I invite you to participate in an online experiment testing word recognition. This study is being conducted as part of my, Akira O'Connor's, programme of research in the School of Psychology, University of St Andrews.
Do I have to take part? ↓
This information page has been written to help you decide if you would like to take part. It is up to you and you alone whether or not to take part. If you do decide to take part you will be free to withdraw at any time by simply closing this browser window/tab or by clicking the 'End Study' button during the study itself.
Are there any restrictions on who can take part? ↓
You should be in a position to give informed consent to participate in the study e.g. aged 18 years or over. If you are unsure about your position to give informed consent, please feel free to e-mail me (aro2@st-andrews.ac.uk) and I will be happy to advise you.
What would I be required to do? ↓
You will first provide a small amount of demographic information (age, sex, location) to help me get a better understanding of the make-up of participants in this study. You will then complete a simple memory task.
During the task, you will first make syllable-count judgements about a series of words. After you have made these judgements, you will complete a memory test for the previously judged words. During this memory test, you will be asked if each presented word is old (previously studied) or if it is new (not previously studied). You will give your response by indicating yes or no in response to the specific question.
At the end of the study you will receive a breakdown of your memory performance and a full debrief. The whole study is estimated to take up to 15 minutes.
Will my participation be anonymous and confidential? ↓
Your data will be kept strictly confidential. Your permission will be sought in the Participant Consent Form (the next page) for the data you provide to be used for future scholarly purposes. No record of your IP address or any personally identifiable information will be recorded and you will never be personally identifiable from the study data you provide or the publications that result from it.
Storage and destruction of data collected ↓
Your anonymised, confidential data will be stored indefinitely.
What will happen to the results of the research study? ↓
The results will be finalised by June 2013 and may contribute to a journal article on the experiment and/or grant proposals on human recognition processes.
Reward ↓
There is no reward offered for your participation, other than a breakdown of your memory performance on this particular task.
Are there any potential risks to taking part? ↓
There are no potential risks to taking part in this experiment.
Consent and approval ↓
This research proposal has been scrutinized and been granted Ethical Approval through the University of St Andrews ethical approval process.
Questions ↓
If you have any questions about this study or your participation in it, please e-mail me: aro2@st-andrews.ac.uk
What should I do if I have concerns about this study? ↓