Dive/snorkel Experience Research

[jvining]

We are research psychologists and a snorkeler (Joanne Vining, University of Illinois at Urbana) and a scuba diver (Deborah Winter, Whitman College). Because of our own experiences, we have become interested in studying snorkeling and diving experiences. As a beginning, we are asking for help in identifying some of the important characteristics of underwater experience.

We would be very grateful for your answers to the questions below. The questions are open-ended to provide you with the opportunity to tell us whatever you think is important -- for example, experiences, perceptions, feelings, who, where, what, etc.

Your participation in this research is strictly voluntary. You may refuse to answer any of the questions without penalty or simply stop at any time and choose not to submit your survey responses. When we receive your answers we will eliminate any identifying information before entering your answers in our database and your name will never be associated with your answers in reports of the results of this study. Your participation in this project should not involve risks beyond the relatively minor risk of re-experiencing negative emotions related to snorkeling or diving experiences. Please note that you must be 18 years of age or older to participate in this study. Completion and return of this questionnaire implies consent to participate in our study. You are welcome to print a copy of this document for your records.

If you have any questions or concerns you are welcome to contact either of us at jvining@uiuc.edu (217.333.6145) or winterd@whitman.edu (509.527-5123). You may also contact the University of Illinois Institutional Review Board at irb@uiuc.edu or 217.333.2670 with questions about research participants’ rights.

Please answer the following questions and send your answers to jvining@uiuc.edu. The time needed to answer the questions will vary depending on the length of your responses but should range between 10 and 30 minutes. If you wish, you may print the questions and send your answers to us at the following address:

Prof. Joanne Vining
University of Illinois
1201 S. Dorner Dr.
Urbana, IL USA 61801


1. Do you mainly snorkel, dive, or both?

2. What drew you to snorkeling or diving initially?

3. What caused you to continue?

4. Please describe one or more of your most memorable experiences while diving or snorkeling.

5. If you were trying to persuade someone to take up diving or snorkeling, what would you say?

6. Do you see in yourself any link between your snorkeling and diving experiences and environmental concern? If so, please describe.

7. Approximately how many days do you dive or snorkel each year?

8. How many years have you been diving or snorkeling?

9. Are you male or female?

10. What is your age?

11. Where (in what outlet) did you find this survey?

12. If there is anything else you would like to tell us, this would be the place.



Please feel free to forward this questionnaire to anyone you know who is interested in snorkeling or diving. Also, if you know of other listservs or clubs that might be interested, please let us know.

Thank you very much for your help with this exploratory study. You may send your responses to jvining@uiuc.edu by email or by mail to the address listed above. If you would like to see a summary of the results, please provide your email address below. As we noted above, any identifying information will be removed from your response.

 

[fishoutawater]

1. Both
2. Wanting to know what's down there, and the pure novelty of breathing underwater.
3. Wanting to know what's down there, and the pure novelty of breathing underwater.
4. Almost died under a boat dock because I couldn't find the edge.
My first 100+ ft vis in dive in Cozumel.
5. I don't try to pursuade anyone to dive. They have to want to do it, (it ain't for everybody).
6. Environmentally speaking, I hunt animals on land, but consider killing reef critters
offensive, yet I also catch and eat fish. So I'm confused.
7. Varies immensely, dependant on cash and vacation time.
8. Off and on for 38 years.
9. Male.
10. 47
11. Scubaboards.
12. 'Here's ta swimmin' with bow legged women.'

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

1. Do you mainly snorkel, dive, or both?

Dive.

2. What drew you to snorkeling or diving initially?

Snorkeling in Bermuda on vacation.

3. What caused you to continue?

I've always loved the ocean and been interested in marine life.

4. Please describe one or more of your most memorable experiences while diving or snorkeling.

Scuba diving in Cozumel. Being stuck there for Hurricane Wilma.

5. If you were trying to persuade someone to take up diving or snorkeling, what would you say?

Try it out. See if it's for you.

