Methodology

Online surveys and an interview with a psychologist were conducted to justify the hypothesis of the research. Results obtained from one of the surveys were inadequate and could not be used to draw any conclusion. Thus, the survey was thus deemed as void. (Refer to Appendix 2). The purpose of the interview was to obtain a professional’s opinion concerning social phobia. The second survey was validated against the interview with the psychologist and an established social phobia scale, Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A), as well as the diagnostic criteria for social phobia corresponding to *DSM-IV. Stratified sampling was employed to collect response from a fixed number of people from a specific age group. The respondents were grouped into four different categories: females aged 14-16, males aged 14-16, females aged 17-19 and males aged 17-19. 30 people were surveyed for each category. Difference in susceptibility to social phobia due to different ages could be probable and this would affect the reliability of the results obtained. Categorization was done so as to ensure accuracy of the survey results.

The reason for conducting surveys was to obtain statistical information to substantiate the hypothesis of the research. Online surveys were chosen over telephone and postal surveys due to their wide coverage, convenience, easier analysis and low budget. In addition, they allow for a larger sample size, and thus results obtained would be across the board, ensuring accuracy and suitability for the research. Biasness that could ensue from telephone surveys was minimized and response time would be faster as compared to postal surveys. The limitation of online survey was that respondents might not give honest responses and it would be difficult to track the credibility of the respondents.

Following the completion of surveys, results were tabulated in a table and shown in the form of pie charts. The gender that is more susceptible to social phobia was then determined.