Wilfrid Laurier University Informed Consent Statement
The Well-Tech Research & Design Laboratory's People Engaging in Research (PER) Database
Principal Investigator: Maurita T. Harris, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Assistant Professor, User Experience Design, Wilfrid Laurier University
You are invited to provide contact, demographic, and self-reported health information for potential participation in future research projects to the Well-Tech Research & Design Laboratory's People Engaging in Research (PER) Database. This database will contain only the contact information (name, phone number, and e-mail address), basic demographic information necessary to determine study eligibility (birth year, country, gender, and race), and self-reported health information (health conditions and disability) of adults. This is not a research project and the information that you provide will only be shared with researchers who have received institutional approval to conduct research. You can always decline to participate in any specific research study you are contacted about. The database will be used for recruitment in future studies to broadly explore health, well-being, and technology adoption across the lifespan.
Information
Participants will be asked to complete a short data information form. Completing the form will take approximately 10 minutes. The information on this form will be entered into the Well-Tech Research & Design Laboratory’s People Engaging in Research (PER) Database and may be used to invite you to participate in future studies.
Risks
Given the limited scope of the database, the reasonably foreseeable harms and risks are minimal. Participants are free to discontinue participation at any time and choose not to respond to any question. Participants are free to choose not to participate in any study and may request that their name and information be removed from the database at any time.
Benefits
Participants are not likely to benefit directly from inputting their information into the database; however, participants may benefit from being provided the opportunity to participate in future studies. This participant database will facilitate research contributing to the general and scientific community on health, well-being, and technology adoption across the lifespan.
Confidentiality
The data will be stored on a password-protected file on OneDrive on a password-protected computer and will only be accessed by authorized research team members. The database information will be stored separately from data collected during future studies. The database will be maintained indefinitely, but you may request to have your information removed from the database and destroyed at any point. Consent forms will be stored separately from the data and will be destroyed by the Principal Investigator by December 31, 2030.
It is important to note that while in transmission on the internet, the confidentiality of data cannot be guaranteed. Further, the researchers acknowledge that the host of the online survey (Qualtrics) may automatically collect participants’ data without their knowledge by collecting the internet protocol (IP) address or other information which could link their participation to their device to avoid duplicate responses in the database; however, the researchers will not use or save this information.
Contact
If you have questions related to this study or the procedures, or if you experience adverse effects as a result of participating in this study, you may contact the Principal Investigator, Maurita Harris at mauharris@wlu.ca.
This project has been reviewed and approved by the University Research Ethics Board (REB# 8582). If you feel you have not been treated according to the descriptions in this form or your rights as a participant in research have been violated during the course of this project, or if you have any questions for the board, you may contact Jayne Kalmar, Ph.D., Chair, University Research Ethics Board, Wilfrid Laurier University, (519) 889 3518 or REBChair@wlu.ca.
Participation
Your participation in this database is voluntary; you may decline to participate without penalty. If you decide to participate, you may withdraw from the database at any time without penalty. You have the right to refuse to answer any question or participate in any activity you choose.
If you want to withdraw from the database, you can request to have your data removed/destroyed by contacting the Principal Investigator, Maurita Harris at mauharris@wlu.ca, at any time.
Feedback and Publication
The contents of the database will not be published or shared. However, the results of the research using this database for recruitment might be published/presented in a thesis, course project report, book, journal article, conference presentation, or class presentation.