Over the weekend, The International Anime Research Team, led by assistant professor Stephen Reysen at Texas A&M University-Commerce, conducted a survey (as part of the International Anime Research Project) at A-Kon to gain an understanding of the anime fandom and report to find out what they discovered. They also sent me (and others) an email about it, which included the anime survey. Curious about why they're doing it, I sent an email asking if I could ask him about the project, and with his ok, I sent over some questions.
What is the International Anime Research Team, and when was it founded?The International Anime Research Team (IARP) was founded this year. We are a team of social scientists (psychologists and sociologists) who study fans and the fandoms to which they belong by conducting field research at conventions across North America. While our research was not initially focused on anime fandom, we have begun to branch out, looking for similarities and differences between fandoms on important psychological and sociological variables.
I see you're also studying other fandoms in addition to this one. From your perspective, what do you think are the reasons it seems anime fandom has a social stigma compared to everything else?While we are currently studying anime fans, we are also in the process of studying a number of other fandoms, ranging from fantasy sports fans to furries, from bronies to science fiction fans. We hypothesize that anime fans experience stigma from broader society for the same reasons that other fandoms experience stigma: anime fans have interests that are outside the norm of the general population. Insofar as anime is treated by the general public as "cartoons," which, themselves, are largely considered to be a childish endeavor, anime fans, like members of similar fandoms (e.g., bronies, furries) experience stigma from a society which believes that such fans need to "grow up." While anime may share this stigma with related fandoms, there may also be idiosyncrasies of the anime fandom, based on its unique history, that contribute to its stigmatization. Testing such idiosyncrasies and their outcomes is just one of the goals of the IARP.
What has been the common misconception you've heard personally about being an anime fan?The IARP began investigating the issue of stereotypes and misconceptions about anime fans by searching through internet forums on the subject of anime fans. While there may not be a single, dominating stereotype about anime fans, common themes include beliefs that anime fans are "white and geeky," socially awkward, wear glasses, are in poor physical shape, and are obsessed with Japanese culture. Although non-anime fans endorse these perceptions of anime fans, we cannot know whether these stereotypes are accurate without conducting a study. We'll be able to address the accuracy of these stereotypes based on portions of the data we are currently collecting. In other words, ask again in a few months (after we've crunched the numbers). We'll be providing basic results (e.g., demographics, mean responses on measures) from the survey on the website. In addition, we'll write longer, in depth, papers about portions of the results for the Phoenix Papers (a free online journal).
How was the process of determining what questions were included in the survey? For example, genre (like fantasy, moe, etc) wasn't included in the survey, so can you share what was off limits, etc?Several factors contribute to the final version of our survey. The process begins with all of the researchers brainstorming hypotheses and the questions/scales that may prove useful for testing those hypotheses. Invariably, this process ends up generating far more questions than is practical for a convention-based survey. As such, the next step is to weigh the potential benefits of each question/scale against what we may potentially gain from the hypothesis. Scales that are particularly long, which only have a small chance of working, or which only make small contributions to our overall understanding are dropped to conserve space. Additionally, we have to take into account ethical considerations when choosing questions. For example, questions asking about childhood trauma or bullying are typically off-limits, given that such questions may lead to adverse responses from participants (i.e., upsetting people). Other questions, such as scales designed to diagnose psychological conditions are typically off-limits, given that we, as social psychologists, are unqualified to make clinical diagnoses and would have an ethical obligation to inform participants about the results of such scales (e.g., if a participant, without knowing it, scored clinically high on an autism scale), something that is impossible given the survey's anonymity. In short, while the final survey may at times seem disorganized, repetitive, or like a major issue was overlooked, more likely than not items were added or cut with a very specific purpose in mind.
That said, research is iterative. We love to receive feedback about how to improve the research in the next study. In the end, we want to answer the questions that anime fans want answered.
The survey itself asks a lot of personal questions (which people can choose to answer or not). What do you think a typical anime fan might be like based on what society says one is, but hope the survey the team is working on will prove instead?The research team is going into this work on anime fans with relatively few preconceptions about anime fans, owing, in part, to the fact that most of us have had very little exposure to the anime fandom itself. Furthermore, there is very little empirical research conducted examining anime fans. We suspect that, like members of other fandoms, anime fans may hope that our research undermines some of the more negative, stigma-inducing stereotypes of the fandom. Anime fans enjoy what they do, many proudly so, and likely seek to have their interests validated - for us to show that despite having interests that may not be understood by broader society, anime fans are nevertheless well-adjusted and fully functional members of society. In other words, we suspect that being a member of the anime fandom is positive (as we have found this in other stigmatized fandoms).
Finally, what do you hope this accomplishes not only for the anime community, but also for the anime industry?Our work is primarily motivated by the desire to understand social phenomena and to make this information available to the general public. As such, while our research may prove useful for those working in the anime industry, our primary goal is that members of the anime community find the information about their community to be particularly interesting and helpful (e.g., explaining to others what their interests are all about, providing context for the anime fandom relative to other, more socially accepted fandoms, providing empirical evidence to counteract unsubstantiated stereotypes).
Only those 18 or over can take the survey, so if you have some time (apparently you'll need between 30-60 minutes to answer, it depends on the person), feel free to answer! By entering you have a chance to win a free $50 Amazon gift card, as they'll be giving out several. In the end, if you have time to spare, take part in the survey.
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