Dear Sir/Madam
I am Holly Bedford, a student from the Psychology Department, University of Southampton. I would appreciate your participation in my research project, which explores the relationship between obsessions, sensory phenomena and compulsions. It will take 50 minutes to answer these questions. Your data will be handled in compliance with the Data Protection Act and related university policy. Data will be anonymised and stored in a secure electronic sustem. Data will remain confidential and will not be revealed to anyone who is not involved in this project.
Your participation is voluntary. You may withdraw at any time. If you have questions about your rights as a participant in this research or you deel that you have been placed at risk, you can contact the Chair of the Ethics Committee, Psychology, University of Southampton, SO17 1BJ. Phone +44 (0)23 8059 3856, Email: fshs-rso@soton.ac.uk.
Please minimise any distractions, the study should wake approx. 50 minutes to complete.
Participant Information Sheet
Study Title: The relationship between sensory phenomena, obsessions and compulsions
Date: 07.10.2019, Version 2
Researcher: Holly Bedford
ERGO number: 47799.A1
You are being invited to take part in the above research study. To help you decide whether you would like to take part or not, it is important that you understand why the research is being done and what it will involve. Please read the information below carefully and ask questions if anything is not clear or you would like more information before you decide to take part in this research. You may like to discuss it with others but it is up to you to decide whether or not to take part. If you are happy to participate you will be asked to sign a consent form.
What is the research about?
I am Holly Bedford. This research project is part of my undergraduate BSc Psychology degree. I am investigating the relationship between sensory phenomena, obsessions and compulsions in OCD. Sensory phenomena are uncomfortable physical sensations that may precede or accompany compulsions. Most research so far has focused on the direct relationship between sensory phenomena and compulsions. Obsessions form a large component of OCD and may be temporally or meaningfully related to these sensory phenomena. A more specific question I will be looking at is if obsessions are associated by a misinterpretation of these physical sensory experiences. It is hoped that the research will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of sensory phenomena in relation to other OCD symptoms.
Why have I been asked to participate?
You have been asked to participate because you are a member of the public and are over 18.
What will happen to me if I take part?
If you decide to participate in this study, you will be required to complete a survey that asks questions related to personal experiences of obsessions, compulsions and sensory phenomena. The questionnaire is anonymous. This questionnaire can be completed on your own personal device at home and should take approximately 50 minutes. Once completed you will be provided with further details about this research area. No further participation is required from you after you have completed the questionnaire.
Are there any benefits in my taking part?
Psychology students will be assigned 7 credits for completing the study. There are no direct benefits for taking part. However, your participation will add to our current understanding of the relationship between obsessions, sensory phenomena and compulsions.
Are there any risks involved?
There are no physical risks to participants, however there is a possibility of distress due to the sensitive content of the survey. If completing this questionnaire results in distress that is persistent or limiting health or normal activities, please contact your GP. Further support services are:
What data will be collected?
Data collected will include gender identity, age and ethnicity as well as a possible diagnosis and personal experiences of Obsessive-Compulsive disorder and related symptoms. All information collected is relevant to the research aims. All data will be anonymous and stored on a secure server at the University of Southampton, this includes a retention period of 10 years according to BPS guidelines and University policy.
Will my participation be confidential?
Your participation and the information we collect about you during the course of the research will be kept strictly confidential. Only members of the research team and responsible members of the University of Southampton may be given access to data about you for monitoring purposes and/or to carry out an audit of the study to ensure that the research is complying with applicable regulations. Individuals from regulatory authorities (people who check that we are carrying out the study correctly) may require access to your data. All of these people have a duty to keep your information, as a research participant, strictly confidential. All information is anonymous and cannot be identified with a particular individual.
Do I have to take part?
No, it is entirely up to you to decide whether or not to take part. If you decide you want to take part, you will need to sign a consent form to show you have agreed to take part.
What happens if I change my mind?
You have the right to change your mind and withdraw from the questionnaire at any time without giving a reason and without your participant rights being affected. This can be done simply by exiting the survey. However, due to the anonymous nature of the data, you will be unable to withdraw from the research after the questionnaire has been completed and you exit the survey.
What will happen to the results of the research?
The data and results will be written up as part of the researcher’s final year project. This may be later written and published. Your personal details will remain anonymous. Research findings made available in any reports or publications will not include information that can directly identify you. Participants can request copies of the results once the research project has completed by the researchers and supervisors involved.
Where can I get more information?
If you require any extra information regarding this research, you can contact my supervisor at v.c.brandt@soton.ac.uk, or myself at hlb1n17@soton.ac.uk.
What happens if there is a problem?
If you have a concern about any aspect of this study, you should speak to my supervisor who will do her best to answer your questions. You may contact her at v.c.brandt@soton.ac.uk, or myself at hlb1n17@soton.ac.uk.
If you remain unhappy or have a complaint about any aspect of this study, please contact the University of Southampton Research Integrity and Governance Manager (023 8059 5058, rgoinfo@soton.ac.uk).
Data Protection Privacy Notice
The University of Southampton conducts research to the highest standards of research integrity. As a publicly-funded organisation, the University has to ensure that it is in the public interest when we use personally-identifiable information about people who have agreed to take part in research. This means that when you agree to take part in a research study, we will use information about you in the ways needed, and for the purposes specified, to conduct and complete the research project. Under data protection law, ‘Personal data’ means any information that relates to and is capable of identifying a living individual. The University’s data protection policy governing the use of personal data by the University can be found on its website (https://www.southampton.ac.uk/legalservices/what-we-do/data-protection-and-foi.page).
This Participant Information Sheet tells you what data will be collected for this project and whether this includes any personal data. Please ask the research team if you have any questions or are unclear what data is being collected about you.
Our privacy notice for research participants provides more information on how the University of Southampton collects and uses your personal data when you take part in one of our research projects and can be found at http://www.southampton.ac.uk/assets/sharepoint/intranet/ls/Public/Research%20and%20Integrity%20Privacy%20Notice/Privacy%20Notice%20for%20Research%20Participants.pdf
Any personal data we collect in this study will be used only for the purposes of carrying out our research and will be handled according to the University’s policies in line with data protection law. If any personal data is used from which you can be identified directly, it will not be disclosed to anyone else without your consent unless the University of Southampton is required by law to disclose it.
Data protection law requires us to have a valid legal reason (‘lawful basis’) to process and use your Personal data. The lawful basis for processing personal information in this research study is for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest. Personal data collected for research will not be used for any other purpose.
For the purposes of data protection law, the University of Southampton is the ‘Data Controller’ for this study, which means that we are responsible for looking after your information and using it properly. This research only involves anonymous questionnaire, so personal data collected will not be able to be traced back to your or make you identifiable.
To safeguard your rights, we will use the minimum personal data necessary to achieve our research study objectives. Your data protection rights – such as to access, change, or transfer such information - may be limited, however, in order for the research output to be reliable and accurate. The University will not do anything with your personal data that you would not reasonably expect.
If you have any questions about how your personal data is used, or wish to exercise any of your rights, please consult the University’s data protection webpage (https://www.southampton.ac.uk/legalservices/what-we-do/data-protection-and-foi.page) where you can make a request using our online form. If you need further assistance, please contact the University’s Data Protection Officer (data.protection@soton.ac.uk).
Thank you for taking the time to read the information sheet regarding this research, and for considering participation.
