Business Decision Making Study
The person in charge of this study is Clark H. Warner. The work is being done under the supervision of professor Marion Fortin at the Université of Toulouse 1 Capitole. Clark can be reached at clark.warner@tsm-education.fr. Prof Fortin can be reached at marion.fortin@ut-capitole.fr,
Clark will be referred to as the “researcher” throughout this form.
Please read this form carefully. The purpose of this form is to provide you with important information about taking part in a research study. If any of the statements or words in this form are unclear, please let the researcher know. We would be happy to answer any questions.
Why is this study being done ?
The purpose of this study is to determine how people make business decisions The results of this study may help us understand how people make decisions in particular business contexts including when they are distracted.
We are asking you to take part in this study because as a college student or recent graduate you are likely to understand the business situations you will see yet will not have likely encountered many situations like this. Thus we will be able to understand how you make these decisions without being influenced by prior history.
How much time with this study take ?
We expect that you will be in this research study for roughly 60-90 minutes. Everything will take place on-line following your acceptance of this screen should you choose to accept. The study can be performed in any private location including your home.
What will happen if I take part in this research study?
During the session you be exposed to between 2 and 8 business simulations. The simulations will consist of a scenario describing your position and a collection of short documents such as emails, memoranda, invoices, purchase orders or other business documents that pertain to the scenario. You will be asked in the end to approve or disapprove of a business document depending on the particulars of the scenario and to evaluate the situation. Prior to the simulations you will take a very brief survey that will help us capture more information about how you make decisions.
How will you keep my study data confidential ?
Any potentially identifying information such as your [Amazon Turk Worker ID (Study 1)] [email (study 2)] will be kept confidential in a password protected encrypted file on a separate computer away from study data. We will make every effort to keep your records confidential unless legally required to disclose it due to court order or other legal requirement. The identifying information is only being collected for compensation purposes. Once you have been compensated we will delete the connection between your identifying information and your study data and thus permanently sever any potential connection to your responses. We will keep your email address in case we need to follow up with you for some reason (Study 2) but there will be no way to connect it to your data once the connection has been removed.
Your study information may be sent to researchers at other universities doing similar research. Absolutely no identifying information will be included in any such disclosure. Your answers will be correlated to a random ID number generated for you.
The following people or groups may review your study records for purposes such as quality control or safety:
• The Researcher and any member of his research team
• The Institutional Review board of the Federal University of Toulouse Midi-Pyrenees. The Institutional Review Board is a group of people who review reserach studies conducted at the University of Toulouse to protect the safety and security of people who take part in research studies.
Study Participation and Early Withdrawal
Taking part in this study is your choice. You are free not to take part or to withdraw at any time for any reason. If you decide to withdraw from this study, the information that you have provided will not be recorded.
Also, the researcher may take you out of this study without your permission. This may happen because:
• The research believes it is your best interest
• Administrative reasons
What are the risks of taking part in this research study?
You may feel emotional or upset when answering some of the questions. Remember that you may stop at anytime. You may stop participating at any time by closing the browser window or the program to withdraw from the study. Partial data will not be analyzed.
You may be uncomfortable with some of the questions and topics we will ask you about. You do not have to answer any questions that make you feel uncomfortable.
Loss of Confidentiality
The main risk of allowing us to use and store your information for research is a potential loss of privacy. We will protect your privacy by labeling any identifying information such as your email with a code and keeping the key to the code in a password-protected computer.
(Study 1 Only) Your Mechanical Turk Worker ID will be used to distribute payment to you but will not be stored with your responses. Please be aware that your MTurk Worker ID can potentially be linked to information about you on your Amazon public profile page, depending on the settings you have for your Amazon profile. We will not be accessing any personally identifying information about you that you may have put on your Amazon public profile page. Once you have been compensated we will physically delete the association between your Worker ID and your data.
Are there any benefits from being in this research study?
There are no benefits to you from taking part in this research except for a small monetary payment.
Will I get paid for taking part in this research study?
You will receive a small payment for completing the study up to ($4.00 study 1), (€8.00 study 2). Note that you will not be compensated if you do not complete the study.
If I have any questions or concerns about this research study, who can I contact?
You can contact Clark Warner with any concerns or questions. My email address is listed below:
If you have questions about your rights as a research subject or want to speak with someone independent of the research team, you may contact the CERNI at the Federal University of Toulouse Midi-Pyrenees
Clark Warner clark.warner@tsm-education.fr