# Other > Research requests >  Anonymous online study on dreams and depression

## Researcher

Hello,

I'm a researcher doing a project on the link between depression, daily stress, dreams and mood for my Masters in psychology.

I'm looking for people over the age of 18 with symptoms, or a diagnosis of, depression to take part.

The link to the study is: *https://uelpsych.eu.qualtrics.com/jf...KjEx58Ey8Zs70p*

It is completely anonymous and confidential. It takes around 15 to 20 minutes in total, in three stages: 1.Answering a general questionnaire on your mental health and symptoms of depression; 2. Just before bed, doing a short survey on your mood and how stressful your day was and 3. First thing the next morning answering a few questions about your dreams (if you dreamt) and your mood.

If you do take part, it is good to choose a day where you will have time to complete the study the next morning, as I can only use data from completed studies. (You are, however, feel to stop at any time - participation is entirely optional).

My hope is to contribute to understanding the underlying processes by which depression works, and stimulate further research on this topic.

Thank you so much for considering my request,

Sarah

Edit: I've seen a screen grab of the permission Suzi gave so link reinstated.
Corrected missing word in the first line.

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Suzi (10-07-18)

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## Researcher

The study is for my Masters in psychology - just realised there was a word missing from the first sentence!

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## Suzi

Hope you get loads of respondents!  :):

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## Researcher

Thanks Suzi!

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Suzi (11-07-18)

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## OldMike

I've completed the 3 part survey and in the first part I found myself having to choose between two of the options neither of which was right as it was somewhere in between.

Also was a little disappointed in the dream section was expecting to have to give a resume of what I had dreamt but was just asked about the mood of the dream.

FYI The dream before I awoke was I was at a party with mum and dad, I lived there but the house wasn't where I actually live it was an imaginary house and all the guests were my mum and dad's age none of my age and I didn't know any of them there was lots of mundane chat and I awoke before anything interesting happened.

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## Suzi

I@ve let the poster know that you've commented. Thanks for completing the survey lovely.

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OldMike (14-07-18)

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## Researcher

Hi again,

Thank you to everybody who has participated in the study so far. I wanted to add that there is now also the option at the end of the survey to enter into a prize draw for a £30 Amazon voucher. This will be via a link to a separate survey so that your answers to the study can't be linked to your email address. Apologies for not including this information before - I was awaiting permission from my university ethics board to add this incentive.

Sarah

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Suzi (14-07-18)

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## Researcher

> I've completed the 3 part survey and in the first part I found myself having to choose between two of the options neither of which was right as it was somewhere in between.
> 
> Also was a little disappointed in the dream section was expecting to have to give a resume of what I had dreamt but was just asked about the mood of the dream.
> 
> FYI The dream before I awoke was I was at a party with mum and dad, I lived there but the house wasn't where I actually live it was an imaginary house and all the guests were my mum and dad's age none of my age and I didn't know any of them there was lots of mundane chat and I awoke before anything interesting happened.


Hi OldMike,

Thank you so much for doing the study - I'm so grateful for you taking the time. 

It is tricky using these questionnaires, I agree. I have used standard ones wherever possible, for two reasons - they have been tested on lots of people to check that they are reasonably accurate; and they've been used by other researchers, so if I use the same ones it's easier for me to compare my results to theirs. But as you quite rightly pointed out, they are not a perfect tool, because most of us don't score our feelings in that way. 

One of the things I have learned during my course is that psychology is not an exact science and so it's important to be humble when interpreting results. Over time, with different studies, we can start to build up a picture that is helpful for understanding something (like depression) and coming up with treatments... but we should always be cautious about making big claims from a single study. 

I would also have loved to have the option for people to record their dreams. One of the nice things for me has been hearing anecdotally from people who I know who have taken part about their dreams - thank you for sharing yours. Unfortunately, the method for analysing descriptions needs two researchers, who score them independently and compare their ratings, and I'm doing this project by myself. In case you're interested, other studies have looked at the content of dreams and found that for people with depression they tend include more self-critical elements.

I hope that gives a bit more context. Its really useful for me to hear from people about how they found doing the study, because I can bear this in mind when I do future research.

Sarah

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OldMike (14-07-18),Suzi (14-07-18)

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## Researcher

Hi all,

Thank you so much to everybody who has taken part in my study - I really appreciate it.

I will be closing the study tomorrow, so if you were planning on taking part tonight is your last chance (finishing it off tomorrow morning).

Warm wishes,

Sarah




> Hello,
> 
> I'm a researcher doing a project on the link between depression, daily stress, dreams and mood for my Masters in psychology.
> 
> I'm looking for people over the age of 18 with symptoms, or a diagnosis of, depression to take part.
> 
> The link to the study is: *https://uelpsych.eu.qualtrics.com/jf...KjEx58Ey8Zs70p*
> 
> It is completely anonymous and confidential. It takes around 15 to 20 minutes in total, in three stages: 1.Answering a general questionnaire on your mental health and symptoms of depression; 2. Just before bed, doing a short survey on your mood and how stressful your day was and 3. First thing the next morning answering a few questions about your dreams (if you dreamt) and your mood.
> ...

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OldMike (01-08-18),Suzi (31-07-18)

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