You are being invited to take part in a research project. Before you decide whether to take part, it is important for you to understand why the research is being done and what it will involve. Please take time to read the following information carefully. Ask us if there is anything that is not clear or if you would like more information. Take time to decide whether you wish to take part.
There is a lot of discussion regarding the importance of ensuring that people have greater control over the way their personal data is accessed by others. The Ethical Web and Data Infrastructure in the Age of AI (EWADA) research group at the University of Oxford, supported by funding from the Oxford Martin School, is dedicated to better understanding people's preferences for accessing their data in digital environments, which we refer to as digital autonomy. Our research efforts will encompass a global scale, involving participants from around the world. To achieve this, we invite members from the public to complete an online activity. Our objective is to attract a diverse range of individuals from various backgrounds to ensure a broad representation of voices in our study.
We appreciate your interest in participating in this online activity. You have been invited to participate as you are a member of the public. You may ask any questions before deciding to take part by contacting the researcher (details below). The project lead is Dr Samantha-Kaye Johnston, who is attached to the Department of Computer Science at the University of Oxford.
In the online activity, you will be presented with 8 real-world scenarios and asked to rate the level of control you believe individuals should have over sharing their personal information. Some of the scenarios contain dilemmas covering a range of topics in a health context (e.g., collecting sensitive information from people in an elderly home, blood donation banks and when people visit the doctor’s office for a check-up). We will also gather information about your demographic details such as age and gender. Completing this activity should take approximately 15 minutes, but you are welcome to take as much time as you need. Prior knowledge is not necessary to take part in this project.
No. Please note that participation is voluntary. If you do decide to take part, you may withdraw at any point for any reason, without any negative consequences, before submitting your answers by pressing the ‘Exit’ button/ closing the browser. All questions are optional should you prefer not to answer a particular question. You can ask questions about the research before deciding whether or not to take part. Data received until the point of withdrawal, will only be kept if consent from you is provided.
By participating in this research, we believe that you will have the opportunity to reflect on how you would like to control the sharing of your personal data. In addition, given the global nature of this study, by participating, you will be contributing to a study that offers a first look at global values in relation to people’s preferences for how they would like to control the sharing of their personal data.
There is a lot of discussion regarding the importance of ensuring that people have greater control over the way their personal data is accessed by others. The Ethical Web and Data Infrastructure in the Age of AI (EWADA) research group at the University of Oxford, supported by funding from the Oxford Martin School, is dedicated to better understanding people's preferences for accessing their data in digital environments, which we refer to as digital autonomy. Our research efforts will encompass a global scale, involving participants from around the world. To achieve this, we invite members from the public to complete an online activity. Our objective is to attract a diverse range of individuals from various backgrounds to ensure a broad representation of voices in our study.
We will collect consent data to allow us to confirm that you would like to participate or not participate in this research. Identifiable data (age, gender, socio-economic status, education level and cultural background) will be collected to better understand how our findings may differ across people. To protect your data and confidentiality, the team will be making sure that both identifiable and nonidentifiable information (e.g., your responses to the scenarios), for example, will be stored securely in a password-protected folder on The University of Oxford’s SharePoint facilities, separately from any identifiable data. Data will be destroyed safely as soon as it is no longer needed for analysis revision and for publications (i.e., 12 months after the end of the project). Only the researcher and other authorised personnel at the University of Oxford such as IT and Ethics auditors will have access to the research data.
The findings from the research will be written up in a report. They will also be presented in academic publications and conference presentations. Data will have identifying information removed before results are made public. Therefore, it will not be possible for the details that you provide to be identifiable from the outputs of this research.
The University of Oxford is the data controller with respect to your personal data, and as such will determine how your personal data is used in the study. The University will process your personal data for the purpose of the research outlined above. Research is a task that is performed in the public interest. Further information about your rights with respect to your personal data is available from https://compliance.admin.ox.ac.uk/individual-rights. In addition, you can find more details about our Privacy and Cookie policy.
This study has been reviewed by, and received ethics clearance through, the University of Oxford Central University Research Ethics Committee (Approval number: CS_C1A_23_025).
If you have a concern about any aspect of this study, please contact me, the project lead, Dr Samantha-Kaye Johnston at samantha-kaye.johnston@cs.ox.ac.uk, and I will do my best to answer your query. I will acknowledge your concern within 10 working days and give you an indication of how it will be dealt with. If you remain unhappy or wish to make a formal complaint, please contact the Computer Science Department Research Ethics Committee at the University of Oxford who will seek to resolve the matter as soon as possible. Their contact details are as follows: Computer Science Department Research Ethics Committee, Department of Computer Science University of Oxford, Room 110, Robert Hooke Building, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PP and can be contacted at ethics@cs.ox.ac.uk.
If you would like to discuss the research with someone beforehand (or if you have questions afterwards), please contact me at samantha-kaye.johnston@cs.ox.ac.uk.