6. Do you see in yourself any link between your snorkeling and diving experiences and environmental concern? If so, please describe.

Not really. I am not a "cause" person. I avoid touching things, spearfishing, harming or harassing marine life. What other people choose to do is their business.

7. Approximately how many days do you dive or snorkel each year?

As often as I can. Usually, at least one weekend a month. More, if I can afford the time and expense.

8. How many years have you been diving or snorkeling?

One.

9. Are you male or female?

Male.

10. What is your age?

Thirty-six.

11. Where (in what outlet) did you find this survey?

http://www.scubaboard.com

12. If there is anything else you would like to tell us, this would be the place.

I've been lots of places and done lots of things. Scuba diving is destined to be a lifelong interest, as long as I am physically able to do it.

 

[lishen]

1. Mainly dive, but also snorkel but less so
2. My love of marine biology. No better way to study it than to see it up close
3. The overall awesome-ness of diving and seeing what most people can't/don't
4. Diving in Maui and getting face to face with a turtle (Then breaking my camera housing on the first day after being anxious to get my pictures out of my camera)
5. I'd show them some pictures, then tell them to just try it out
6. Not concern. I like to think that I help out in that I try to educate others and I partake in clean up dives
7. 12+
8. 6 years
9. Female
10. 22
11. scubaboard.com

 

[ajames54]

1. Do you mainly snorkel, dive, or both?

Both ..more diving as I can afford it..

2. What drew you to snorkeling or diving initially?

The Undersea World of Jaques Cousteau... and fish are cool .. I've kept fish longer than both of the above

3. What caused you to continue?

Fish are cool..

4. Please describe one or more of your most memorable experiences while diving or snorkeling.
Snorkeling off Maui and wondering what that weird noise was and thinking it was my ears .. until I realized it was the whales ..sadly it got dark about 6 hours later..

5. If you were trying to persuade someone to take up diving or snorkeling, what would you say?

nothing.. just show the photos.. wouldn't want to coerce someone into it

6. Do you see in yourself any link between your snorkeling and diving experiences and environmental concern? If so, please describe.

Yes no maybe.. if a restauant has Chilean Sea Bass (or other endangered fish) on the menu I try to order panda but I think that is mostly because I'm a jerk

7. Approximately how many days do you dive or snorkel each year?

15-20

8. How many years have you been diving or snorkeling?
30

9. Are you male or female?
M

10. What is your age?
43

11. Where (in what outlet) did you find this survey?
Scubabord

12. If there is anything else you would like to tell us, this would be the place
UM .. did I mention that fish are cool?

 

[Amberjack]

1. Started off by snorkeling, just became certified to dive last month, now think I will probably mainly dive.

2. I have always loved the water, and being in the water. I spent all my summers at a lake as a child, and there was always some crummy mask, snorkel and fin set from Canadian Tire lying around that I would play with.

3. The first time I went to the Caribbean and snorkeled there, I had one of those “oh, I get it…” moments. The feeling of being in another world, and seeing all the incredible underwater life were what got me hooked.

4. A few experiences spring to mind – one of the first times I went snorkeling in the Caribbean, I remember being totally absorbed in what I was watching, and then lifting my head up from the water to look at the beach maybe 100 meters away and being totally surprised to see all the people crowded on the sand. I realized I had completely forgotten (for a moment) about the above-water world.

The second experience the first time I dove as an ‘Intro to Scuba’ class. Going from being tied by a little tube to the surface to being able to move in all directions underwater as amazing. We saw all kinds of life, and again, I completely forgot about everything – I remember looking up and seeing a boat pass right overhead, and feeling completely free.

The last experience is the most recent – the first time my husband and I went off on our own without an instructor as certified divers. It was like that next level of freedom.

5. I can only say that I felt drawn to do it – I don’t know if I would try to persuade someone who wasn’t. If it was someone I felt would really enjoy it, I might say that to him or her, but that would be as far as I went.

