Fraga: Presence

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Informed Consent

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                                                      Informed Consent
                           Presence during Video Game Play and Immersive Tendency

      You are invited to participate in an on-line research study being conducted in the Department of Psychology at Grant MacEwan College. Your participation in this research is valuable because it contributes to the growth of knowledge about video game play.

Description of the Study.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the sense of being there during video game play and the tendency to get immersed in activities of Fragapalooza 2008 attendees or online game discussion board participants.

The study requires you to answer questions for two online questionnaires. In the first questionnaire you are asked about what video game you have just been playing and then you are asked how much it felt like you were “there” during your play. This presence questionnaire has 33 items. Your alias will be collected in order to connect these presence during gaming responses to your responses on any of the other three studies available examining video game play on this website. This first questionnaire should take you about 15 to 20 minutes to complete.

The second questionnaire asks about your immersive tendency. That is the degree to which you easily focus your attention on things. There are 29 items in the inventory and it should also take about 15 minutes to complete. Please ensure that you have this amount of time available before agreeing to participate. If you do not have enough time, then please exit this page. You may want to come back later when you do have enough time.

Your participation is completely voluntary.

If you agree to participate in this study but encounter an item you prefer not to answer, you may skip that item and move onto the next item. You are also free to stop participating altogether by simply not answering any further items. In this case, you can immediately exit the study by closing the web page.

Protection of privacy.

Your responses to the questions will remain confidential and anonymous. Your alias will only be used to connect your responses across surveys but will not be linked to your name. We will also look at your online posts to either the Fragapalooza site or to your game center site if you give us your permission to do so. Once the survey’s are connected at the end of the research data collection period, your alias will be removed. Thus for the data analysis there will be no way of knowing which answers were provided by you or which posts were yours. This study has been approved by MacEwan’s Research Ethics Board.

Contacting the Researcher

If you have questions or concerns about this study, you are welcome to contact the researcher: Jayne Gackenbach, Ph.D. (Faculty member, Department of Psychology)
Office: Rm 6-394, City Centre Campus, Grant MacEwan College
Tel.: 780-633-3892
E-mail: gackenbachj@macewan.ca

*1.	INFORMED CONSENT Please click the appropriate box if you are willing to participate and are at least 18 years of age:

	I agree to participate in this study. I understand that my participation is voluntary and that I am free to skip questionnaire items I do not wish to answer. I also understand that I am free to stop participating altogether.
	I do not agree to participate in this study. I understand that my choice not to participate will be confidential and that there is no penalty for choosing not to participate.