Twilly Privacy Policy
Twilly is an app for research purposes. This study aims to examine how people’s social media experience affects their political attitudes and political engagement. By filling out a screening form, installing the app, and logging in with a code, you are consenting to participate in the research study. This document provides information about the study, the data management protocol, and the privacy policy.
STUDY INFORMATION, PRIVACY POLICY, and DATA MANAGEMENT PROTOCOL
What is the purpose of this research?
You are invited to participate in a research study. This information sheet provides you with information about the research study. The Principal Investigator (the person in charge of this research) or her representative will also describe this research to you and answer all of your questions. Read the information below and ask questions about anything you don’t understand before deciding whether or not to take part.
This study aims to examine how people’s social media experience affects their political attitudes and political engagement.
Who can participate in the research? What is the expected duration of my participation? What is the duration of this research?
Citizens of USA who are at least 18 years old and under the age of 65. Participants must be Twitter users who visit Twitter at least once a week. Eligible participants must be willing to share their Twitter handle with the research team.
What is the approximate number of research participants involved?
1000 participants will be recruited as a part of this study.
What will be done if I take part in this research study?
As a first step to determining whether you are eligible for the study we need to know some general information about you. This involves completing a brief online questionnaire about your demographics,and contact details. Then you will be either asked to install and use a Twitter-like application on your phone instead of Twitter for a period of 4 weeks. The app is very similar to the regular Twitter app, except that we will be collecting some data about your behavior and interactions (i.e., who you follow or unfollow, what you view, like, click, or reply to) while you are using the app. In the app, you will be shown your Twitter timeline (TL). Your Twitter TL may be altered for the purposes of this study -- for example, you may see little or less of individuals you follow, or you may not see some features you are used to.
All changes and alterations applied to your account will be temporary and will be revoked at the end of the study, or whenever you contact the Principal Investigator over email. After the four-week period, you can stop using and uninstall the app. After the study is complete, and irrespective of whether you used the app or not, you will again be asked to fill a short survey about your political attitudes. Finally, you can voluntarily consent to letting the research team also collect your public Twitter posts for six months prior, during, and one month post your participation in the experiment to study the long-term effects of the app.
Some research designs require that the full extent of the study not be explained prior to participation. Although we have described the general nature of the tasks that you will be asked to perform, the full intent of the study will not be explained to you until after the completion of the study. At that time, we will provide you with a full debriefing which will include an explanation of the hypothesis that was tested and other relevant background information pertaining to the study. You will also be given an opportunity to ask any questions you have about the hypothesis and the procedures used in the study.
There are no foreseeable risks to you from taking the surveys offered through this application or in using the application in general. The questions are taken from a standard and pre-validated questionnaire commonly used to understand political attitudes. Your responses to the surveys and user information will be combined with thousands of others, and only grouped averages will be reported.
You can stop using the app and uninstall it at any time, without any penalties. You may withdraw from participation in this research at any time, and receive pro-rated reimbursement.
How will my privacy and the confidentiality of my research records be protected?
Only the research team has your personal data (e.g. email address and social media handle) and this will not be released to any other person. Personal data will never be used in a publication or presentation.
Email addresses will be collected to contact the study participants while social media handles are collected as a requirement for the mobile application. We need to contact all participants in the beginning of the study and announce that they should let us follow them, and to check their email. Next, we will send them a reminder every week over email to ensure that they are still participating in the study. Contact information will be encoded and stored separately from survey responses and social media posts, on password protected servers encrypted with GPG2 security, and accessible only to the PI.
All identifiable research data will be coded (i.e. only identified with a code number) at the earliest possible stage of the research. Personal data will be discarded one month after the completion of the experiment and after reimbursements have been made, if you decline to be contacted for future studies.
Personal contact numbers will not be collected for contacting participants.
Researchers will use deidentified responses for the purpose of this study and all the deidentified data collected will be retained for 10 years before they are deleted. The deidentified data may be used for further research. Future research on the deidentified data will be subject to approval by the IRB. All data collected will be kept in accordance to the University’s Research Data Management Policy. Deidentified research data used in any publication will be kept for a minimum of 10 years before being discarded.
