Consent to Participate in a Research Study
You and about 5,000 others are being invited to take part in a research study about
psychology and the law.
The person in charge of this
study is Dr. Jonathan M. Golding of the Department of Psychology at the
University of Kentucky. There may be other people on the research team
assisting at different times during the study.
By doing this study, we
hope to learn more how people make decisions when faced with a plea bargain.
The research procedures will be conducted at the University of Kentucky or
off-campus. The total amount of time you will be asked
to volunteer for this study will be approximately 20-50 minutes during 1
session, depending on the length of the case presented and the number of
questions that need to be answered.
During the
study you will be asked to do one or more of the following: (1) read, hear,
and/or watch information about a randomly selected criminal court case and/or
other legal issues; (2) pretend to be a defendant who is either guilty or not
guilty of the crime described in the case; (3) answer questions about the case
and/or legal issues; (4) answer questions about experiences you and others have
had in life (e.g., contact with the justice system); (5) answer questions about
your beliefs and behavior with regard to specific aspects of your life (e.g., political
views), and (6) provide demographic information (e.g., race, age, sex, married,
children). You should also be
aware that the information and questions that are presented to you may refer to crimes of a sexual nature or crimes involving
physical abuse.
ARE THERE REASONS WHY I SHOULD NOT TAKE PART IN THIS
STUDY?
You should not participate
in this study if you are less than 18 years old, a non-US citizen, or have a
felony conviction.
WHAT ARE THE POSSIBLE RISKS AND DISCOMFORTS?
To the best of our
knowledge, the things you will be doing have no more risk of harm than you
would experience in everyday life. It is possible, however, that you may
remember an experience in your life that will cause you some distress. If this
occurs, you should feel free to discontinue your participation. Also, if you feel any distress you may want to contact a
trained professional at Comprehensive Health Care (859-233-0444), the
University of Kentucky Psychological Services Center (859-257-6853), or the
University of Kentucky Counseling Center (859-257-8701).
WILL I BENEFIT FROM TAKING PART IN THIS STUDY?
There is no guarantee that
you will get any benefit from taking part in this study.
IF I DON’T WANT TO TAKE PART
IN THE STUDY, ARE THERE OTHER CHOICES?
If you do not want to take
part in the study, there are other choices as discussed in your class.
WHAT WILL IT COST ME TO PARTICIPATE?
There are no costs
associated with taking part in this study.
WHAT WILL I RECEIVE FOR TAKING PART IN THE STUDY?
If
you are in PSY 100, PSY 215, or PSY 216 you will receive credit toward your
class for taking part in this study (50 minutes = 1.0 credit hours). Students
in courses other than PSY 100, PSY 215, or PSY 216 will receive credit for
either voluntarily (a) participating in the experiment, or (b) completing a
short discussion (one page maximum) of a newspaper/magazine article (1-2 pages
maximum) dealing with the subject matter of the specific course. Students who
do not complete the study will receive the full amount of credit that the
experiment is worth.
WHO WILL SEE THE INFORMATION I GIVE?
Your information will be combined with information from other people taking
part in the study. When we write about the study to share it with other
researchers, we will write about the combined information we have gathered. You
will not be personally identified in these written
materials. We may publish the results of this study; however, we will keep your
name and other identifying information private.
We will make every effort to
prevent anyone who is not on the research team from knowing that you gave us
information, or what that information is. However, we may have to show information which identifies you to people who need to be
sure we have done the research correctly; these would be people from such
organizations as the University of Kentucky.
Please be aware, while we make every effort to safeguard your data once
received from the online survey/data gathering company, given the nature of
online surveys, as with anything involving the Internet, we can never guarantee
the confidentiality of the data while still on the survey/data gathering
company’s servers, or while en route to either them
or us. It is also possible the raw data collected for
research purposes may be used for marketing or reporting purposes by the
survey/data gathering company after the research is concluded, depending on the
company’s Terms of Service and Privacy policies.
CAN MY TAKING PART IN THE STUDY END EARLY?
If you decide to take part
in the study, you still have the right to later decide
at any time that you no longer want to continue, and you will still receive
full credit for taking part in the study. No one will think badly of you or
treat you differently if you decide not to take part in this study.
WHAT IF I HAVE QUESTIONS?
Before you decide whether
to accept this invitation to take part in the study, please ask any questions
that might come to mind now. Later, if you have questions about the study, you
can contact the investigator, Dr. Golding at 859-257-4395. If you have any
questions about your rights as a research volunteer, contact the staff in the
Office of Research Integrity at the University of Kentucky at 859-257-9428 or
toll-free at 1-866-400-9428. You will be able to print or save a copy this
consent form.