Information sheet
You are being invited to take part in a research study. Before you decide, it is important for you to understand why the research is being done and what it will involve. Please take time to read the following information carefully and discuss it with others if you wish. Ask us if there is anything that is not clear or if you would like more information.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to validate images taken during the development of protocols for creating an ethically sourced, diverse, highly standardised set of face images/videos that includes poses and expressions that are useful for diverse types of face research. We are testing whether the protocols we have developed will lead to images that can be combined into one image set, despite being collected by different researchers in different locations.
Who can participate?
We are recruiting about 2500 people to take part in this initial image validation. You may only participate if you are 18 years or older.
Do I have to take part?
No, it is up to you to decide whether or not to take part. If you do decide to take part, you will be asked to indicate your consent on a form. If you decide to take part, you are still free to withdraw at any time and without giving a reason.
What will happen?
After you complete the consent form, we will show you about 200 face images and ask you to make spontaneous judgments of them on (e.g., attractiveness, dominance, trustworthiness, gender-typicality, memorability, age, race/ethnicity, expressed emotion, emotion intensity). The entire session should take no longer than 20 minutes.
Risks and benefits
This study requires viewing and judging face images, which has the potential to make some people uncomfortable. You may stop participation at any time.
There is no direct benefit to you from taking part, beyond monetary reimbursement for your time. You will be helping us to address a problem of low diversity in face research and to build an ethically sourced database of face images.
Will my taking part in this study be kept confidential?
Yes, your data are collected anonymously, without recording your IP address or asking for identifying information such as your email address. All data will be stored on secure password–protected computers. No one outside of the research team or appropriate governance staff will be able to find out your name or contact information used for signing up.
What will happen to my data?
All study data will be held in accordance with The General Data Protection Regulation (2018). If you choose to withdraw from the study before completion of your responses, your data will not be used in any studies or publications. However, once the data are anonymously collected, it will not be possible for us to identify your data for deletion.
Your data will form part of the study results that will be published in expert journals, presentations, student dissertations/theses and in a managed database for other researchers to use. Your name will not appear in any publication.
What will happen to the results of the research study?
The results of this study will be used to refine the image collection protocols, which will then be published in a methods journal and freely available online. Your ratings will be shared in a crowd-sourced face image database that will be available to researchers who agree to abide by the ethical restrictions.
Who is organising, funding and reviewing the research?
The research is a project of ManyFaces, an international group of more than 200 face researchers. The project is funded by an international partnerships grant from the BBSRC to Prof Lisa DeBruine (Glasgow), Dr Thora Bjornsdottir (Stirling, UK), Dr Vít Třebický (Charles University, Czechia) and Dr Patrick Forscher (Busara Institute, Kenya). The project has been reviewed by the College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences Ethics Committee, University of Glasgow, UK.
Thank you for taking the time to read this Information Sheet.
V.0 2023/01/20
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