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HUMANITIES & SOCIAL SCIENCES
RESEARCH ETHICS SUB-COMMITTEE (HSSREC)
Application for Approval of Research Platform Involving Human (Non-NHS) participants.
Please complete this form and return with copies to the secretary of the HSSREC at least 10
working days before the Sub-Committee next meets.
No research project with ethical considerations may begin before the relevant Sub-Committee of
the UREC has issued its written approval. Written confirmation of the Sub-Committee’s decision
will be emailed to the principal investigator as soon as possible after the Sub-Committee meeting.
Before completing this form, applicants must refer to the University’s Statement and Guidelines
on Ethical Practice (http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/rss/) in conjunction with any other
guidance or ethical principles relevant to their specific research.
Section A: GENERAL INFORMATION
1.
Research Platform Title: Decision Research at Warwick (DR@W) Platform for Research with
Human Subjects
2.
Applicant: Decision Research at Warwick (DR@W) Group
Current DR@W coordinator and the main contact: Ms. Hana Sysalova (Warwick Business
School)
Participating departments: Warwick Business School (WBS), Psychology, Economics,
Statistics
E-mail: Hana.Sysalova@wbs.ac.uk
Telephone: 024 7652 4188
3.
Investigator(s): Decision Research at Warwick (DR@W) Group
List of current DR@W members who conduct research with human subjects by department
as of April 20, 2012:
WBS:
Prof. Nick Chater
Dr. Dawn Eubanks
Prof. Gerard Hodgkinson
Dr. Chengwei Liu
Prof. Graham Loomes
Dr. Chris Olivola
Prof. Daniel Read
Ms. Hana Sysalova
Psychology:
Prof. Gordon D.A. Brown
Prof. Thomas Hills
Dr. Adam Sanborn
Prof. Neil Stewart
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Economics:
Dr. Andrea Isoni
Prof. Peter Hammond
Dr. Ganna Pogrebna
Dr. Eugenio Proto
Dr. Daniel Sgroi
Statistics:
Prof. Simon French
Institution(s): University of Warwick
4.
Proposed Start Date: 16/05/2012
5.
Duration: 5 years until 16/05/2017 (with a possibility of renewal)
6.
Funding body: Research projects which fall within the scope of the current platform will be
financed by various research grants as well as by internal funding from the relevant
participating departments.
7.
Are there any potential conflicts of interest?
NO
If yes, please specify: N/A
8.
Is this a student project?
NO
If yes, name of student: N/A
Email: N/A
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Section B: PLATFORM DETAILS
1.
Please give a brief summary of the research covered by the platform (in lay terms),
including the scientific benefit.
Brief summary of research (in lay terms): The proposed research platform covers research
projects in the area of experimental and behavioural science. All research projects within the
boundaries of this platform involve studies with human subjects which have important procedural
similarities described below.
Background: This application covers research with human subjects regularly conducted by the
members of the Decision Research at Warwick (DR@W) Group. The DR@W Group is an
interdisciplinary initiative which serves as a forum for researchers from different departments in
the University of Warwick interested in experimental and behavioural science. Members of the
DR@W group are interested in different aspects of human decision making with important
implications for economics, psychology, management, marketing and statistics.
Currently, individual members of the DR@W group make applications to the Humanities and
Social Sciences Research Ethics Sub-committee (HSSREC) for each research project with human
subjects separately. Yet, an apparent similarity between projects in the way DR@W researchers
conduct studies with human subjects allows us to combine them into one research platform. We
hope that by applying for the platform ethical approval for DR@W studies, we will be able to
simplify the procedure of obtaining ethical approvals for both the HSSREC and DR@W researchers
in order to make this procedure more efficient.
The DR@W Group was formed in January 2010. Members of DR@W meet for the regular weekly
seminar (DR@W Forum) every Thursday during the term time to discuss current developments in
the area of experimental and behavioural research. In addition to the seminar, DR@W manages a
large system of student volunteers who sign up to take part in experiments conducted by the
members of the DR@W group (the DR@W Researchers Online System). The system is currently
hosted by the Department of Economics website:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/draw
Currently, almost 1,400 students hold participant accounts in the system and constitute the
subject pool for studies conducted by the DR@W researchers. The DR@W Researchers Online
System is controlled by the DR@W Coordinator who insures that all DR@W researchers strictly
follow the ethical guidelines of the HSSREC. In order to be granted access to the DR@W
Researchers Online System
http://go.warwick.ac.uk/draw/researchers
for managing participation at experiments, and the DR@W‐Affiliated Laboratories (all laboratory
facilities in the departments of Psychology, Economics and WBS used for conducting experiments
where Participants are invited via the DR@W Researchers Online System), for running
experimental sessions, all researchers are required to abide by the Terms and Conditions of use of
DR@W:
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http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/draw/experiments/researchers/sign_up/ter
msconditions.pdf.
These Terms and Conditions are designed in strict correspondence to the guidelines of HSSREC
and apply to all affiliated websites of the DR@W Researchers Online System. A copy of the DR@W
Terms and Conditions are attached to this application.
Becoming a DR@W researcher requires signing the DR@W Terms and Conditions Agreement. In
addition, in order to receive an access to the DR@W Researchers Online System, each researcher
is required to attend a Compulsory Induction Meeting with the DR@W Coordinator. The
instructions received by the researcher during the Compulsory Induction Meeting with the DR@W
Coordinator and DR@W Terms and Conditions constitute the DR@W Researchers’ Code of
Conduct. All DR@W researchers are responsible for following this Code of Conduct at all times.
Failure to comply with, or breach of, the Code of Conduct may result in access to DR@W
Researchers Online System and DR@W‐Affiliated Laboratories being withdrawn.
The current research platform will allow DR@W researches to undergo a simplified ethical
approval procedure.
Proposed simplified procedure: In order to insure more efficient collaboration between the
DR@W Group and the HSSREC, the following procedure is proposed. The current application
describes common features shared by the majority of DR@W studies which will constitute the
platform of ethical code of conduct determined by HSSREC for DR@W. If this platform is
approved, in order to apply for the ethical approval, each DR@W researcher will fill out an
electronic form on the following webpage:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/draw/experiments/researchers/ethics
The fields in the electronic form are designed to ask the researcher to reveal all possible deviations
from the current research platform. When the form is completed, the information submitted by
the researcher is first sent to the DR@W Coordinator who (a) confirms that person submitting the
form is indeed registered as a DR@W researcher, (b) checks that the form is filled out correctly
and (c) releases the form for the HSSREC approval. After the form is released by the DR@W
Coordinator, the e-mail containing project information is sent to a representative of the HSSREC
(Ms. Brenda Jones or another person determined by the HSSREC) who checks whether the
proposed project falls within the scope of the DR@W research platform. If the project is within the
boundaries of the platform, the project is immediately approved by the HSSREC. However, if the
project has important features which raise additional concerns/ risks for human subjects, HSSREC
representative requests the researcher to apply for a separate HSSREC approval using the
standard procedure. The proposed simplified procedure will allow to make the ethical approval
procedure more efficient for both the HSSREC and the DR@W group.
Who will have access to the proposed simplified procedure: Only currently registered DR@W
researchers listed on p. 1 of this application will be able to make use of the proposed simplified
procedure. Any changes to the current list will be immediately reported to the HSSREC by the
DR@W Coordinator. Postgraduate students and research assistants of the registered DR@W
researchers will be able to assist the DR@W researchers during the studies specified in the
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platform application. However, the DR@W researcher should specify all assistants who are
expected to have an access to human subjects in the online form at the time of application:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/draw/experiments/researchers/ethics
All research assistants should also sign the DR@W Terms and Conditions and come to the
Compulsory Induction Meeting with the DR@W Coordinator. During the simplified application
process the DR@W Coordinator will be able to confirm to the HSSREC that all researchers working
with human subjects have obtained the necessary training.
Types of studies: The platform will cover laboratory and online studies in the following three
categories.