What are the possible discomforts and risks for participants?
There are no risks or discomforts expected in your participation. The questions asked seek your personal views and are not expected to cause any feelings of embarrassment or discomfort to you. You can stop participation at any time.
What is the compensation for any injury?
No injury is expected in your participation in this survey.
Will there be reimbursement for participation?
All subjects who qualify for the screening, install and use the app at least once a week, and complete both the pre- and post-surveys will receive a US $25 Amazon voucher as payment for four weeks of participation, irrespective of whether they share consent to allowing access to their social media posts by allowing the PI to follow their Twitter handle. Subjects who drop out after completing the first survey but before submitting the second survey will earn a US $10 Amazon voucher.
What are the possible benefits to me and to others?
There are no anticipated benefits from participating in this study.
Can I refuse to participate in this research?Yes, you can. Your decision to participate in this research is voluntary and completely up to you. If you decide to withdraw mid-way through the study, you can inform the PI or simply exit the surveys and/or uninstall the application from your phone. You can also withdraw your responses halfway or until a month after the experiment is concluded without giving any reasons and all your responses will be discarded. It will not affect the reimbursement you earn, which will be pro-rated.
One month after the experiment ends, the data would have been anonymized and the code key would be discarded. Therefore, it would not be possible to delete the data should a participant choose to withdraw his/her data more than a month after the end of the experiment.
Whom should I call if I have any questions or problems?
Please contact the Principal Investigator, Kokil Jaidka at cnmkj@nus.edu.sg and phone number +65 65161023 for all matters related to this project and in the event of project-related problems. For an independent opinion specifically regarding the rights and welfare of research participants, you may contact a staff member of the National University of Singapore Institutional Review Board at telephone (+65) 6516 1234 [Mondays to Thursdays from 8.30am to 6pm, and Fridays from 8.30am to 5.30pm, except public holidays] or email at irb@nus.edu.sg.
Principal Investigator:
Dr. Kokil Jaidka
Department of Communications and New Media
National University of Singapore
jaidka@nus.edu.sg
Twilly is an app for research purposes. This study aims to examine how people’s social media experience affects their political attitudes and political engagement. By filling out a screening form, installing the app, and logging in with a code, you are consenting to participate in the research study. This document provides information about the study, the data management protocol, and the privacy policy.
STUDY INFORMATION, PRIVACY POLICY, and DATA MANAGEMENT PROTOCOL
What is the purpose of this research?
You are invited to participate in a research study. This information sheet provides you with information about the research study. The Principal Investigator (the person in charge of this research) or her representative will also describe this research to you and answer all of your questions. Read the information below and ask questions about anything you don’t understand before deciding whether or not to take part.
This study aims to examine how people’s social media experience affects their political attitudes and political engagement.
Who can participate in the research? What is the expected duration of my participation? What is the duration of this research?
Citizens of USA who are at least 18 years old and under the age of 65. Participants must be Twitter users who visit Twitter at least once a week. Eligible participants must be willing to share their Twitter handle with the research team.
What is the approximate number of research participants involved?
1000 participants will be recruited as a part of this study.
What will be done if I take part in this research study?
As a first step to determining whether you are eligible for the study we need to know some general information about you. This involves completing a brief online questionnaire about your demographics,and contact details. Then you will be either asked to install and use a Twitter-like application on your phone instead of Twitter for a period of 4 weeks. The app is very similar to the regular Twitter app, except that we will be collecting some data about your behavior and interactions (i.e., who you follow or unfollow, what you view, like, click, or reply to) while you are using the app. In the app, you will be shown your Twitter timeline (TL). Your Twitter TL may be altered for the purposes of this study -- for example, you may see little or less of individuals you follow, or you may not see some features you are used to.
All changes and alterations applied to your account will be temporary and will be revoked at the end of the study, or whenever you contact the Principal Investigator over email. After the four-week period, you can stop using and uninstall the app. After the study is complete, and irrespective of whether you used the app or not, you will again be asked to fill a short survey about your political attitudes. Finally, you can voluntarily consent to letting the research team also collect your public Twitter posts for six months prior, during, and one month post your participation in the experiment to study the long-term effects of the app.
