2.PARTICIPANT INFORMATION SHEET
Research Title: Exploring behavioural aspects in social networking sites (SNS)
Investigator: Preemesh Solanki
Supervisor: Dr Lesley Gardner
Dear Participant
I, Preemesh Solanki, am a Master student at University of Auckland Business School. You are being invited to take part in a research project. In order to complete my thesis for a Master of Commerce (MCom) degree, I have decided to examine different aspects of user behaviour when using social networking sites (SNSs), in particular cyber bullying. SNSs such as Facebook, Myspace, and QQ have now become ubiquitous, where the youth of today are spending a lot of time interacting with these sites. Facebook alone, has just over 500 million users, and is therefore the focus of this research. Despite the tremendous increase in the popularity of SNSs, limited research has gone into the analysis of cyber behaviour, particularly in the context of social networks.
Your participation in this research is voluntary and you can stop answering questions at any time.
You are guaranteed that the reported findings are anonymous and no inferences to personal identities can be made from the results of the questionnaire. As it is anonymous, you will not be able to withdraw your data after completing the survey. The questionnaire will take no longer than 20 minutes to complete.
Any electronic data will be stored securely. The findings of this study will be published in my Master’s thesis, and may also be included in published journal articles and conference processing. All data will be destroyed by securely erasing the files six years after completion of the research.
I am more than happy to provide you with an executive summary of the findings after finalising the initial analysis upon request. I would like to take this chance to thank you for your time and in helping make this study possible. If you have any queries or wish to know more, you are more than welcome to contact us.
Investigator:
Preemesh Solanki
Department of Information Systems and Operations Management
Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand
Phone: +64 21 046 6082
Email: psol009@aucklanduni.ac.nz
Supervisor:
Senior Lecturer Dr. Lesley Gardner
Department of Information Systems and Operations Management
Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand
Phone: +64 (9) 373 7599, ext. 86638
Email: l.gardner@auckland.ac.nz
Head of Department:
Professor Michael D. Myers
Department of Information Systems and Operations Management
Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand
Phone: +64 9 373 7599 ext. 87468
Email: m.myers@auckland.ac.nz
Ethics committee
For any queries regarding ethical concerns you may contact:
Chair
The University of Auckland Human Participants Ethics Committee
Office of the Vice Chancellor
Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
Phone: +64 9 373 7599, ext. 83711
APPROVED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND HUMAN PARTICIPANTS ETHICS COMMITTEE ON 15 September 2010 for 3 years, Reference Number 2010/457
Investigator: Preemesh Solanki
Supervisor: Dr Lesley Gardner
Dear Participant
I, Preemesh Solanki, am a Master student at University of Auckland Business School. You are being invited to take part in a research project. In order to complete my thesis for a Master of Commerce (MCom) degree, I have decided to examine different aspects of user behaviour when using social networking sites (SNSs), in particular cyber bullying. SNSs such as Facebook, Myspace, and QQ have now become ubiquitous, where the youth of today are spending a lot of time interacting with these sites. Facebook alone, has just over 500 million users, and is therefore the focus of this research. Despite the tremendous increase in the popularity of SNSs, limited research has gone into the analysis of cyber behaviour, particularly in the context of social networks.
Your participation in this research is voluntary and you can stop answering questions at any time.
You are guaranteed that the reported findings are anonymous and no inferences to personal identities can be made from the results of the questionnaire. As it is anonymous, you will not be able to withdraw your data after completing the survey. The questionnaire will take no longer than 20 minutes to complete.
Any electronic data will be stored securely. The findings of this study will be published in my Master’s thesis, and may also be included in published journal articles and conference processing. All data will be destroyed by securely erasing the files six years after completion of the research.
I am more than happy to provide you with an executive summary of the findings after finalising the initial analysis upon request. I would like to take this chance to thank you for your time and in helping make this study possible. If you have any queries or wish to know more, you are more than welcome to contact us.
Investigator:
Preemesh Solanki
Department of Information Systems and Operations Management
Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand
Phone: +64 21 046 6082
Email: psol009@aucklanduni.ac.nz
Supervisor:
Senior Lecturer Dr. Lesley Gardner
Department of Information Systems and Operations Management
Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand
Phone: +64 (9) 373 7599, ext. 86638
Email: l.gardner@auckland.ac.nz
Head of Department:
Professor Michael D. Myers
Department of Information Systems and Operations Management
Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand
Phone: +64 9 373 7599 ext. 87468
Email: m.myers@auckland.ac.nz
Ethics committee
For any queries regarding ethical concerns you may contact:
Chair
The University of Auckland Human Participants Ethics Committee
Office of the Vice Chancellor
Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
Phone: +64 9 373 7599, ext. 83711
APPROVED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND HUMAN PARTICIPANTS ETHICS COMMITTEE ON 15 September 2010 for 3 years, Reference Number 2010/457