education, and role-playing. As of March 2013, Second Life had more than 29 million registered accounts.

Second Life has promise as a means of studying patients with chronic medical conditions. Unlike acute illnesses, people with chronic conditions live with symptoms for years. In addition, the severity of many chronic conditions has the potential to render part of the population homebound. In a study titled Recruiting Special and Hard-to-Reach Populations in Second Life, we discovered that communities have arisen organically in Second Life to support users with these conditions (Swicegood et al., 2012). Through their avatars, users experience presence—as they focus on their avatar, the way it moves by walking, running, or flying, and its interactions with others—users experience varying levels of immersion in their virtual surroundings. As online communities allow for the exchange of experiential and medical information, many provide long-term ...