The Experiences of Relationships Study
Principal Investigator: Ronald D. Rogge, Ph.D.
Project Coordinator: Jennifer S. Daks, B.S.
STUDY PURPOSE - This page describes a research study that Dr. Ronald D. Rogge, principal investigator from the University of Rochester’s Department of Clinical & Social Sciences in Psychology, is conducting in order to learn more about the different ways that individuals approach their romantic relationships. We estimate that approximately 5,000 individuals will take part in this study.
You must be at least 18 years of age, and currently involved in a romantic relationship to participate in this research study. The study has been reviewed and approved by the University of Rochester Research Subjects Review Board.
STUDY PROCEDURE - If you decide to take part in this study, you will be asked to complete two separate online surveys:
• The first survey is completed online and will take about 25-30 minutes. The survey will ask questions about your background as well as questions about the different ways you think and act throughout your day and in your current romantic relationship.
• Email invitations to an optional online follow-up survey will be sent 6 months after completing the initial survey and take roughly 10-15 minutes to complete. You will be offered the option of providing an email address as part of the first survey in order to be invited to participate in the follow-up survey.
Some of the survey questions may make you feel uncomfortable, we would like you to complete the whole survey, but you may skip any questions that you don't want to answer. To minimize this risk, we will not store any identifiers (email addresses or SONA ID #s) with your survey responses once data collection is complete. All of the information we collect will be stored in a secure manner and only study team members will have access to it. Communicating via e-mail with the study team while participating in this study presents additional risks related to privacy and confidentiality that you should consider. These include, but are not limited to, the following:
a) E-mail can be circulated, forwarded, stored electronically and on paper, and broadcast to unintended recipients.
b) E-mail senders can easily misaddress an e-mail.
c) Backup copies of e-mail may exist even after the sender or the recipient has deleted his or her copy.
d) Employers and on-line services have a right to inspect e-mail transmitted through their systems.
e) E-mail can be intercepted, altered, forwarded, or used without authorization or detection.
f) E-mail can be used to introduce viruses into computer systems.
There are no other expected risks. There are also no expected benefits.
RECRUITMENT INCENTIVES - After completing the survey, you will receive individualized feedback comparing the different ways you approach life, and your relationship to the responses of thousands of others. Please note, this individual feedback is provided for your use only. The investigators will not have access to the individual feedback given and will only analyze the data at an aggregate level.
SONA CREDIT - You will receive 0.5 unit of extra credit for participation in this study (provided that you completed at least 70% of the survey giving good attention and effort, thereby ensuring that you provided responses that can be used in our analyses). This study is not the only way you may receive extra course credit. Your psychology professors may offer an alternative assignment for extra credit in place of participation in psychology studies. To pursue this alternative, notify the instructor and work out the details with him or her. You will not be offered or receive any special consideration if you take part in this research.
CONFIDENTIALITY – The University of Rochester makes every effort to keep the information collected from you private. To protect the confidentiality of the data, responses will be transmitted in an encrypted format (readable only to the research team). Access to any information that could potentially identify you (email addresses, SONA IDs) will be restricted to project staff, used only for the purpose of this study, and will be deleted once data collection is complete, deidentifying the data for analysis and long-term storage to further protect your confidentiality.
Your participation in this study is completely voluntary. You are free not to participate or to withdraw at any time, for whatever reason.
Participating in this study will not affect your class standing or grades at the University of Rochester. You will not be offered or receive any special consideration if you take part in this research.
CONTACT PERSONS: For more information or questions about this research, or if you feel that your participation has resulted in any emotional or physical discomfort you should contact: Jenn Daks at Jennifer.daks@rochester.edu or at (585) 420- 6558, or contact Ronald D. Rogge at rogge@psych.rochester.edu.
Please contact the University of Rochester Research Subjects Review Board at 265 Crittenden Blvd., CU 420315, Rochester, NY 14642, Telephone 001-(585) 276-0005 or 001-(877) 449-4441for the following reasons:
- You wish to talk to someone other than the research staff about your rights as a research subject;
- To voice concerns about the research