Welcome. We are seeking your consent to participate in a research study concerned with online and face-to-face non-sexual, same gender friendships. Understanding differences in friendships in both the online (usually on the Internet such as online bulletin boards or chat groups) and face-to-face contexts helps us understand how best to use these different contexts.

To give you an overview of this survey, we will ask you to respond to a series of statements while thinking of a friend you have met online (online bulletin boards, chat rooms, etc.), and then ask a similar set of questions while asking you to think about a face-to-face friend. Finally, you will provide some background information to help us contextualize the results. The whole study should take about 25-30 minutes to complete.

Permission, Anonymity, and Security
We have obtained permission to conduct this study from the Institutional Review Board at the University of Memphis. If you need any answers to questions regarding your rights as a participant in this study, please contact the Chair of the Committee for the Protection of Human Research Participants at slhayes@memphis.edu. The University of Memphis does not have any funds budgeted for compensation for injury, damages, or other expenses.

We will not collect any data, whether directly through the questionnaire or indirectly via Internet “Cookies,” regarding your email address, institutional affiliation, or other such information that will directly identify individuals. Your responses will be completely anonymous and will be held completely confidential. Please do not write your name or any other identifying information on any portion of the questionnaire. After completion of the study, the data will be kept for at least five years for reference, but no one will be able to identify you from your responses.

Rights of Participants
We would like you to answer all the questions that are asked so that we obtain complete data for the study. However, you have the right to skip questions you do not want to answer. You also have the right to exit this website and discontinue participation in the study at any time.

Instructions
This study is examining non-sexual same-gender friendships. A friend is defined as someone who you feel close to and interact with on a regular basis.

We want you to respond according to your own personal thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. We are interested to know your views about the topic, regardless of what other people might think. There are no right or wrong answers. Please respond honestly to all the questions – remember all your responses are completely anonymous and confidential.

As you finish each page and proceed to the next, your response data will be submitted for processing. While you are on a page you may change your responses. However, once you move to the next page you will not be able to go back and change your answers. Do not use the “Back” button in your Internet browser at any time to go back to a previous page while filling out the questionnaire.

If you choose to suspend filling out the questionnaire to take a break, if your computer shuts down, or if you lose your Internet connection, you will not be able to resume where you left off. You will have to restart and redo all your answers from the beginning. As such, it is very important that the full questionnaire is completed in one sitting.

Contact
If you have any questions or concerns you may contact Kenny Embry at embryk@floridacollege.edu, who is the principal investigator for this study.

By proceeding to the next page of this survey, you indicate that you have read the above and give your consent to participate in the study. Thank you for your participation!