Informed Consent

Title of the Research Study: On time-use and well-being: The role of personal and project characteristics

 
Researcher: Taylor Hill, Dalhousie University
taylor.hill@dal.ca


Supervisor: Dr. Sean P. Mackinnon, Dalhousie University
Phone: (902) 494-3385  Email: mackinnon.sean@dal.ca


Introduction
We invite you to take part in a research study by Taylor Hill, a PhD student in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Dalhousie University, supervised by Dr Sean Mackinnon. Participation in this study is voluntary and you may quit this study at any time before you have completed it. You do not need to provide a reason for stopping. This study is described below. You should discuss any questions you have about this study with Dr. Sean Mackinnon by email at mackinnon.sean@dal.ca, or you may contact Taylor Hill by email at taylor.hill@dal.ca. Please ask as many questions as you like before or after participating.

Purpose of this study
The purpose of this project is to isolate the roles of personality traits (e.g., conscientiousness), personal characteristics (e.g., passion for achievement), and time-use dimensions (e.g., efficacy) in the relationship between time-use and well-being.

Study design
This study involves filling out self-report questionnaires. It will take you about 25 minutes to fill out these questionnaires.

Who can participate in this study?
All adults (i.e., over the age of 18) are eligible to participate in this study.

Who will be conducting the research?
The lead researcher (Taylor Hill) and supervisor (Dr Sean Mackinnon) will be involved in this research and will have access to the data. A Dalhousie Integrated Science Program student supervised by Taylor Hill will assist with the project.

What you will be asked to do
You will be asked to complete self-report questionnaires online about personality, well-being, and the way you spend your time. Demographic information (i.e., age, sex, ethnicity, occupational status) will also be asked. Completing all questionnaires should take approximately 25 minutes. It is recommended you do the questionnaires on a computer with a stable Internet connection. If you are doing the questionnaires on a mobile device, it is recommended you do so on a Wi-Fi connection to avoid incurring mobile data charges.

Possible risks and discomforts
There is a possibility that answering some of the questions in this study will make you think about your personal strivings and well-being. If you start to feel uncomfortable or bad because of any question asked, you may skip that question or select “prefer not to answer.” If you feel bad during or after this study, please feel free to contact Dr. Mackinnon by phone at (902) 494-3385 or by email at mackinnon.sean@dal.ca. He will offer to connect with you and (if desired) will connect you to other people or services who may be able to help you deal with your problems.

Possible benefits
There are no direct benefits for participating in this study. The research, however, might contribute to new knowledge on the motivational factors that influence well-being. You will have an opportunity to learn about the results of this study at the end of the project. If you are interested in learning more about the results of this study, please contact Taylor Hill at taylor.hill@dal.ca and she will send you the manuscript when it is completed.
Compensation/reimbursement
You will be entered into a draw for a $50 Amazon Gift Certificate for their time. You may skip any question that you wish not to answer by selecting “prefer not to answer.” You will provide your email address before beginning the survey to be entered into the draw. Your email is stored separately in a different file than your survey responses, and thus cannot be linked to it; it is used only to enter you in the draw, and will be deleted once the draw takes place.
 

Privacy, Confidentiality and Uses of Data
We will give access to the data we are collecting from all participants to the general public via the Internet and the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/), a fully open database. The data we share with the general public will not have your name on it, so people will not know which data are yours. In addition, we will not share any other information that we think might help people who know you guess which data are yours. For example, we will not share names, emails, or date of participation. We will also redact any rare demographic variables (e.g., ethnicity) that might identify an individual. For example, if there is only one person who is 25, female, and Chinese, we might collapse the “Chinese” category into “Asian” and make age “20-29” such that individuals could not be identified by combinations of demographic variables. Thus, the likelihood of anyone linking your questionnaire responses to your identity is very low.  Because the data are shared openly, data from this study might be used for other, future research projects in addition to the study you are currently participating in. Those future projects can focus on any topic that might be unrelated to the goals of this study.


If you choose to withdraw your consent to participate in this study, you must do so before submitting your answers to the questionnaires. You can simply exit the questionnaire from your browser. Uncompleted survey data will not be used. Because no contact information is linked to your data, there is no way for researchers to know which answers are yours, and therefore impossible for your data to be destroyed after completion of the study. However, because your contact information is not linked in any way to your completed questionnaires, your data will be completely anonymous and de-identifiable. Therefore, neither the public nor the researchers will ever know which data are yours.
Questions
If you have any questions about this study or your participation, or if you would like a copy of the results when the study is done, you may contact Taylor Hill at taylor.hill@dal.ca

 
Problems or concerns
If you have any problems with, or wish to voice concern about, any aspect of your participation in this study, you may contact Catherine Connors, Director, Research Ethics for help at Catherine.Connors@dal.ca

Question Title

* 1. I have read the above consent form, and I consent to take part in this study. By consenting to participate, I agree to share my data in the ways described in the consent form. However, I realize that my participation is voluntary, and I am free to quit this study at any time before submitting my answers. If you agree to complete the survey, please click on the “Start” button below.

T