http://home.wmin.ac.uk/psychology/ac/consent.htm

HUMOR, GENDER AND MATE SELECTION: AN EVOLVED RELATIONSHIP?

Thank you for your interest and welcome to “Humor, gender and mate selection: An evolved relationship?” This is a web-based study examining for any interplay between humor and gender. Before taking part in this study, please read the consent form below and click on the "I Consent" button at the bottom of the page if you understand the statements and freely give informed consent as to voluntarily participate in this study.

CONSENT FORM AND STUDY BRIEFING

This web-based study is designed to explore the nature of humor in relation to gender. This study is being conducted as part of an MSc in Psychological Research methods and has received ethical approval from the University of Westminster’s Departmental Ethics Committee. No deception is involved, and the study involves no more than minimal risk to participants (i.e., the level of risk encountered in daily life).

Participation in the study typically takes 10-15 minutes and is strictly anonymous. Participants answer a series of questions about themselves and then rate several jokes and statements about humor. This will be then followed by two questions regarding themselves and humor.

All responses are treated as confidential. However, participants should be aware that the study is not run from a "secure" https server - typically used for handling credit card transactions, so there is a very small possibility that unauthorized third parties (e.g., computer hackers) could view responses. However, the data would only appear as a string of numbers so responses would remain anonymous. There is no identifying information conveyed with responses, other than IP addresses. IP addresses will not be used for any reason other than to identify duplicate or multiple submissions, and they will not be publicized.

Individuals may find participation in this study enjoyable due to some of its humor content, and in addition, there are no adverse risks deemed likely. Participation is voluntary, and participants may withdraw from the study at any time by simply closing the page – although participation will be welcomed back if participants later wish to do so. Participants that wish to withdraw their data after completing their participation can do so by emailing the researcher using the contact details below and quoting the unique user created password made to identify their data.   

You are also free to refrain from answering any questions in the study you do not wish to answer.

At the end of the study’s questionnaire, there will be a debriefing page that will inform participants of the objective(s) of the study. Participants may contact the researcher as to query any aspect of the study by emailing A.Choudhury01@student.westminster.ac.uk

If you are 18 years of age or older, understand the statements above, and freely consent to participate in the study, please click on the "I Consent" button to begin the study.

Acknowledgements:

Academic Supervisor: Dr Rosemary Snelgar

Kathryn Gardner, Online Psychology Research UK (http://www.onlinepsychresearch.co.uk)

John H. Krantz, Psychological Research on the Net (http://psych.hanover.edu/research/exponnet.html)