Survey Consent Form
This survey is intended to serve as the main source of data for a research project on how teens use Internet message boards to discuss issues of teen sexuality. This study has been approved by the Institutional Review Board, Office for the Protection of Research Subjects, of Northwestern University.
This survey is intended for teens and young adults who use websites containing message boards devoted to issues of teen sexuality, such as dating, puberty and body image, sexual health and safer sex. Information gained from this survey will be combined with data gained from observing and coding the posts users like you have read, asked and answered on these boards, in order to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of these boards in being a source of information, support and advice to teens like you. Looking over these completed surveys will allow me to better understand how teens use the Internet to improve their own knowledge about sexual issues through peer communication and education.
All responses to this survey will be kept anonymous and confidential. You will not be asked for your real name, screen name, email or any other obviously identifiable information; I will have no way to trace the identity of anyone who submits a completed survey. Data acquired from this survey will not be examined by anyone other than myself, the researcher. Additionally, you will not be contacted in any way by myself or anyone at the website you have just come from. Most of the survey questions are multiple choice, although a few questions do allow you the opportunity to write additional comments if you so choose. Questions focus only on your use of these message boards; no questions ask about your personal sexual experience or opinions. You may choose to skip any question you do not feel comfortable answering.
Some questions may make you feel uncomfortable, but taking this survey may help you to better understand and evaluate how educational and useful these message boards are to you. If you have any questions about this project, you may contact Doctor Caroline Bledsoe at cbledsoe@northwestern.edu or (847) 491-4825, or Tasha LaSpina at t-laspina@northwestern.edu or (847) 332-7138. If you have any questions about your rights as a participant, you may contact the Office for the Protection of Research Subjects at irb@northwestern.edu or (312) 503-9338.
If you would like to take this survey, please carefully read the statement above, and then click on the “I accept” link.
By pressing the “I accept” link below, I agree to participate in the study described above.
I agree