Illinois State University Institutional Review Board

Illinois State University Institutional Review Board

Research with Human Subjects

Protocol Submission Form

Federal regulations and Illinois State University policy require that all research involving humans as subjects be reviewed and approved by the University Institutional Review Board (IRB). Any person (ISU faculty member, staff member, student, or other person) wanting to engage in human subject research at or through Illinois State University must receive written approval from the IRB before conducting research. For more information, templates, and forms please go to

Please complete and forward this form and all supporting documents to your Department/Unit IRB representative. Handwritten applications will not be accepted. If you have any questions, please contact your Departmental/Unit IRB representative or the Research Ethics & Compliance Office, (REC) 438-2520, Campus Box 3330

I.General Information

A. Protocol Information
Protocol Title:
The Role of Incentive, Gender, and Learning Aid in Wayfinding
Purpose of Project (Please check only one box) Dissertation Thesis
Class project (Please give course number) PSY 331.07Other
Externally funded faculty/staff research (Complete Appendix B)Non-externally funded faculty/staff research
B. Principal Investigator Information (PI must be an ISU faculty or staff member)
Principal Dr. Alycia Hund
Investigator /
Faculty Staff
Dept PSY / Mail Campus
Code Box 4620 / Telephone
Number (309) 438 7863 / Email
Address
Co-Principal Investigator Information
Co- Principal Kathleen Hines
Investigator /
Faculty Staff Grad. Student Undergrad. Student
Dept PSY / Mail Campus Box
Code 4620 / Telephone
Number / Email
Address
Co-Principal Investigator Information
Co- Principal Paul Joyce
Investigator /
Faculty Staff Grad. Student Undergrad. Student
Dept PSY / Mail Campus Box
Code 4620 / Telephone
Number / Email
Address

II.Principal Investigator Assurance

As Principal Investigator, I certify that to the best of my knowledge:

1. The information provided for this project is correct

2. No other procedures will be used in this protocol

3. I agree to conduct this research as described in the attached supporting documents

4. I will request and receive approval from the IRB for changes prior to implementing changes (including but not limited to

changes in cooperating investigators or any changes in procedures).

5. I will comply with IRB and ISU policies for conducting ethical research.

6. I will be responsible for ensuring that the work of my co-investigator(s)/student researcher(s) complies with this protocol.

7. Any unexpected or otherwise significant events in the course of this study will be promptly reported to the REC.

8. In the case of student research, I assume responsibility for ensuring that any student will comply with University and Federal regulations regarding the use of human subjects in research.

9. In the case of externally funded research, I willrequest a modification to my approved protocol if any relative changes to the project’s scope of work are requested by the agency.

Principal Investigator SignatureDate

Additional Co PIs:

(all Co PIs are students in PSY 331.07, supervised by PI)

Kevin Adams

Michael Florczak

Jennifer Gizowski

Jacqueline Gray

Anne Kaeding

Ory Kresl

Brittany Londer

Emily Parker

Karly Powell

Weslee Umphryes

Amy Wieland

III. Protocol Description

A.Provide a BRIEF description, in LAYPERSON'S TERMS, of the proposed research. State the goals and/or hypotheses of this study and how these goals relate to previous research in this area.

Finding our way from place to place is important for every day functioning; therefore, it is vital to examine factors that influence wayfinding. The primary goal of this project is to explore how learning aid, incentive, and gender influence wayfinding. In particular, participants will be asked to navigate a predetermined route through the basement of the psychology building on each of six trials. Participants will utilize different learning aids, depending on experimental condition. Some participants will study maps, whereas others will receive written directions. Although previous research has highlighted important differences in wayfinding based on features available in maps and verbal directions (e.g., Golledge, 1999; Taylor & Naylor, 2002), very few studies have directly compared these learning aids. Given that maps and verbal directions are two of the most common learning aids available in support of wayfinding (Butler et al., 1993), it is important to compare them directly. To specify the impact of incentive on wayfinding, some participants will be told about a chance to win a gift card for top performance (i.e., the high incentive group), whereas others will not be aware of the gift card possibility prior to participation. (In reality, all participants will be entered into a raffle to win one of three gift cards, regardless of condition or performance.) Investigations of incentive impacts in other cognitive domains are commonplace (e.g., Baumeister & Vohs, 2004; Reiss, 2004), but no known study has probed such impact on wayfinding. Finally we will examine gender differences in wayfinding, attempting to replicate well-established differences in wayfinding preferences (e.g., Lawton, 1994). Wayfinding time and errors will be recorded by the experimenter. We expect that performance will be more efficient in the high incentive condition than in the control condition. We also expect that women will exhibit more efficient performance in the verbal direction condition relative to men. In contrast, we expect that men will exhibit more efficient performance in the map condition relative to women. Collecting self-report details about overall motivation, sense of direction, and environmental familiarity will help us place our results in context. We hope that these findings will help us better understand how gender, incentive, and learning aids impact wayfinding.

B. Methodology

a.Identify all participant groups in the study and indicate criteria for including or excluding individuals from participation.