Some research designs require that the full extent of the study not be explained prior to participation. Although we have described the general nature of the tasks that you will be asked to perform, the full intent of the study will not be explained to you until after the completion of the study. At that time, we will provide you with a full debriefing which will include an explanation of the hypothesis that was tested and other relevant background information pertaining to the study. You will also be given an opportunity to ask any questions you have about the hypothesis and the procedures used in the study.
There are no foreseeable risks to you from taking the surveys offered through this application or in using the application in general. The questions are taken from a standard and pre-validated questionnaire commonly used to understand political attitudes. Your responses to the surveys and user information will be combined with thousands of others, and only grouped averages will be reported.
You can stop using the app and uninstall it at any time, without any penalties. You may withdraw from participation in this research at any time, and receive pro-rated reimbursement.
How will my privacy and the confidentiality of my research records be protected?
Only the research team has your personal data (e.g. email address and social media handle) and this will not be released to any other person. Personal data will never be used in a publication or presentation.
Email addresses will be collected to contact the study participants while social media handles are collected as a requirement for the mobile application. We need to contact all participants in the beginning of the study and announce that they should let us follow them, and to check their email. Next, we will send them a reminder every week over email to ensure that they are still participating in the study. Contact information will be encoded and stored separately from survey responses and social media posts, on password protected servers encrypted with GPG2 security, and accessible only to the PI.
All identifiable research data will be coded (i.e. only identified with a code number) at the earliest possible stage of the research. Personal data will be discarded one month after the completion of the experiment and after reimbursements have been made, if you decline to be contacted for future studies.
Personal contact numbers will not be collected for contacting participants.
Researchers will use deidentified responses for the purpose of this study and all the deidentified data collected will be retained for 10 years before they are deleted. The deidentified data may be used for further research. Future research on the deidentified data will be subject to approval by the IRB. All data collected will be kept in accordance to the University’s Research Data Management Policy. Deidentified research data used in any publication will be kept for a minimum of 10 years before being discarded.
What are the possible discomforts and risks for participants?
There are no risks or discomforts expected in your participation. The questions asked seek your personal views and are not expected to cause any feelings of embarrassment or discomfort to you. You can stop participation at any time.
What is the compensation for any injury?
No injury is expected in your participation in this survey.
Will there be reimbursement for participation?
All subjects who qualify for the screening, install and use the app at least once a week, and complete both the pre- and post-surveys will receive a US $25 Amazon voucher as payment for four weeks of participation, irrespective of whether they share consent to allowing access to their social media posts by allowing the PI to follow their Twitter handle. Subjects who drop out after completing the first survey but before submitting the second survey will earn a US $10 Amazon voucher.
What are the possible benefits to me and to others?
There are no anticipated benefits from participating in this study.
Can I refuse to participate in this research?Yes, you can. Your decision to participate in this research is voluntary and completely up to you. If you decide to withdraw mid-way through the study, you can inform the PI or simply exit the surveys and/or uninstall the application from your phone. You can also withdraw your responses halfway or until a month after the experiment is concluded without giving any reasons and all your responses will be discarded. It will not affect the reimbursement you earn, which will be pro-rated.
One month after the experiment ends, the data would have been anonymized and the code key would be discarded. Therefore, it would not be possible to delete the data should a participant choose to withdraw his/her data more than a month after the end of the experiment.
Whom should I call if I have any questions or problems?
Please contact the Principal Investigator, Kokil Jaidka at cnmkj@nus.edu.sg and phone number +65 65161023 for all matters related to this project and in the event of project-related problems. For an independent opinion specifically regarding the rights and welfare of research participants, you may contact a staff member of the National University of Singapore Institutional Review Board at telephone (+65) 6516 1234 [Mondays to Thursdays from 8.30am to 6pm, and Fridays from 8.30am to 5.30pm, except public holidays] or email at irb@nus.edu.sg.
Principal Investigator:
Dr. Kokil Jaidka
Department of Communications and New Media
National University of Singapore
jaidka@nus.edu.sg