The Genesis of the Cyberterrorism Project’s Academic Questionnaire
One of the principal aims of the cyberterrorism project is to consider the question “what is cyberterrorism?” In pursuit of this, I (Simon Lavis) joined the project team in July 2012, with my principal role being to assist in the creation and distribution of a questionnaire that would explore academic understandings of, and attitudes toward, the concept of cyberterrorism.
After completing a review of relevant literature on cyberterrorism and several meetings with other members of the project team, a twenty-question survey was constructed. One of the more challenging aspects of the questionnaire’s creation was deciding on the format of questions. The team ultimately decided on a range of both open and closed question formats, enabling the collection of both restricted, quantitative data and less restricted descriptive answers, as best suited the focus of each question individually. This range also served to generate a questionnaire that was sufficiently detailed for our intended recipients, whilst being concise enough to encourage participation.
The other major task was to generate a list of potential respondents. The principal concern here was to ensure that we that identified a suitable sample within the relevant academic population. This involved selecting not only key authors on the subject, but scholars and researchers who have contributed to related fields as well. It was clear also that time would need to be spent verifying contact information, as targeted individuals may have moved on to different institutions or posts. In the end, our list was created by conducting a targeted literature review, contacting the editorial teams and recent contributors to a few prominent academic journals that focus on aspects of terrorism, as well as a modest number of individuals who were recommended by project members or our early respondents. Almost 600 potential respondents have been contacted individually with the questionnaire, as well as an indeterminate number of potential respondents via two mailing lists in the area of terrorism research.
To date (28/09/2012) we have received 103 responses, from researchers in 19 different countries. We are extremely pleased with the current response rate, particularly as the questionnaire was distributed at a time when many academics are on leave. We are also very grateful for the detailed responses, and have chosen to extend our deadline for response through October to allow for a third round of invitations to be sent to potential respondents. Soon we will begin the exciting and challenging task of analysing the answers we have received.
On behalf of the project team, I would like to thank all of those who have participated for their time and contribution to this research.
Table of Questionnaire Respondents
| Prof. Jeffrey F. Addicott, St Mary’s University |
| Dr. Fahed Al-Sumait, Gulf University of Science and Technology |
| Dr. Anne Aly, Curtin University |
| Edwin Bakker, Universiteit Leiden, Campus the Hague |
| Prof. Sanjay Bapna, Morgan State University |
| Dr. David Barnard-Wills, Trilateral Research |
| Dr. Igor Bernik, University of Maribor |
| Jessie Blackbourn, The University of New South Wales |
| Dr. Lorraine Bowman-Grieve, University of Lincoln |
| Dr. Alia Brahimi, London School of Economics |
| Dr. Oldrich Bures, Metropolitan University, Prague |
| Dr. Madeline Carr, Aberystwyth University |
| Dr. Jennifer Varriale Carson, University of Central Missouri |
| Gordon Clubb, University of Leeds |
| Dr. Maura Conway, Dublin City University |
| Dr. Erik J. Dahl, Naval Postgraduate School, CA |
| Dr. Dorothy Denning, Naval Postgraduate School |
| Prof. Priya Dixit, Virginia Tech; American University, Washington DC |
| Dr. Myriam Dunn Cavelty, Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich |
| James Fitzgerald, Dublin City University |
| Prof. Shawn Teresa Flanigan, San Diego State University |
| Nadina Foggetti, University of Bari |
| Dr. James J. F. Forest, University of Massachusetts, Lowell |
| Prof. Giampiero Giacomello, Universita di Bologna |
| Dr. Charlotte Heath-Kelly, Aberystwyth University |
| Lewis Herrington, University of Warwick |
| Annette Hübschle-Finch, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies |
| Lawrence A. Husick, Center for the Study of Terrorism |
| Musa Khan Jalalzai, Author |
| Dr. Christian Kaunert, University of Salford |
| Prof. Jeremy Keenan, University of London |
| Prof. Isaac Kfir, Syracuse University |
| Dr. Åshild Kolås, Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) |
| Prof. Margaret E. Kosal, Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Dr. George K. Kostopoulos, University of Maryland University College |
| Prof. Adam Lankford, University of Alabama |
| Dr. Peter Lehr, University of St Andrews |
| Chamila Liyanage, University of London |
| Prof. James M. Lutz, Indiana University, Purdue University Fort Wayne |
| Dr. Gus Martin, California State University, Dominguez Hills |
| Dr. Mark R. McCoy, University of Central Oklahoma |
| Prof. Richard M. Medina, George Mason University |
| Dr. John F. Morrison, University of East London |
| Prof. Doug Munroe, Quest University |
| Dr. Andrew W. Neal, University of Edinburgh |
| Dr. Nihat Ali Özcan, Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey |
| Raffaello Pantucci, The International Centre For The Study Of Radicalisation And Political Violence |
| Dr. Swati Parashar, University of Wollongong |
| Kaja Prislan, University of Maribor |
| Ami-Jacques Rapin, Université de Lausanne |
| Dr. Anthony Richards, University of East London |
| Dr. Karthika Sasikumar, San José State University |
| Prof. Mark Sedgwick, Aarhus University |
| Prof. Jeffrey Sluka, Massey University |
| Dr. Anne Speckhard, Georgetown University |
| Dr. Brian H. Spitzberg, San Diego State University |
| Paul Stott, University of East Anglia |
| Dr. Ioannis Tellidis, Kyung Hee University |
| David Vaile, University of New South Wales |
| James R. Van De Velde, Author |
| Teun van Dongen, The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies |
| Dr. Alex A. Wilner, Center for Security Studies, ETH Zurich |
| Carl Anthony Wege, College of Coastal Georgia |
| Prof. Robert W. White, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis |
| Dr. Clay Wilson, University of Maryland University College |
| Kiyana Zolfaghar, University of Washington, Tacoma |
An additional 52 respondents chose not to be identified.
