INFORMED CONSENT TO PARTICIPATE IN A RESEARCH PROJECT, Substance Use by College: A Case Study of Drug Use and Course of Study at California Polytechnic State University
A research project on substances by college is being conducted by student Erin Peterson, Gillian Flowers, and Berni McClelland through the Cal Poly Honors Program under the direction of Dr. Laura Freberg. The purpose of the study is to find out if there a relationship between college and drug use/frequency. You are being asked to take part in this study by completing the following questionnaire. We will ask what college you belong to, major, if you are affiliated with Greek life, and if you are involved with athletics either at the collegiate, club, or intramural level. Next, we will ask you the frequency of your drug use spanning from never to daily of seven popular substances. Your participation will take approximately 2 minutes. Please be aware that you are not required to participate in this research and you may discontinue your participation at any time without penalty or loss of benefits. You may also omit any items on the questionnaire you prefer not to answer. The possible risks associated with participation in this study include emotional distress related to topics relevant to drug use. If you should experience emotional distress, please be aware that you may contact the Cal Poly office of Counseling Services located in Building 27 (Campus Health & Wellbeing), Room 135. Counseling Services can be reached at (805) 756-2511, Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. The Cal Poly After Hours Crisis Line is (805) 783-0607. You can text 741741 for the Crisis Text Line at no charge. Your responses will be provided anonymously to protect your privacy. Potential benefits associated with the study include using the research findings to better prevention and education by college. As an incentive, you can earn 2 points of extra credit in your psychology course. If you choose not to participate, you will be offered the opportunity to earn an equal amount of extra credit via another assignment. As this is an anonymous survey, student participants will print out the last page of the survey and turn it in to Dr. Freberg to receive credit.
If you have questions regarding this study or would like to be informed of the results when the study is completed, please feel free to contact Dr. Laura Freberg at lfreberg@calpoly.edu or (805) 756-2357. If you have concerns regarding the manner in which the study is conducted, you may contact Dr. Michael Black, Chair of the Cal Poly Institutional Review Board, at (805) 756-2894, mblack@calpoly.edu, or Ms. Debbie Hart, Compliance Officer, at (805) 756-1508, dahart@calpoly.edu. If you agree to voluntarily participate in this research project as described, please indicate your agreement by completing and returning the following questionnaire. Please retain this consent form for your reference, and thank you for your participation in this research.