[Mod Approved] Participate in a 30 min study and earn $10!

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In the future, I suggest that moderators could make the first post when there is a study they've approved.

There could possibly be a thread made by mods called "Approved Research" and mods would write their endorsement prior to the student saying hello. It would help to avoid any confusion.

As it is, when strangers come to WP to investigate our personal data and take our name, email, or mailing address (for a gift certificate), I think we all have a right to be leery.

Seconded.

Thirded and hoping that the mods fully vet survey and research requests to the level that Bea was asking for info on.

Qisheng originally linked me to, among other things, https://labinthewild.org/, from which it was apparent that this is a reputable lab who have routinely gained ethical clearance before starting experiments.

The Google Form, admittedly, looks a little bit sketchier as it just dives in with the request for personal information without the usual disclaimers. So I understand your scepticism. It's good that you're aware and asking these questions and I actually think it's a good thing that users can see others expressing their scepticism. Just try to remember to be friendly about it

100% in agreement. We do need to be on our guard that our more vulnerable members aren't taken advantage of. Thanks!

We will NOT share any information in the Google Form with ANYONE outside our research team, and will not use names anywhere in our research. Some of the information will be included in the research paper/publication in the form of something similar to "P1, age 30 - 40, diagnosed with Asperger's" without any identifiable information. Every participant will be assigned an ID [P1, P2, P3...].

But thank you all for your comments and suggestions. These are valuable comments for us to improve in the future. Also thank you who already signed up for our study. We will contact you via email later today!

We are still looking for more participants who have NOT been formally diagnosed. You are welcome to share this post with anyone who might be interested!

Still haven't seen the study approval (human subjects) but whatever. The researcher looks like a nice gal but that doesn't mean she is closely supervised or the privacy safeguards are in place.

For the OP

Is this study only open to Americans? I assume the $10 Amazon gift card is issued in USD and not in any other world currency. In that respect are you specifically seeking Americans who are ND but haven't been diagnosed, and haven't done any previous psychometric tests?

I just wanted to clarify your target demographic.

I was also wondering about the monetary reward.

I'm interested in furthering research, and happy to provide perspective from the cohort which cares not for $10, but I am currently shopping for telephone service, and the salesman won't deal with me, because I'm asking first-timer questions. Also, I can do math, and see that such a call could easily cost $30, and the salesman knows that.

The Human Subjects Division at UW reviewed our interview protocols and determined that this research qualified the exempt status (Category 2) (https://oprs.usc.edu/irb-review/types-o ... ew/exempt/), which means it is no more than “minimal risk” and fits one of the exempt review categories as defined by federal regulation 45 CFR 46. Here is a good source explaining different types of reviews.

The text on the PDF is shown below:

DETERMINATION OF EXEMPT STATUS

October 22, 2019

Dear Qisheng Li:
On 10/22/2019, the University of Washington Human Subjects Division (HSD) reviewed the following application:

Type of Review: Initial Study
Title of Study: Understanding why and how people with cognitive disabilities/disorders participate in online forums.
Investigator: Qisheng Li
IRB ID: STUDY00008664
Funding: None

Exempt Status
HSD determined that your proposed activity is human subjects research that qualifies for exempt
status (Category 2).
- This determination is valid for the duration of your research.
- This means that your research is exempt from the federal human subjects regulations, including the requirement for IRB approval and continuing review.
- Depending on the nature of your study, you may need to obtain other approvals or permissions to conduct your research. For example, you might need to apply for access to data or specimens (e.g., to obtain UW student data). Or, you might need to obtain permission from facilities managers to approach possible subjects or conduct research procedures in the facilities (e.g., Seattle School District; the Harborview Emergency Department).

If you consider changes to the activities in the future and know that the changes will require IRB review (or you are not certain), you may request a review or new determination by submitting a Modification to this application. For information about what changes require a Modification, refer to the GUIDANCE: Exempt Research.

Thank you for your commitment to ethical and responsible research. We wish you great success!

No, we are open to anyone around the world. We have previously issued gift cards for people in Canada, so I believe issuing gift cards in other currency (equivalent to $10) should be possible. I just messaged our admin to double-check.

If I understand it correctly -- we can do the call through the internet without any cost from the telephone service.

We could, if my computer were not deaf. I have been trying to restore my Magic Jack VoIP service for years, and lost all faith in communications corporations. I'll let you know if I get through - it has become critical for safety now.

I am a PhD and a researcher myself. Besides the copious documentation she presents for her study, she also had a legit university-affiliated email address that we used to converse. I also just spoke with the two interviewers here (one of whom is the OP) over zoom and I can confirm (through specific questions I asked of them) that they are real grad students conducting real research. There were also no odd or phishing-type questions they asked of me during the interview. It all seemed project-focused.

I understand if people would not like to release their names and email addresses, but this was really the only personal identifying information they asked for.

Thank you, Fern! : )