2.
Individual decision making
Group decision making
Strategic interactions
Please summarise the methodology to be used.
Methodology: Proposed research employs interdisciplinary methodology from economics,
psychology, statistics and other disciplines. The majority of studies covered by the platform will be
organized according to the following procedure:




Formulating theoretical hypotheses
Data collection
Data analysis
Reporting/divulgating results
Tasks: The platform will cover a variety of specific and general research tasks.
Examples of specific research tasks include:
 Revealed preference tasks – asking study participants about their preferences among
several alternatives.
 Strength of preference tasks – asking study participants to indicate how sure they are
about their replies in a question.
 Memory tasks – asking study participants to reconstruct information from the memory.
 Sampling tasks – asking study participants to sample from each of the available alternatives
before choosing a preferred one.
 Reasoning tasks – asking study participants to provide reasons for their decisions.
 Judgment, cognition, and confidence tasks – asking study participants to make judgements
or state their level of confidence.
 Discounting and time delay tasks – asking study participants to choose between an option
at present time versus an option in the future.
 Coordination tasks – asking study participants to play a game where their task is to
coordinate/ not to coordinate with other people.
 Debriefing tasks – explaining to study participants what will be happening/ has happened
in the study
 Distraction tasks – activities designed to distract the attention of study participants from
the main task of the study
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



