VTuber communities on Twitch: How Twitch communities and VTubers engage with the VTuber fandom.
Participant information sheet
I am an Undergraduate student at Lancaster University, and I would like to invite you to take part in a research study about VTuber fans use of Twitch and their own fan activities.
Please take the time to read the following information carefully before you decide whether you wish to take part.
What is the study about?
This study aims to provide the community a voice for their experiences within the fandom and their engagement with VTubers livestreams on Twitch.
Why have I been invited?
I have approached you because I am interested in how the VTuber fandom use Twitch as well as their own fan activities.
I would be very grateful if you would agree to take part in this study.
What will I be asked to do if I take part?
If you decided to take part, this would involve the following: an online Qualtrics survey whereby you are required to answer multiple choice and open-ended questions. The survey will contain 27 questions. Most of the questions are optional to enable you to skip questions that are not relevant to your own experiences. Each question is designed to understand how you interact with Twitch’s features to engage with your preferred VTubers live streams. Primarily, the questions will focus on questioning your personal preferences for which streamers you watch as well as the activities you like to do to show your interest/ support for a creator. The survey will take around 15 minutes dependent on the amount of information you want to write in the provided open-ended questions.
If you pick other there are spaces provided for you to type in your specific response
What are the possible benefits from taking part?
• This survey is designed to provide an opportunity for you to share your experiences within the fandom and your personal interests relating to it.
• By taking part you can contribute to data that is made by the community and shared back to it. Thus, enabling the community to engage with the data set they created. (By the community, for the community).
Do I have to take part?
No. It is completely up to you to decide whether you take part. Your participation is voluntary.
What if I change my mind?
As this is an anonymous survey, withdrawal may not be possible as the lack of identifiable information would make it difficult to track your response amongst the others. As it would be hard to identify your response it is imperative that you decide if you are willing to/ and consent to have your response recorded for my dissertation.
What are the possible disadvantages and risks of taking part?
Taking part in this survey will take up some of your time. Will my data be identifiable? I will record the following personal data about you to facilitate your participation in the research:
• Age
• Gender
• Nationality
• Country you live in
This personal data will only be accessible to me and my supervisor. Your personal data will remain confidential, that is I will not share it with others. When the survey results are shared to the community these personal details will not be shared in case people do not feel comfortable with having it shared to the community. Before using any of the information you provide in written records and outputs, such as my coursework, I will anonymise your contributions so that it is not possible to identify you.
How will we use the information you have shared with us?
I will use it for coursework research purposes only. This will include writing an assessment for MCS360: Independent Dissertation Project.
When writing up the findings from this study, I would like to reproduce some of the views and ideas you shared with me. I will only use anonymised quotes (e.g. from the survey), so that although I will use your exact words, you cannot be identified in our publications.
How my data will be stored
Your data will be stored on password-protected computers and/or One Drive, which is encrypted secure cloud storage supported by Lancaster University. I will store hard copies of any data securely. I will keep data that can identify you separately from non-personal information (e.g. your views on a specific topic).
What if I have a question or concern?
If you have any queries or if you are unhappy with anything that happens concerning your participation in the study, please contact myself ( (d.foster4@lancaster.ac.uk) or my course convenor Dr. Allison Hui (a.hui@lancaster.ac.uk; 01524 510791; Department of Sociology, Bowland North, Lancaster University, LA1 4YD). If you have any concerns or complaints that you wish to discuss with a person who is not directly involved in the research, you can also contact: Prof Chris Grover, sociologyhod@lancaster.ac.uk Department of Sociology, Bowland North, Lancaster University, LA1 4YD. Thank you for considering your participation in this project.