Encoding and Influence of Social Network Knowledge: Social Network Survey
Carolyn Parkinson, PhD from the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles are conducting a research study. This study is being funded by National Science Foundation. You were selected as a possible participant in this study because your residential community (i.e., floor) was selected to be part of this study and you have indicated interest in participating. Your participation in this research study is voluntary.
- Whether or not you take part is up to you.
- You can choose not to take part.
- You can agree to take part and later change your mind.
- Your decision will not be held against you.
- You can ask all the questions you want before you decide.
The purpose of this research is to understand social networks at UCLA. Findings from this study will uncover the mechanisms behind how people encode social network knowledge and delineate how this knowledge impacts social behaviors. We cannot tell you every detail of this study ahead of time, but if you are willing to participate under these conditions, we will explain the procedure to you fully after your participation.
Participation in the online survey will take a total of about 30 minutes.
If you volunteer to participate in this study, the researcher will ask you to do the following:
- Answer questions about yourself, such as demographics and personality measures.
- Fill out social network information about your social relationships and interactions.
- The study will ask you to answer multiple choice and free response questions.
- The study will be conducted over the Internet.
- You will have the opportunity to participate in behavioral and/or fMRI procedures if interested.
There are no anticipated risks or discomforts.
You will not receive direct benefits from participating in the research. However, the results of the research have the potential to elucidate our understanding of how people encode knowledge about their social networks and how this knowledge informs people’s behaviors.
Your alternative to participating in this research study is to not participate.
The researchers will do their best to make sure that your private information is kept confidential. Information about you will be handled as confidentially as possible but participating in research may involve a loss of privacy and the potential for a breach in confidentiality. Study data will be physically and electronically secured. As with any use of electronic means to store data, there is a risk of breach of data security.
The researchers will do their best to make sure that your private information is kept confidential. Confidentiality on all questionnaires and forms that you complete as part of this study will be maintained by using only a subject identification number, without any other identifying information. The document indicating your name and all other personal identifying information, and the document linking your name with your identification number will be kept separately from your questionnaires. All identifying information will be kept in locked files, and only the principal investigators and their immediate authorized staff will have access to this information. No information that can identify you will be released by the investigators or by their staff without your separate consent except as specifically required by law.
Study data will be physically and electronically stored securely in locked cabinets and password-protected or limited-access database, respectively. As with any use of electronic means to store data, there is a risk of breach of data security. All questionnaires and forms that you have completed in this study will be coded with a unique subject identification number with all other personal identifying information excluded. The document associating the assigned subject identification number with your name and other identifiable information will be stored separately in locked files that are accessible only to the principal investigator and authorized staff members in the lab.
The research team and authorized UCLA personnel may have access to study data and records to monitor the study, and only authorized personnel from the research team may have access to personally identifiable data about you. Publications and/or presentations that result from this study will not identify you by any personally identifiable information.
Employees of the University may have access to identifiable information as part of routine processing of your information, such as lab work or processing payment. However, University employees are bound by strict rules of confidentiality.
Your data, including de-identified data may be kept for use in future research.
You will receive $20 for completing the online social network survey, plus an additional $5 bonus if over 80% of your floor completes the survey too as social network analysis works best with a high response rate.
If you decide that you would like to participate in the behavioral and/or fMRI procedures following the completion of this survey, you will be presented with a separate consent form for these procedures.
If you have any questions, comments or concerns about the research, you can talk to the one of the researchers. Please contact:
Principal Investigator: Carolyn Parkinson
cparkinson@ucla.edu
Study Coordinator: Gina Jackson
ginajackson@g.ucla.edu
If you have questions about your rights as a research subject, or you have concerns or suggestions and you want to talk to someone other than the researchers, you may contact the UCLA OHRPP by phone: (310) 206-2040; by email: participants@research.ucla.edu or by mail: Box 951406, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1406.
- You can choose whether or not you want to be in this study, and you may withdraw your consent and discontinue participation at any time.
- Whatever decision you make, there will be no penalty to you, and no loss of benefits to which you were otherwise entitled.
- You may refuse to answer any questions that you do not want to answer and still remain in the study.