We are a research team headed by Professor Nicholas A. Christakis from Yale University in the United States conducting a research study to learn more about how people perceive very similar things and inherent human bias in objects. In order to participate you must be 18 years or older and a US resident. Your involvement will require up to 10 minutes. Participants who complete the survey earn $3.50.
There are no known or anticipated risks to you for participating. Although this study will not benefit you personally, we hope that our results will add to the knowledge about groups and leaders, as well as the capacity for groups to reach consensus.
All of your responses, and even the fact that you participated will be anonymous. Because our study involves online interaction, your IP address is recorded but will never be used for the purposes of identifying you. Only the researchers involved in this study and those responsible for research oversight will have access to the data collected online.
The researcher will not know your name, and no identifying information will be connected to your survey answers in any way. The survey is therefore anonymous. However, your account is associated with an mTurk number that the researcher has to be able to see in order to pay you, and in some cases these numbers are associated with public profiles which could, in theory, be searched. For this reason, though the researcher will not be looking at anyone's public profiles, the fact of your participation in the research (as opposed to your actual survey responses) is technically considered “confidential” rather than truly anonymous.
Your responses will be numbered. The data will be encrypted and securely stored on the Yale University servers, allowing access only through secure connection (on-campus secure network or VPN) and with a combination of passwords, dual identification and passcodes used to meet the highest standards and best practices regarding data security and privacy set by the University, as well as the state and federal regulations. The data will be considered “archived” after the publication of the study and the same security standards will apply in perpetuity.
Participation in this study is completely voluntary. You are free to decline to participate, to end participation at any time for any reason, or to refuse to answer any individual question.
If you have any questions about this study, you may contact the principal investigator, Professor Nicholas A. Christakis, by telephone at +1 (203) 436-4749 or by mail at P.O. Box 208263, New Haven, CT 06520-8263, USA. You may also contact the researcher in charge, yins.amt@gmail.com.
If you would like to talk with someone other than the researchers to discuss problems or concerns, to discuss situations in the event that a member of the research team is not available, or to discuss your rights as a research participant, you may contact the Yale University Human Subjects Committee, +1 (203) 785-4688, human.subjects@yale.edu. Additional information is available at Rights of Research Participant.