Forecasting tasks – asking study participants to forecast what will happen in the future
Structured and free-form communication – asking study participants to communicate with
each other or the researcher
Experimental markets – asking study participants to make decisions as if they are
competitors on the same market
Games and strategic interactions – asking study participants to play a game or to interact
with other participants in the study.
Examples of general tasks include:
 Demographic questionnaires – questions about participants’ personal characteristics
 Ability measurements – questions about participants’ ability
 Measures of understanding – tasks which measure whether and to what extent
participants have understood instructions
 Measures of attentiveness – tasks which measure whether and to what extent participants
are attentive
 Wellbeing and life satisfaction measurements – tasks measuring participants level of
happiness or satisfaction
 Personality scales – tasks measuring personality traits of each individual
 Explicit and implicit attitude measures – asking for participants
 Knowledge elicitation tasks - for example, causal cognitive mapping, repertory grid,
pairwise comparisons and card sorts for similarity scaling and clustering.
 Watching video or listening to audio
 Behavioural tasks and questionnaires - tasks and questionnaires designed to measure
peculiarities of human behaviour
Additional non-invasive tasks:
 Eye-tracking – tracing participants’ eye-movements during the study
 Measurements of decision-making time and reaction time
 Tracking the positioning of the computer cursor/mouse
 Non-invasive measurements of the physical/emotional state (e.g., electro-dermal skin
activity, blood pressure, heart rate tests)
 Video and audio recording
Consultations with concerned communities: DR@W researchers will follow the ethical rules of
conduct customary to all decision making experiments. They will be encouraged to present
experimental design and solicit comments from the DR@W group at weekly DR@W Forum
research meetings. They will also be encouraged to conduct a pilot prior to the full-scale study in
order to address possible participants’ comments and concerns about the design.
Participants’ involvement: The majority of studies will ask participants to answer questions
and/or make decisions using

the computer interface

paper-and-pencil questionnaires

oral conversation with experimenter and/or other study participants (which may be
recorded)
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3.
Please describe briefly any ethical issues and / or sensitive topics that will be covered
during the course of the project.
There are no physical risks of any kind involved in studies covered by this platform and the
participation is voluntary. In some cases a specific disability might prevent a potential participant
to take part in the study. For example, if the computer interface relies on people being able to
distinguish different colours, colour-blind people will not be able to take part. In this sense, there
is a minor risk of potential exclusion of participants due to their inability to complete the task.
Prevention mechanisms for potential risks related to participants’ confidentiality are described in
Section D below.
How do you intend to handle these areas?
Participants will be protected in the following ways:
4.
•
Participation in all studies is voluntary. If at any point a participant wishes to leave the
study, they will be able to do so.
•
If a certain disability might prevent the participant from taking part, such potential obstacle
will be explicitly stated by the researcher in the invitation letter/study advertisement.
What possible risks are there for the researcher?
We do not foresee any risks for the researchers in the studies covered by the platform.
5.
Will you or any of the research team coming into contact with participants be required to
obtain criminal record clearance?
NO
If Yes, please confirm that such clearance will be obtained.
N/A
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Section C: PARTICIPANTS
Population
Participants in the experiments will be people who have reached 18 years of age. Participants in
the experimental studies will be recruited
 from student population of the University of Warwick
 from adult general population
1.
How will participants be recruited?
Students will be recruited using the official DR@W group experimental recruitment system:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/draw/experiments/
or via on-campus announcements and advertisements
Members of the general public will be recruited via the recruitment websites
(http://www.maximiles.co.uk/), newspaper or other kind of online and offline advertisements.
2.
How will informed consent be obtained from the participants? (Please provide a copy of
any consent forms and participant information sheets to be used). If no consent will be
obtained, please explain why.
All participants recruited for the studies by DR@W researchers via the DR@W recruitment system
are informed of the potential risks of all studies, remuneration mechanisms as well as informed
about the confidentiality procedures followed by the DR@W researchers. All DR@W participants
are therefore required to electronically sign the DR@W rules located under RULES at the DR@W
website:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/draw/experiments/participants/.
These rules play the role of the informed consent in the majority of studies. However, in cases
where in addition to the specific and general tasks researchers are using additional non-invasive
research tasks (such as eye-tracking or video and audio recording) or mild deception, researchers
should obtain written informed consent from all participants. Informed consent should also be
obtained in all studies where the granting institution requires obtaining consent. Draft DR@W
consent form is attached to this protocol.
3.
Will deception be used during the course of the research?
If yes why is it deemed necessary?
YES
Several studies will involve mild deception meaning that in these studies the incentive mechanism
will not be fully revealed to the participants.
Several studies will involve mild deception of the following kind:
 Telling participants that they play against each other while in fact they are playing against a
computer, or vice versa
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

