Investigating online harassment and offline violence among young people in Thailand: methodological approaches, lessons learned

Abstract

Violence in the physical (offline) world is a well-documented health and social issue among young people worldwide. In Southeast Asia, online harassment (defined as intentional behaviours to harm others through the Internet or through mobile devices) is less well documented. In this paper, we describe and critically discuss the mixed-methods data collection approach we used to build a contextualised understanding of offline violence and online harassment among 15-24 year-old students and out-of-school youth in Central Thailand. We mapped linkages between offline violence and online harassment, and with their possible correlates including gender, sexuality, and mobile media or Internet use. Data collection methods included in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and a custom-built, self-administered computerised survey. Using mixed methods enabled us to collect holistic qualitative/quantitative data from both students and out-of-school youth. In our discussion, we focus on gender, sexuality, class and ethnicity issues in recruiting out-of-school youth; definition and measurement issues; technical issues in using a computerised survey; ethical issues surrounding data collection from minors as well as privacy and confidentiality concerns in collecting data in both in-school and out-of-school settings; and the general implications of using mixed methods.

Cross-sex hormone use, functional health and mental well-being among transgender men (Toms) and Transgender Women (Kathoeys) in Thailand

“…Despite the limitations, this study proves that research among transgender men and transgender women is not impossible and should be conducted and documented, similar to other hard-to-reach populations (Ojanen et al 2014). The study also provides preliminary data for a hard-to-reach population that can be used for future research to further understand cross-sex hormone use, mental health, and the role of family and peer relationships among transgender people in Thailand and the Southeast Asian region.…”

Connections between online harassment and offline violence among youth in Central Thailand

“…Our qualitative findings from the same study (Ojanen et al, 2014, p. 12) indicated that youth in our context had narrow definitions of violence, and so, had we asked about “violence” experiences, many of the behaviors we included in our survey as violent behaviors would probably not have been counted had we asked specifically about “violence” experiences.…”

“…We have described the methodology and discussed methodological issues of the study elsewhere in detail (Ojanen et al, 2014). The data were collected from September 2011 to March 2012 using a computerized survey.…”

“…Correspondingly, Wolak, Mitchell, and Finkelhor (2007) introduced the term “online harassment” to refer to the larger phenomenon of intentional behaviors to harm others through the Internet or mobile devices that may or may not involve power imbalances and repetition. We follow their usage (see Ojanen et al, 2014), reserving the term “cyberbullying” for intentionally harmful behaviors that occur in the context of power imbalance and repetition, except when referring to works of other authors using the term.…”

‘Hu Hong’ (bad thing): parental perceptions of teenagers’ sexuality in urban Vietnam

“…Based on previous qualitative studies [ 23 , 25 – 28 ] and suggestions from the CAB, 4 FGDs (6 participants/group) were conducted with 12 male and 12 female participants stratified by gender and level of education. Participants were recruited by snowball through key informants and members of the CAB.…”