You are being asked to take part in a research study. Please read this paper carefully.
This research is funded by Lindner College of Business, University of Cincinnati.
The person in charge of this research study is Chia-Chun Yang of the University of Cincinnati (UC) Department of Operations, Business Analytics and Information Systems.
The purpose of this research study is to examine how service systems, environments, and the task may affect consumers’ decisions in self-service technologies (SST) utilization.
About 400 people will take part in this study. You may be in this study if you are age 18 or older.
In this experiment, you will be asked to perform a series of simple tasks. You will choose whether to complete the task by yourself or have the computer do it for you. The research will take place online.
Please note: This study contains a quiz to make sure that you fully understand the experiment instructions. You must correctly answer all questions in the quiz within three attempts before proceeding to the experiment.
Risks to you are considered minimal. Collection of data and experiment responses using the internet involves the same risks that a person would encounter in everyday use of the internet, such as fatigue or breach of confidentiality. While the researchers have taken every reasonable step to protect your confidentiality, there is always the possibility of interception or hacking of the data.
You will probably not get any benefit from taking part in this study.
To thank you for being in the study, upon completion of the study, you will receive a participation fee of ${{ C.PARTICIPATE_FEE }} plus a potential ${{ C.BONUS_PAY }} bonus. Your cash earning depends on your performance in the experiment. You will receive the payment within two weeks after completing the study.
If you do not want to take part in this research study, you may simply not participate.
Researchers will have access to your platform ID, which may be able to link to your personal information such as your name. Your ID will not be shared with anyone outside the study team and will be used solely for the purposes of distributing compensation. We will not be accessing any personally identifying information about you that you may have put on your public profile page.
Your platform ID will be removed from the dataset after you are properly paid (i.e., within two weeks of the completion of the study). Data will be retained on the platform server for the duration of the study and will be deleted by the researcher after this time. Deidentified data transferred from the survey site will be saved on a password-protected, secure UC computer/server.
Information that could identify you will be removed from the study data. After removal, the study data could be used for future research studies. The study data could also be given to another researcher for future research studies. This may be done without getting additional permission from you. Any reports and presentations about the findings from this study will not include your name or any other information that could identify you. The data from this research study may be published, but you will not be identified by name.
Agents of the University of Cincinnati may inspect study records for audit or quality assurance purposes.
Nothing in this consent form waives any legal rights you may have. This consent form also does not release the investigator, the institution, or its agents from liability for negligence.
If you have any questions or concerns about this research study, you should contact Chia-Chun Yang at yangcc@mail.uc.edu or Dr. Yinghao Zhang at yinghao.zhang@uc.edu.
The UC Institutional Review Board reviews all research projects that involve human participants to be sure the rights and welfare of participants are protected.
If you have questions about your rights as a participant, complaints and/or suggestions about the study, you may contact the UC IRB at (513) 558-5259. Or, you may call the UC Research Compliance Hotline at (800) 889-1547, or write to the IRB, 300 University Hall, ML 0567, 51 Goodman Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0567, or email the IRB office at irb@ucmail.uc.edu.
No one has to be in this research study. Your participation in this study is voluntary. Refusing to take part will NOT cause any penalty or loss of benefits that you would otherwise have.
You may start and then change your mind and stop at any time. To stop being in the study, simply close the internet browser.
You can email Chia-Chun Yang (yangcc@mail.uc.edu) or Dr. Yinghao Zhang (yinghao.zhang@uc.edu) for a copy of this information sheet.
BY ENTERING THIS STUDY, YOU ARE INDICATING THAT YOU HAVE READ THE CONSENT FORM, THAT YOU ARE AGE 18 OR OLDER, AND THAT YOU VOLUNTARILY AGREE TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS ONLINE RESEARCH STUDY. BY TURNING IN YOUR COMPLETED SURVEY, YOU INDICATE YOUR CONSENT FOR YOUR ANSWERS TO BE USED IN THIS RESEARCH STUDY.