Choice deception – people think they are choosing among one set of options when in fact
they are choosing among another set.
Role deception – telling participants that they play one role when they are making
decisions while in fact they are playing a different role.
Should a study involve deception, it should be clearly stated on the online form for each specific
study and submitted to HSSREC along with the consent form and the debriefing form. All studies
with mild deception should be followed by the debriefing. At each particular case HSSREC will
decide whether specified deception falls within the scope of this protocol or requires a separate
application for the ethical approval using the standard procedure.
4.
Will the participant group include any children or vulnerable adults?
If yes, please explain the necessity of including these individuals.
N/A
NO
DR@W researchers wishing to recruit children or vulnerable groups of adults will need to
apply for a separate HSSREC approval using the standard procedure.
5.
Will participants be given payment and/or incentives for participating in the research?
Y/N
If yes, please specify level of compensation, and source of the funds or incentives.
The specific mechanism of compensation is determined by each researcher and will be stated in
the invitation email (with the only possible exception of some studies involving mild deception in
which case participants may not be fully informed about the mechanism at the beginning of the
study). Experimental incentives may be hypothetical, monetary or take a form of academic
credits. In cases where the compensation is monetary, the following rules will be observed by
researchers:
1. Every participant who has registered for the experiment, and shows up on the appropriate
day and time, must receive the advertised “show‐up” fee (if such a fee was advertised).
This does not apply to Participants who are late for the experimental session (for which
they have signed up).
2. All monetary compensations must be paid, in cash, immediately following the conclusion
of the experimental session. The only exception to this rule are studies which assume
delayed payments (e.g., studies on discounting) in which case the participants and the
researcher agree that payments will be made a specific date in the future either prior or
during the experimental session.
3. Cash will be paid to Participants in private, ensuring that other Participants cannot observe
their payoff.
4. Researchers will make sure that participants will not make losses, i.e., earn negative
payments.1 Researchers will have a procedure in place to deal with the possibility of
participant bankruptcy (such as providing a higher flat fee or a “show‐up” fee).
1
In some experiments, participants may voluntarily spend their own money to pay for an item that they are given as
an option to purchase if and only if this possibility is made explicit in the invitation, participant makes this purchase
voluntarily and the informed consent is obtained from each participant prior to the beginning of the study.
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5. Participants will sign a receipt for the payment they receive. Researchers will ensure
secure storage of receipts for a period of no less than 10 years, as per University guidelines.
Draft DR@W receipts are enclosed.
If yes, please explain the necessity of such compensation.
(a)
Conducting experiments under real monetary incentives is essential in several fields
because this is a conventional methodological requirement in these fields (particularly, in
Economics). Conducting an experiment in these fields without incentives will seriously
jeopardize the publication of results.
(b)
If a study is based on the previous literature where experiments were conducted with
monetary incentives, it is necessary to use the same incentive mechanism as in the existing
literature. Therefore, if a researcher conducts an experiment without incentives and
observes different results he/she will not be able to tell whether the difference in results
was caused by his/her treatment variations or by the incentive mechanism.
6.
What possible benefits and/or risks to participants are there to this research?
We do not foresee any significant risks to the participants. We also do not expect that the
platform studies will have immediate benefits to the participants (apart from the studies where
participants receive monetary payments for their participation). However, studies within the
scope of this platform have the potential to contribute to important literature on experimental
and behavioural science.
7.
What arrangements have been made for reporting the results of the research to and/or
debriefing the participants?
Studies which do not involve the use of deception will not require debriefing of participants.
Studies with deceptions should necessarily contain a debriefing stage. Furthermore, in the
majority of studies covered by this research platform there is no “right” or “wrong” ways to
answer experimental questions. Therefore, participants typically will not receive feedback about
their performance after experiment. However, interested participants will be able to request the
working paper(s) from the DR@W researchers.
8.
What qualified personnel will be available to deal with possible adverse
consequences/reactions to participating in this research?
We do not foresee any negative consequences/adverse reactions, the principle investigator of
each study will deal with participants’ complaints during the experimental sessions and, if
necessary, after the experiment.
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Section D: DATA
1.
2.
How will you ensure confidentiality? (Please give details of how and at what stage in the
project you will anonymise data)
•
Only the authorized DR@W researchers will conduct experimental sessions and have
access to the personal information (such as name, student number and e-mail address) of
participants.
•
Participants will not receive any information about payoffs and identities of other
participants in the experiment. Likewise, their own payoffs will be kept confidential from
the others.
•
Information about participants (names and other identifying information) will be kept
separate from the study data in a locked cabinet in a locked office at the relevant
participating Department both with keys that only authorized DR@W researchers will have
access to.
•
During the experiment each participant will be assigned a secure identification number at
random. The study data will include only this number for each participant. No private
information will be stored in the experimental software and participants’ answers will
never be associated with their names.
•
At the end of each experiment, participants will be asked to verify the receipt of their
payoff by signing the payment form. This form will be used only for accounting purposes
and will never be associated with the study data. Payment forms will be locked in a secure
cabinet in a secure office at the relevant participating Department and only authorized
DR@W researchers will have an access to them should they be required for the auditor’s
check.
Who will have access to the data?
Only authorized DR@W researchers will have an access to the confidential data where
each participant will be identified by a number ID.
3.
Where will consent forms, information sheets and project data be stored?
All documents containing personal information about participants (names and other identifying
information) will be kept separate from the study data in a locked cabinet in a locked office at the
relevant participating department both with keys that only an authorized DR@W researcher will
have access to. Study data, stripped off the sensitive information, will be electronically stored on
the relevant participating Department server. In compliance with the University of Warwick
guidelines, this server is equipped with 3 layers of security measures designed to protect the
security and confidentiality of the data. After deletion of all sensitive information, study data may
be used by individual researchers on their laptop or home computers. Yet, only authorized DR@W
researchers will have an access to this information.
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4.
For how long will the above data be kept and how and when will data then be destroyed?
The confidential data from each project will be kept on the server of the relevant participating
department for 10 years and will be destroyed thereafter.
5.
Is it anticipated that there will be any future use of the data and have the participants been
informed of this use.
We do not anticipate any future use of the confidential data from any of the studies. However,
such necessity may arise in which case each researcher should inform the HSSREC.
6.
Will any interviews be audio or video-taped?
YES
If yes, please attach a copy of the consent/authorisation form.
N/A
Some of the studies may be audio or videotaped. In this case, researchers should make this
fact known to the participants in the invitation letter (advertisement of the study) and obtain
consent of participants before the study begins.
Section E: PUBLICATION
1.
How will publications of research findings recognise the contributions of all researchers
engaged in the study?
Authorship of papers which result from experimental studies will be determined by the mutual
agreement between all researchers involved in each particular study.
Section F: FURTHER INFORMATION
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1.
Section G: DECLARATION

