Investigators: We (Marion Hersh and Barbara Leporini) are a senior lecturer at the University of Glasgow in Scotland and a researcher at ISTI-CNR in Pisa, Italy. We are both disabled.
The Study: We are conducting two related studies in this survey: on (i) digital games in the rehabilitation of disabled people and (ii) mobile recommender apps with privacy management for disabled people. We are combining the studies in one questionnaire, as they have the same target audience, the topics are related and two sections of the questionnaire are the same. There is increasing interest in the use of games in education and rehabilitation and a large and ever increasing number of mobile apps. There may therefore be potential for the use of games in the rehabilitation of disabled people and the development of recommender apps to aid disabled people in finding products that meet their needs. Both rehabilitation games and mobile recommender apps may obtain information about the user and the context. This raises the issues of privacy management. However there are few studies which examine these issues from the perspective of disabled people. This research is aimed to fill these gaps. We aim to collect information, opinions, suggestions and expectations about the use of (i) digital and interactive games in the rehabilitation of disabled people and (ii) the use of recommendation apps with privacy management for disabled people. This brief questionnaire is intended for disabled people and the parents of disabled children under 16, who will complete it on their behalf. There is another version of the parts of the questionnaire related to games for therapists, rehabilitation professionals, teachers and other professionals working with disabled people.
Procedures, confidentiality and anonymity: The questionnaire consists of four parts. Part A collects personal data for statistical purposes. Part B looks at your use of information technology and digital games. Part C investigates your use of digital games in rehabilitation. Part D investigates your interest in and attitudes to different features of recommender apps and privacy management systems. You can complete the questionnaire in about 20 minutes and do so anonymously. The questionnaire is completely confidential and only the two researchers (Marion Hersh and Barbara Leporini) and their assistants will see the responses.
Voluntary participation: Completing the questionnaire is completely voluntary. You should not feel under any pressure to respond. You can decide not to reply to one or more questions and to submit a partially complete questionnaire.
Benefits and risks: The main benefits are contributing to better understanding of the potential of games in rehabilitation and recommender apps with privacy management, possibly leading to the development of new games and recommender apps with privacy management for disabled people. There are no risks.
Publication: We would like to submit the results for publication in an international journal, such as Disability and Rehabilitation. We might use brief quotes from your comments, but they will be anonymous. We will make sure that no-one can guess your identity.
Ethical approval: We have received ethical approval from the Ethics Committee of the College of Science and Engineering of the University of Glasgow.
Further information: Please contact us if you have questions or would like further information about our research. Do also contact us if you would like a copy of our published results. We will store the contact addresses separately from the results.
Contact details:
Dr. Barbara Leporini,
barbara.leporini@isti.cnr.it
ISTI-CNR, via G. Moruzzi, 1 – 56124, Pisa, Italy.
Dr. Marion Hersh, marion.hersh@glasgow.ac.uk
Biomedical Engineering, Rankine Building University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8LT, Scotland
Thank you for much for considering participation in our study
