UT Arlington
Informed Consent Document
Chengkai Li
Professor
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
(817) 272-0162
cli@uta.edu
From Answering Questions to Questioning Answers (and Questions)---Perturbation Analysis of Database Queries
INTRODUCTIONYou are being asked to participate in a research study about how to detect and counter claims of ``fact’’ which may or may not be true (so-called “lies, d—ed lies, and statistics”) that we often see in news and ads. Your participation is voluntary. Refusal to participate or discontinuing your participation at any time will involve no penalty or loss of benefits to which you are otherwise entitled. Please ask questions if there is anything you do not understand.
PURPOSEWe want to determine whether a sentence contains a factual statement and whether its truthfulness should be checked. You can help us by telling which factual statements in previous Presidential debates are check-worthy and would benefit the voting public. Your responses will help us collect “training data” in developing automatic fact-checking algorithms.
DURATIONParticipants in this study have the full freedom to decide the duration of their participation, from a couple of minutes to as long as they prefer. It is requested that you participate in the study for at least 25 minutes, but you are free to discontinue your participation at any time. We may offer payment for responses for certain time periods. When we do offer payment, we will notify participants. For you to get paid, you need to provide responses to at least 50 initial sentences after your account registration which, based on our estimation, take about 25 minutes on average.
NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTSThe maximum number of anticipated participants in this research study is 1000.
PROCEDURES
The procedures which will involve you as a research participant include:
1. Complete a short registration form with basic information, such as your name, email address. This step should take less than 5 minutes to complete. We will use your name and email only for sharing research results with you and for soliciting participation in future related studies. We will delete your name and email once we have determined that we do not need to follow up with any of our participants.
2. Using the registered account, you will log into our website. On this website, you will be asked to read sentences and determine if each sentence contains a factual statement and if its truthfulness should be checked. The website will record your responses as well as the timestamps of your interactions with the website. The website will not request or access any personal information. Participants in this study have the full freedom to decide the duration of their participation, from a couple of minutes to as long as they prefer. The participants are expected to spend at least 25 minutes.
3. To gauge the quality of your choices, we use several “gold standard” sentences, for which we have “correct choices” selected by research experts on the subject. Your choices will be compared with the “gold standard” choices to estimate your work quality level. There is no visual distinction between a sentence from the “gold standard” set or a sentence outside that set.
At the personal level, a participant may learn to appreciate data and quantitative analysis, and to interpret results critically.
At the society level, the results of this study will benefit research and practice of data-driven fact-checking and decision making, which have a wide range of applications—such as public policy, journalism, urban planning, business intelligence, and health care with benefits to the society.
There are no perceived risks or discomforts for participating in this research study. Should you experience any discomfort please inform the researcher, you have the right to quit any study procedures at any time at no consequence.
COMPENSATIONWe may offer payment for your responses for certain time periods. When we do offer payment, we will notify participants and you will be compensated for every sentence you respond to in the corresponding time periods. The compensation will be in the form of gift cards from Amazon, Visa, or Master that will be purchased by staff in the CSE department and electronically delivered to the participants. The average pay rate per sentence ranges from $0.00 to $0.10. The average pay rate is calculated after your initial 50 responses, based on a formula using multiple factors, and on average, it is updated every 15-30 sentences. These factors include the sentences’ length (the longer, the higher pay), the number of skipped sentences (the more skipped, the less pay), and the quality (i.e., correctness) of your choices. You can use the leaderboard to monitor your total compensation.
ALTERNATIVE PROCEDURESThere are no alternative procedures offered for this study. However, you can elect not to participate in the study or quit at any time at no consequence.
VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATIONParticipation in this research study is voluntary. You have the right to decline participation in any or all study procedures or quit at any time at no consequence.
CONFIDENTIALITYEvery attempt will be made to see that your study results are kept confidential. All data collected from this study will be stored in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington for at least three (3) years after the end of this research. The results of this study may be published and/or presented at meetings without naming you as a participant. Additional research studies could evolve from the information you have provided, but your information will not be linked to you in anyway; it will be anonymous. Although your rights and privacy will be maintained, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, the UTA Institutional Review Board (IRB), and personnel particular to this research have access to the study records. Your records will be kept completely confidential according to current legal requirements. They will not be revealed unless required by law, or as noted above. The IRB at UTA has reviewed and approved this study and the information within this consent form. If in the unlikely event it becomes necessary for the Institutional Review Board to review your research records, the University of Texas at Arlington will protect the confidentiality of those records to the extent permitted by law.
CONTACT FOR QUESTIONSQuestions about this research study may be directed to Chengkai Li at (817) 272-0162 or cli@uta.edu. Any questions you may have about your rights as a research participant or a research-related injury may be directed to the Office of Research Administration; Regulatory Services at 817-272-2105 or regulatoryservices@uta.edu.
CONSENT
By clicking “Accept’’ below, you confirm that you are 18 years of age or older and have read or had this document read to you. You have been informed about this study’s purpose, procedures, possible benefits and risks, and you have received a copy of this form. You have been given the opportunity to ask questions before you click “Accept’’, and you have been told that you can ask other questions at any time.
You voluntarily agree to participate in this study. By clicking “Accept’’, you are not waiving any of your legal rights. Refusal to participate will involve no penalty or loss of benefits to which you are otherwise entitled. You may discontinue participation at any time without penalty or loss of benefits, to which you are otherwise entitled.