The information in this form together with any accompanying information is complete
and correct to the best of knowledge of the DR@W researchers and belief and the
DR@W group will take full responsibility for it.

The DR@W group undertakes to abide by the ethical principles underlying the
Declaration of Helsinki (http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm) and to abide by the
University’s Research Code of Conduct (http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/rss/)
alongside any other relevant professional bodies’ codes of conduct and/or ethical
guidelines.

If the research platform is approved, the DR@W group undertakes to adhere to the
study protocol without agreed deviation.

The DR@W Coordinator undertakes to inform the HSSREC of any changes in the
protocol that would have ethical implications for the DR@W Group’s research.

DR@W researchers are aware of their responsibility to be up to date and to comply
with requirements of the law and the appropriate guidelines relating to security and
confidentiality of participants’ personal data.
Signature of
DR@W Coordinator (on behalf of the DR@W Group): ……………………………………………………………
Name (Please Print): ………………………………………… Date: ……………
N.B. For student projects, signatures from both the supervisor and the student are required.
Signature of Student (if applicable) …………………………………………..……
Signature of
Chair of Department: ……………………………………………………………..
Name (Please Print): ………………………………………… Date: ……………
(Chair’s signature must be obtained for every application submitted to HSSREC)
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APPLICANT CHECKLIST:

Fully completed application form.

Copies of any Participant Information Sheet(s) on University letterhead.

Copies of any Participant Consent Form(s) on University letterhead.

Copies of any relevant authorisations.
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