PURPOSE - This check-in is meant to help you and your partner get the most out of watching some movies together.
- It will give you feedback on how your relationship is going right now.
- It will also automatically send you emails with links to the movie list and to the guided discussions to follow each movie.
- Finally, it will send emails with links to similar check-ins 1, 6, and 12 months from now so that you can get ongoing feedback on how your relationship is doing.
PROCEDURE - Based on recent research findings (Rogge et al., 2014), couples are encouraged to watch five movies together from a pre-screened list. At the end of each movie, couples are encouraged to have 30-45min self-guided discussions about how their own relationships are similar to or different from the romantic relationships portrayed on screen. To get the most out of this process, we would recommend a few tips:
- Both of you complete the initial check-in survey: Ideally, we would encourage BOTH you and your partner to fill out this initial survey. This only takes 10-15 minutes to complete and will allow both of you to get your own feedback on how you see your relationship going currently.
- Answer most of the questions: You are free to answer as many or as few of the questions that you would like. However, the feedback given assumes that you have answered all of the questions on the relevant self-report scales. As a result, leaving many answers blank can introduce inaccuracies into the feedback.
- Watch 5 movies: We would also encourage you to watch at least 5 of the movies from the list over the next few weeks.
- Find movies you can both enjoy: We would suggesting trying to find movies on the list that you will both enjoy, as this should be enjoyable for both of you.
- Complete the 1, 6, and 12-month check-ins: We would also encourage both of you to complete the follow up check-in surveys. These are still quite short (10-15min) and will give you a sense of how much your relationship has changed over time.
CONFIDENTIALITY – To take full advantage of this check-in, you will need to provide an email address for yourself and your partner. This is the only identifying information that will be collected and it will be used to send the emails described above. The information will be kept in strictly confidential manner. It will not be shared with third parties and only individuals in Dr. Rogge's laboratory will have access to that data. Although we are encouraging both you and your partner to complete the check-ins, none of your responses will ever be shared with your partner or vice versa.
RISKS - If you participate, there is a risk that you might experience some discomfort from answering questions about your relationship or from discussing your relationship with your partner. However, you are free to stop this process at any point, and you are free to skip any questions that might make you feel uncomfortable.
BENEFITS - Recent findings (Rogge et al., 2014) have suggested that couples investing time and effort back into their relationships in this manner helped to strengthen those relationships and reduce the rate of divorce over the first 3 years of marriage. Thus, couples could find that engaging in this process might help to strengthen their relationships.
VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION - Your participation in this process is completely voluntary. You are free not to participate or to withdraw at any time.
NOT A RESEARCH PROJECT - You chose to go to this set of interactive web tools because you did not want your responses being used in a research study. As a result, your responses will not be used or shared in any way.
If you DO want your responses to be used in a research study, then simply click the following link and it will take you to the version of these web tools associated with the current study.
LINK TO WEB TOOLS EMBEDDED IN A CURRENT RESEARCH STUDY
Otherwise, just click the NEXT button below to continue with these interactive web tools outside of any research study.
For more information about this research or if you feel that your participation in this process has resulted in any emotional or physical discomfort you should contact Ronald D. Rogge at:
University of Rochester, Department of Clinical and Social Psychology
RC Box 270266
Rochester, NY 14627-0266
rogge@psych.rochester.edu
If you are interested in completing in the check-in, please click on the NEXT button below. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Ronald D. Rogge, Ph.D.