Thank you for taking a look at the first draft of my questionnaire.
You will have noticed that I gave participants a wide choice of responses to the questions describing thoughts about the reasons for loneliness and ways of avoiding being lonely. I want to give them a lot of choices. But is going down such a long list boring or confusing?
One purpose of the questionnaire to to gather information about the variety of strategies people develop to interact comfortably with others and be comfortable on their own. Why do people feel lonely? Some may not have developed strategies that allow them to be comfortable in their current sitution. Others may be in such a difficult situation that no strategy would be effective.
A second purpose is to encourage participants to think about their perceptions of loneliness. I hope that going down the long list will help them to appreciate the extent of variation in people's lives and feelings.
The recent warnings and public discussions about loneliness and “social isolation” don't address the complexity in any definite way. I would like to gather evidence to inform and improve the public discussions.
I would be grateful for thoughts and advice on the questionnaire and the project as a whole. You can leave me your thoughts (anonymously if you like) by clicking
. Or you can email me on lesleynewson@gmail.com