Thesis Questions

Question 1

What inspired your research topic?

Answer 1

The reactions to covid inspired my curiously about conspiracy theories. I wanted to more about the subject thar decided so many people.

Question 2

Please explain the hypothesis of your thesis.

Answer 2

The hypothesis maintains that family cohesion and comm. is negatively impacted. Meaning families where Cts thrive tend to have low levels of trust and poor communication.

Question 3

What data gathering methods did you use?

Answer 3

Mixed methods where employed, both qualitative (guided interviews) and quantitative (survey) where used to gather data.

Question 4

How did you select people for your survey and interview?

Answer 4

A combination of convenience sampling (survey) and targeted outreach (guided interview)

Question 5

What were the key findings of your surveys?

Answer 5

The survey and interview revealed that: family members that believed in conspiracy theories faced higher levels of conflict, mistrust and lower communication levels.

Question 6

Can you describe an impactful interview during your research?

Answer 6

One interview she’d light on how a rift was created between siblings,because one of the believed a 9/11 CT highlighting the significant damage a conspiracy theory causes

Question 7

How do you define a conspiracy theory?

Answer 7

a belief that some secret but influential organization is responsible for an event or phenomenon

Question 8

Types of conspiracy theories

Answer 8

1.Event 911,moon
2.Systematic Government, healthcare
3.Super illuminati

Question 9

What impact do conspiracy theories have on families?

Answer 9

1. Erode trust
   2.foster suspicion
2. Combats cohesion
   4.quells or strains communication

Question 10

Cognitive biases

Answer 10

Confimation bias-people who to commit to their beliefs and see evidence for them everywhere regardless of contradictory info
Pattern Bias- people who see patterns in things which are objectively unrelated to one another. creates meaning out coincidence

Question 11

How do different family types deal with Cts?

Answer 11

Permissive: yes parents
Blended: mixed families
Authoritarian: strict from head
Neglectful: lack of supervision
Democratic: open discussion
Enmeshed: structure less
Disengaged: indifferent.

Question 12

Media literacy

Answer 12

The ability to critically evaluate the media and understand media content.

Question 13

How do conspiracy theories impact mental health

Answer 13

Exposure to conspiracy theories can increase: depression,anxiety, paranoia
All of which can lead to deeper mental issues

Question 14

Recommendations for families dealing with conspiracy theories

Answer 14

1.promte open communication
2.verify info and sources
3 media literacy

Question 15

How did you analyze the qualitative data from the interview?

Answer 15

Thematic analysis, looking for deeper insights through the common themes and patterns

Question 16

The role of social media in the spread of conspiracy theories:

Answer 16

The facilitate the rapid dissemination of cts and can create a echochamber

Question 17

How do conspiracy theories creat conflicts in families

Answer 17

1. Heated arguments
2. Mistrust
3. Estrangement

Question 18

How can families foster critical thinking skills

Answer 18

1.Encourage questioning and skepticism
2.provide Access to diverse sources of info
3.open discussion with evidence evaluation

Question 19

Inductive reasoning

Answer 19

Drawing general conclusions from research. I did this with the survey and interviews

Question 20

Deductive reasoning

Answer 20

Testing the hypothesis derived from existing reasoning. My research did this to prove the hypothesis that ct negatively impact family cohesion and communication.

Question 21

How did you proceed with the selection of the responding families? What were the selection criteria?

Answer 21

I utilized a combination of convenience sampling and targeted outreach. For the survey component, I selected students from my language school as participants. For the interviews, I leveraged my social network, primarily acquaintances from Facebook, including family and friends whom I believed would provide candid responses.

Question 22

How did you determine the variables called ‘family type’ in your research? Is there available literature that you used for defining these family types? Where is this secondary source described in the theoretical part of the thesis?

Answer 22

Authoritarian, Permissive, and Democratic are derived from Diana Baumrind’s seminal work. The ‘Neglectful’ type was added by Eleanor Maccoby and John Martin The ‘Blended’ family type is more commonly discussed in sociological and family studies. Finally, ‘Disengaged’ and ‘Enmeshed’ are from Salvador Minuchin’s Structural Family Therapy.