TITLE OF PROJECT: Men’s attitudes towards alcohol consumption and masculinity

STAFF SUPERVISOR: Dr Robert Paddle

STUDENT RESEARCHER: Mr Sean Cuthbert

COURSE: Master of Psychology (Clinical)


Dear Participant,

You are invited to participate in this research which is examining men’s attitudes towards alcohol consumption and masculinity. More specifically, the study is trying to ascertain what role alcohol plays in the lives of men in modern Australian society, and how central alcohol involvement is to one’s definition of what it means to be a man. In exploring this topic, the study aims to collect responses to a range of questions from Australian males.

If you wish to participate in this study, you will be asked to read and record your responses to a series of questions. The questionnaire for this research is available online. Participation is entirely voluntary and you may withdraw from the study at any time. Withdrawal will not result in any penalty, academic or otherwise, and any data received by the researcher prior to withdrawal will be destroyed. The research involves no known psychological, physical or other risks, however, if you experience any negative consequences from participation, please contact Lifeline Victoria on 13 11 14 immediately.

All data collected in the study will be anonymous and confidential, and only the student researcher and his supervisor will have access to the information supplied. The findings for this study may be written for publication in a professional journal; however, there will be no information included that could in any way identify the participants of this study. When the research is finalised, data from the questionnaires will be securely stored for a period of five years and then destroyed in accordance with the Australian Catholic University Research Code of Conduct. All data submitted for publication will be reported as group findings – no individual scores will be reported.

As this study requires you to complete questionnaires online, participants should be aware that although stringent security measures such as data encryption are being put in place, the World Wide Web is still an insecure public network that gives rise to a potential risk that a user’s transactions are being viewed, intercepted or modified by third parties or that data which the user downloads may contain computer viruses or other defects.