6. In some ways yes, but sort of selfishly. I think that perhaps the incredible environments I’ve seen won’t be around in 20 years, so I want to see them now. And somehow, my love of these environments has not intersected with my knowledge of unsustainable fishing practices to keep me from enjoying my sushi – just making me uncomfortable about it. More broadly, I try to do some small things that serve to protect the environment – I take public transit (pretty easy where I live), dutifully recycle and compost (also easy) but I can’t say that diving has made me do more of that.

7. Just started diving, so I’m really not sure. Probably somewhere between 7 – 12 days a year at most.

8. Really snorkeling for about ten, diving for just a month.

9. Female

10. 32

11. Scubaboard

12. I’d be interested to hear more about this research – purpose, outcomes, etc.

 

[MSilvia]

1. I mainly dive, as I dive locally in Boston, and the underwater visibility only rarely permits a diver at the surface to see the bottom.

2. I tried it in a pool during a boy scout outing when I was young, and immediately fell in love with it.

3. I love exploring places few will ever see, the serenity of near weightlessness, the freedom from the noise (talking, radios, advertising, traffic, etc) of surface life, the comaraderie with other divers, catching my own seafood dinners, researching the history of the many shipwrecks I dive, and the ready access to adventure.

4. While drift diving in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Belize, the boat operator fell asleep and consequently was nowhere in sight when we surfaced. A group of seven of us floated for several hours before we were picked up.

5. In my experience it's one of the most enjoyable things a person can experience. I've passed up sex for diving on more than one occasion... you ought to at least give it a try.

6. Yes, it's made me more aware of the sea as a habitat. Before diving, I saw the ocean as a vast, flat, desert of water. Now, I see it as a lush and richly populated land full of some of the most majestic and breathtaking terrain on the planet. Through interacting with local flora and fauna over the years, I've been able to see the impact of human activity in no uncertain terms.

7. Approximately 30, and on many of those days I'll dive more than once.

8. 19 years

9. Male

10. 33

11. scubaboard.com

12. I could talk about diving nonstop for weeks. If there's anything in particular you'd like to know, feel free to ask.

 

[Dave Zimmerly]

1. Do you mainly snorkel, dive, or both?
Dive

2. What drew you to snorkeling or diving initially?
Trip to Tahiti when I was 12, watching Jaques Coustea (sp)

3. What caused you to continue?
Love of the ocean; the beauty that can be seen; the calming effect it has on me

4. Please describe one or more of your most memorable experiences while diving or snorkeling.
Watching a school (10-15) of Spotted Eagle Rays swim by.

5. If you were trying to persuade someone to take up diving or snorkeling, what would you say?
You wouldn't believe how peaceful and beautiful it is under the sea.

6. Do you see in yourself any link between your snorkeling and diving experiences and environmental concern? If so, please describe.
Look but don't touch. You touch it, you eat it or it eats you.

7. Approximately how many days do you dive or snorkel each year?
21

8. How many years have you been diving or snorkeling?
Snorkeling 31. Diving 4.

9. Are you male or female?
Male

10. What is your age?
45

11. Where (in what outlet) did you find this survey?
scubaboard.com

12. If there is anything else you would like to tell us, this would be the place.
I think about going diving every day, and will plan to dive until I am no longer physically able. When I am under, I am at peace with myself.

Squirt

 

[boulderjohn]

Maybe I missed the point, but I think they want us to send the answers to them as they described. Placing your responses here might be interesting for everyone else, but they need them sent to their address.

 

[Phil TK]

You may refuse to answer any of the questions without penalty or simply stop at any time and choose not to submit your survey responses.QUOTE]

Well thanks for that...I thought I might be getting into some sort of trouble by ignoring your post and muttering to myself ...'Well, that's another one of those market research posts masquerading as a genuine benign interest in what a cross section of scuba divers like doing with their time/money'

How much are you getting paid per thousand submissions guys?

Phil TK