I guess it depends on the e-mailing lists or internet links one explores, because I know some links where ethnic minorities are overly represented. So, what is important is to take note of the source of the relevant links. This is just like going to a gay club or social club for disabled people and conclude that there are more gay or disabled people in UK than straight or non-disabled people basing the analysis on where the data was collected. We need to be more analytical when dealing with such issues.
Tsitsi
Larry Arnold <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
That is what I would have expected, however I also suspect that over time, particularly ten years
that is changing. It is certainly an area that is ripe for research, but it is somewhat of a side
issue for me at the moment, I just want to gain some perspective when it comes to recruiting
potential research subjects via the various lists and fora that I am familiar with.
Certainly my impression of the lists that I am on, is that they are overwhelmingly middle class and
educated. I have to say it, even the representation of autistics is skewed that way, and mostly
white too.
I may be first world, white and I suppose educated (through my own efforts) but affluent I am not, I
am living in a condemned property whose termination is forever postponed and I am proud not to be a
speaker of RP.
My internet mastery is probably quite an exception, but then I am an exception in everything. I
think it is cool that I can probably beat the pants of most people on this list when it comes to a
google placing, though I am fighting hard with a woo woo namesake all the time who is gradually
gaining ground :(
It is interesting to see how the online world has come on since 1997. I had a web site in 1997 and
in 1999 when I was diagnosed there were a number of web sites by autistics but nothing like the way
it is now.
I expect that like the research which shows that families with a disabled member are more likely to
have access to a car than others even though it represents a more significant proportion of there
income, for people like me, with the total obsessiveness that I have about an on line presence, it
is more likely even though it consumes so much income, and I tell you it does when you are renting
servers and paying for domain names.
Larry
> -----Original Message-----
> From: The Disability-Research Discussion List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Margo Milne
> Sent: 28 November 2007 20:22
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Ethnic and socio economic make up of internet users
>
> I looked very briefly at this point in a paper I gave at a
> conference the other day. I've copied and pasted the relevant
> bit...not relating just to the UK though.
>
> 'Surveys consistently show that Internet users are more
> likely to be white, male, first world residents, relatively
> affluent and relatively well educated in comparison to any
> more general population.'
>
> My main reference for it was:
> Coomber, R., Using the Internet for Survey Research.
> Sociological Research Online, 1997. 2(2)
>
> ...which I know is elderly but the same seems still to apply,
> if to a lesser extent. Sorry I don't have any actual figures.
> Maybe if you put that Coomber reference into Google Scholar
> and did a citation search you might turn something up?
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Margo
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Tsitsi Chataika (PhD)
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