Informed Consent Form

Research Project Title: Collaboration in Family Puzzle Solving

Ethics Application: 2016s0583

Principal Investigator:

Carman Neustaedter, SIAT, Simon Fraser University
604-754-1191, carman@sfu.ca

This consent form, a copy of which is made available to you, is part of the process of informed consent. It should give you the basic idea of what the research is about and what your participation will involve. If you would like more detail about something mentioned here, or information not included here, you should feel free to ask the investigator(s). Please take the time to read this carefully and to understand the information.

Purpose:

The goal of our research is to understand how family members and groups of friends collaborate to solve puzzles together, both in person and over distance, and how they utilize online resources to aid their puzzle-solving efforts. We plan to use this knowledge to design future technologies for puzzle solving, such as video communication tools, online forums, etc.

Participant Recruitment and Selection

To be recruited for this study, you must be over 18 years of age.

Study Method

Participants will be asked to complete an online survey stored on a secure web server. This web page will first contain an online consent form that participants will be asked to read and agree to prior to. This survey will ask general and targeted questions and take no more than one hour.

Benefits and Risks

Participants will not benefit directly by participating in the study. The risks of the study are expected to be none or minimal. There is a chance that you may comment negatively about their family members or friends if they find that they do not collaborate well together; however, such descriptions are not likely to present any risks.

If you agree to participate, you will be free to withdraw at any time for any reason. However, data collected up to that withdrawal point may still be retained and used by the researchers.

Research results, such as published papers, can be obtained by contacting any of the investigators: Carman Neustaedter, carman@sfu.ca, 604-754-1191

What Happens to the Information I Provide?

No one except the researchers and their assistants will be allowed to see or hear any of your data.

Confidentiality will be strictly maintained. Any data collected will be labeled with an anonymous participant ID.

Refusal to participate or withdrawal/dropout after agreeing to participate will not have an adverse effect or consequences on the participants.

All information collected will be anonymized. No identifying information will be kept alongside the data. The collected information will be digitally recorded and transcribed. Transcriptions will be kept on an external hard drive and stored in a locked cabinet in the secure office of the primary investigator at the School of Interactive Arts and Technology until 2019 or until the study analysis is completed. At this point, it will be permanently destroyed.

Public presentations of the results will primarily present the results in an anonymized form. Where individual participant data is disclosed, such as exemplar comments via quotes, we will ensure that the selected data does not suggest participant identities.

Acceptance of this Form

Accepting this form indicates that you 1) understand to your satisfaction the information provided to you about your participation in this research project, and 2) agree to participate as a research participant.

You are free to withdraw from this research project at any time. You should feel free to ask for clarification or new information throughout your participation.

By clicking the button below, you are consenting to participate in the research.

If you do not wish to participate in the study, or do not consent, please close this window in your web browser

Questions/Concerns:

If you have any questions about the study, please contact Carman Neustaedter at carman@sfu.ca.

If you have any concerns or complaints about your rights as a research participant and/or your experiences while participating in this study, you may contact Dr. Jeffrey Toward, Director, Office of Research Ethics at jtoward@sfu.ca or 778-782-6593.