Participants 80

b.How many participants will be included in the study?

Number:Male __40___ Female __40___ Total __80___

(N/A _____ if not targeting males/females specifically)

Age range:_18 and older

c.Justify use of any protected populations (e.g., children, mentally disabled individuals, prisoners, pregnant women). Complete whichever is appropriate, Appendix C-F, for that population.

No protected populations will be included.

d.How will you identify potential participants and get access to contact information? Please include documentation of permission to use any proprietary sources, i.e. listserv, organization roster, etc.

Participants will be recruited using sign-up sheets located in the basement of DeGarmo Hall via the Department of Psychology College Student Research Participant Pool.

e.How will participants be recruited? Attach all recruitment documentation, (i.e. e-mail letters, flyers, telephone scripts, etc.) and indicate how they will be contacted and by whom.

Participants will be informed through the sign-up sheet where and what time to meet for their session, as per Research Participant Pool procedures.

f.Who will obtain informed consent/assent and what procedures will be used (and in what order) to secure informed consent/assent?

At the start of the session, the experimenter will read aloud an informed consent document while the participant follows along. The participant will be asked to sign the form if granting consent.

g.How will the risk of coercion be minimized?

According to Department of Psychology College Student Research Participant Pool guidelines, participants are invited to sign up for experiments voluntarily without pressure to chose any particular study. In addition, alternate options are available for receiving credit. These procedures minimize coercion for student participants.

h.Where will the research take place? Please be as specific as possible. If research is confidential in nature, please explain how location will help preserve confidentiality.

Participants will meet in Suite 8 in DeGarmo Hall, and then be asked to move around using different routes throughout public areas in the basement of DeGarmo Hall. Instructions, consent, questionnaire, and debriefing will happen in Suite 8, a research suite designed for class research projects.

If consent, permission, and assentforms are being used, attach copies. If presented verbally, a copy of any presentation script must be submitted. Examples of informed consent and parent permission can be found at

C.PROCEDURE

a.Who will collect data?

The PI and co-PIs (trained research assistants who are the students in PSY 331.07 listed above)will collect data. All have completed extensive training in research methodology and human participant ethics (completing Social/Behavioral CITI Research Course).

b.What are you asking the participants to do? In what order?

We are asking participants to study a set of directions or map regarding a specific route and then attempt to navigate that route for each of six trials. In addition we are asking them to complete questions about familiarity, sense of direction, demographics, and incentive impact.

c.Will you involve them in a psychological intervention, biomedical procedure, or deception? If so, complete relevant Appendix G, H, or J.

Yes, there is some level of deception regarding incentive. Half of the participants will be told that they can be entered into a raffle drawing if their wayfinding performance is best. The remaining participants will not be told about the raffle. This small amount of deception is needed to measure the impact of incentive on wayfinding performance. During debriefing, all participants will learn about the raffle and be given the opportunity to enter the raffle regardless of experimental condition or wayfinding performance.

d.If participants are receiving compensation for participation (e.g., payment, gifts, extra credit, etc.) indicate type and amount of compensation, how it will be disbursed, and identify the funding source.

They are receiving (extra) credit for their psychology course. Participants are also being entered into a raffle to win one of three $20 Visa gift cards. The PI will purchase the gift cards with personal funds.

d. Will you record audio _____ , video ______, or still images_____ of participants whether by film, tape, digital or other media? Please check and complete Appendix K.

We will not record audio, video, or images.

D.INSTRUMENTS/APPARATUS

What forms, surveys, equipment, etc. will you use? (Attach copies of all forms,

surveys and instruments to be used.) If online surveys will be used, please identify the system to be used and describe the system’s confidentiality protections.

We will use a set of written directions and a series of maps of the DeGarmo basement. A sample of each learning aid is attached. The questionnaire also is attached. The first segments are adapted from Hund & Padgitt (in press). The last segment (manipulation check regarding incentive) was designed for this project.

E.DATA

a.How/where will the data be stored and kept secure? Please specify building and room number.

Paper data sheets will be stored securely in the PI’s locked laboratory in DeGarmo Hall. Data files will be stored on a password protected computer belonging to the PI. The computer is stored in a room that is kept locked at all times. Finally no identifying information will be stored with the data.

b.Who will have access?

Only the PI and coPIs will have access to the data. No individual data will be shown to anyone except the researchers.

c.How will the data be used (during and after the research)? Will it be disseminated through publication, presentation or other means?

Data will be used for the research purposes only. It is possible that it will be disseminated beyond our class project through presentation and/or publication.

d.How and when will the data be disposed of?

Indentifying information will be stored for 5 years in secure storage separate from the data to ensure confidentiality. Indentifying information will be shredded and destroyed after 5 years. Data and electronic data files will be stored securely for 5 years beyond publication date in accordance with American Psychological Association standards. After that, data will be maintained as a part of a growing body of knowledge about wayfinding processes. Risks due to loss of confidentiality are very minimal because identifying information is stored separately and then destroyed. Thus the benefits of maintaining data to better understand the influences on wayfinding outweigh any risks associated with long term retention of the data. Finally, all data and electronic data files will be destroyed upon the PI’s retirement.

