Department of Psychology
	You are invited to participate in a survey. The survey is being conducted by Grant Donnelly, Penny Bhathal, and Ryan Howell, PhD at San Francisco State University. The survey should take 2 - 5 minutes to complete. Your responses will be kept confidential (see our privacy statement). You may drop out of the study at any time by closing this browser window. After you finish the survey, we will explain what the study was about, and we will show you how your answers compare to those of other people who took the survey. If you would like to participate, then please minimize other distractions (for example, close other browser windows), and click on the "I agree" button at the bottom of this page. This study has been reviewed and approved by the San Francisco State University Institutional Review Board, approval # X12-03. For additional information about your rights as a research participant, please see the text box below. User Agreement Informed Consent Agreement Please read this consent agreement carefully before you decide to participate in the study. Project Title: Purchasing psychology on the internet The purpose of this research study is to understand how purchasing decisions impact well-being. A. PURPOSE AND BACKGROUND: The present research study is aimed at understanding what factors (e.g., traits, emotions, attitudes, values) may influence our financial decision making. The researcher, Grant Donnelly, is a student of psychology at San Francisco State University. B. PROCEDURES: If you agree to participate in this research study, the following will occur: You will be asked to complete any of several questionnaires on consumption, personality traits, financial values, money management, attitudes toward money, and demographic information. The researcher anticipates that your involvement will take between 45 to 60 minutes. C. RISKS: This study creates a minimal risk of loss of privacy. Privacy will be protected by keeping all data on a password-protected computer or in a locked cabinet and by not using names to label data. The researcher and his graduate students will be the only people with access to the data. D. CONFIDENTIALITY: All of your responses will be anonymous. The research data will be kept in a secure location, used only for research purposes, and only the researchers will have access to the data. At the conclusion of the study, all identifying information will be removed and the data will be kept in a locked cabinet. These merged files are then sent out to the members of the research consortium that runs BeyondthePurchase. At times we might send these files out to other researchers, as part of normal scientific courtesy, if they think that the data in these files could help them to answer scientific questions. But we repeat that these files will not contain any information that could lead anyone to identify the people who provided the data, and we will always strip out IP address information from any file that is sent out beyond our small group of researchers. We will carefully guard your privacy. We plan to keep these merged data files for many years. We might place some of this anonymous numerical data into a "data archive" of the sort that some scientists are trying to create to make it easy for scientists to check each others' work. E. DIRECT BENEFITS: There will be no direct benefits to you for participating in this research study. F. COSTS: There will be no cost to you for participating in this research. G. COMPENSATION: There is no compensation. H. ALTERNATIVES: The alternative is not to participate in the research. I. QUESTIONS: If you have any questions about the study, please contact the principal investigator, Dr. Ryan T. Howell, at rhowell@sfsu.edu, before participating. Questions about your rights as a study participant, or comments or complaints about the study, may also be directed to the Office for the Protection of Human Subjects at (415) 338-1093 or protocol@sfsu.edu.