EXPLANATORY STATEMENT


Project ID: 24943

Project Title: Human Attraction



 

Chief Investigator

 Dr. Ryan Anderson

    School of Psychological Sciences,

Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

Phone: +61 4 2167 4889       

E-mail: ryan.anderson1@monash.edu


 

You are invited to take part in this study.  Please read this Explanatory Statement in full before deciding whether or not to participate in this research.  If you would like further information regarding any aspect of this project, you are encouraged to contact the researcher via the phone numbers or email addresses listed above.


What does the research involve?

This study aims to explore human attraction.  If you decide to take part in this study, you will be asked to complete a brief questionnaire that asks for general information about you and your relationships, and how you feel about yourself generally. Once you complete these questions, you will be prompted to look at photographs and respond to the questions that follow. You will be presented with a total of 3 photographs and the survey in total should take you approximately 5-10 minutes.


Why were you chosen for this research?

You have been chosen to participate in this study because:

(a)    You responded to the advertisement and are willing to participate in the research.

(b)   You are 18 years of age or older.

(c)    You are English speaking.


Consenting to participate in the project and withdrawing from the research

Participation in this study is completely voluntary and there is no obligation for you to consent to take part.  Your decision to take part or not will not negatively affect your relationship with any member of the research team or Monash University.  


By completing this survey or part thereof you are implicitly offering your consent to participate. If you decide this study isn’t for you, you can discontinue by closing this window at any time.

              

If you initially decided to participate, but change your mind and don’t want to continue, you are free to withdraw at any time by closing the webpage that contains the study.  There will be no implications upon withdrawing from this study.  If you decide to withdraw from the study, we are not able to withdraw the data from the responses that you have already submitted, as due to the anonymous nature of our online study, we can’t identify which data was yours.  


Possible benefits and risks to participants

While there will be no direct benefit to you from this study, your participation is very important. Your participation will contribute to the current knowledge we have on attraction, and allow us to see if our ever-evolving nature requires us to think differently about the current theories we are using to explain our behaviours.  There is a lot we still have to learn about how attraction works, especially when you consider the immense and diverse nature of human beings.


Your participation in this study is not expected to cause you any discomfort.  There is a small risk to your privacy if you were to complete this study while other people are in close proximity to you, and can see what your responses are. However, this can be reduced by ensuring you complete the study somewhere you feel confident that you won’t have other people looking at your responses. 


Services on offer if adversely affected
If at any point during or after participation in this study you feel you need additional support, please contact any of the below services to speak with a trained professional.  These services are suitable for those residing in Australia.  For those residing outside of Australia, please contact your local support services to speak with a trained professional.


Lifeline –  For people of all ages.

   Phone:  13 11 14  (Open 7 days a week, 24 hours a day).

   Webchat:  https://www.lifeline.org.au/get-help/online-services/crisis-chat  (Open 7 days a week from 7pm - 12am).


Headspace – For people aged 12 – 25 years old.

  Phone:  1800 650 890  (Open 9am – 1am, 7 days a week).

  Webchat:  https://headspace.org.au/eheadspace/connect-with-a-clinician/  (Open 7 days a week from 9am – 1am).



Confidentiality

The data we collect from you will be completely anonymous, and will not be able to be identified back to you. 


Storage of data

All data collected from the Qualtrics Suite, via the study questionnaire, will be stored in LabArchives for a minimum of 5 years as per university requirements. LabArchives is a cloud-based storage platform that is encrypted and securely stores research data.  Only the researchers will have access to the data.  Once data is no longer required, online data will be deleted from the data storage systems. 


Results

Results from this study will be available from October 2021.  If you would like to receive a summary of the results, or require further information about the study, please contact the Researchers using the details provided at the top of this Explanatory Statement.


Complaints

Should you have any concerns or complaints about the conduct of the project, you are welcome to contact the Executive Officer, Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee (MUHREC):

Executive Officer
Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee (MUHREC)
Room 111, Chancellery Building D,
26 Sports Walk, Clayton Campus
Research Office
Monash University VIC 3800

Tel: +61 3 9905 2052           Email: muhrec@monash.edu        Fax: +61 3 9905 3831

 

 

Thank you,

Ryan Anderson