F.RISKS

a.What are the physical, psychological, or social (loss of reputation, privacy, oremployability) risks?

There are no risks to the participants in this study beyond those experienced in everyday life. Participants may become fatigued during the experiment, but the procedure has been kept short(less than 60 minutes) to minimize fatigue. Participants will be assured of confidentiality of their responses. With this kind of research, loss of confidentiality is a slight risk, although precautions will be taken to guard against the possibility of confidentiality being compromised.

1. How will the risks be minimized?

The risk of loss of confidentiality is maintained by storing identifying information (signed consent forms) separately from data. Fatigue has been minimized because we kept our study short(less than 60 minutes).

c.Will the data be anonymous ______or confidential____X_____? (Please check one)

G.BENEFITS

a.What do you hope to learn?

The purpose of this research project is to understand the processes involved in effective wayfinding. In particular this project will examine the impact of reading directions and studying a map.This direct comparison will add important details to the wayfinding literature. In addition, we will examine how incentives influence wayfinding efficiency, a relatively unexplored area of study. Finally, we will assess gender differences in wayfinding.

b.Who might find these results useful?

Spatial cognition researchers and others interested in skillful wayfinding may find these results useful.

c.How will the participants directly benefit? If they will not, please state that. Compensation is not a benefit.

Participants will be given an opportunity to learn about this research, which may be useful to them in their courses or in understanding themselves and others. They will be given an opportunity to contribute to psychological science by participating in this research.

1. Explain how the benefits justify the associated risks.

The advances in Psychological Science outweigh the minimal risks associated with this study. The risk of deception is minimal because they are fully debriefed afterward, and each participant receives the same chance to win a gift card.

IV.Checklist

This checklist must be completed and attached to all protocols or Department Representatives will return them to the PI. Please note that for any items checked “yes” you must attach the designated, completed appendices and relevant forms and instruments.

____X_ Yes _____ NoInformed consent procedures/ documentation have been clearly explained.

(All protocols must have a completed Appendix A.)

_____ Yes ___X__ NoIs your research being funded? (If yes, complete Appendix B.)

_____ Yes __X___ NoAre you recruiting and enrolling subjects 0-7 years old? (If yes, complete

and attach Appendix C.)

_____ Yes ___X__ NoAre you recruiting and enrolling subjects 8-17 years old? (If yes, complete

and attach Appendix C.)

_____ Yes ___X__ NoAre you recruiting and enrolling prisoners as subjects? (If yes, complete and

attach Appendix D.)

_____ Yes ___X__ NoAre you recruiting and enrolling pregnant women as subjects? (If yes, complete

and attach Appendix E.)

_____ Yes ___X__ NoAre you recruiting and enrolling mentally incapacitated individuals as subjects? (If

yes, complete and attach Appendix F.)

_____ Yes ___X__ NoWill the subjects of this study be exposed to the possibility of harm, including

physiological, psychological, or social (e.g., loss of reputation, privacy, or

employability). (If yes, complete and attach Appendix G.)

_____ Yes ___X__ NoWill the subjects of this study be exposed to any psychological interventions such

as contrived social situations, manipulation of the subject's attitudes, opinions or

self-esteem, psychotherapeutic procedures, or other psychological influences. (If

yes, complete and attach Appendix H.)

__X___ Yes _____ NoWill this study involve any elements of deception? (If yes, complete and attach

Appendix I.)

_____ Yes __X___ NoWill the proposed research involve any biomedical procedures (e.g., the taking or

withholding of medication, ingestion of any food or other substances, injections,

blood drawing, or any other procedure which would normally be done under

medical supervision). (If yes, complete and attach Appendix J.)

_____ Yes __X___ NoWill all or some of the subject(s) of the proposed research be audio or

videotaped or recorded in any other manner? (If yes, complete and attach

Appendix K.)

_____ Yes __X___ NoWill this proposed research involve any elements of technology? (i.e. web-based

subject recruitment, email recruitment, web survey, etc.)

Appendix A:Elements of Informed Consent

Please ensure that all of these elements are included in the protocol and consent documents before checking "Yes".The informed consent procedures and documents outlined in this protocol must contain all of the following:

_x__ Yes1. A statement that the study involves research

_x___ Yes2. An explanation of the purposes of the research

_x___ Yes3. The duration of the participant’s participation

_x___ Yes4. A description of procedures to be followed

_x___ Yes5. A description of foreseeable risks or discomforts to the participant

_x___ Yes6.A description of any benefits to the participants or any others that may be expected from the research

_x___ Yes7.A statement describing the extent, if any, that confidentiality will be maintained

_x___ Yes8.An explanation as to whom to contact concerning questions about the research, research participants’ rights, and/or a research related injury or adverse effect. This should include the Principal Investigator’s name and contact information as well as the Research Ethics & Compliance Office name and number: (309) 438-2520.