UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
CONSENT FORM

Designing more inclusive question and answer sites

Hi there! We hope you reached this questionnaire because you want to participate in our study on making StackOverflow helpful to even more people. By submitting your answers, you agree you have read and understood the information below and confirm you want to register as a participant in the study.

What will you need to do?
As a participant of this study, you will be required to install a Chrome Extension and keep your normal use of StackOverflow. This browser extension will collect your Stack Overflow usage data for a period of one month, then you will be asked to fill in an end-of-study survey. Throughout the study, the browser extension might make changes to how some information is displayed on the Stack Overflow pages but it will not change any existing content. Your participation is also voluntary and you can withdraw at any time by uninstalling the Chrome Extension and not submitting your answers to the end-of-study survey. Refusing to participate or withdrawing from the study will not involve any penalty or loss of benefits to which you are already entitled.


What data will we collect and how they will be used?
The Chrome Extension will collect the Stack Overflow URLs you visit and how you interact with those pages (e.g., scroll, mouse over, and click behavior), and the information you opt to add to your user profile (like nickname, motto, etc.) This information will be stored separately and indirectly associated to your email in our database through a randomly generated UserID. In the questionnaires, we will ask you about your personal background and general experience as a software developer/student and as a StackOverflow user. The collected data will only be used in an anonymous manner for research purposes, which involve data analysis and publication of non-identifiable data as part of research papers, while your email may be used for communication with the researcher team regarding this project. If you opt for that in your end-of-study questionnaire, we will also use your email for inviting you to participate in next stages of this or related projects.


What do you get out of participating?
While you use the Chrome Extension, we will give you some personal feedback about your use of StackOverflow. As a participant in this study, you are helping researchers and designers to make future Question & Answer (Q&A) sites more inclusive. As an appreciation of your participation, we will compensate you with a $10 gift card for: (1) installing and login in with your STAKO credentials, and (2) when you answer the end-of-study questionnaire. Be aware that the end-of-study questionnaire will only be sent to participants who actually used STAKO weekly through the extension of the study. The electronic gift cards will be sent to your email as soon as we identify you performed the start and end of study actions described here.


What are the risks of participating?
Although we will make all efforts to store your data using well-regarded security practices, as your Stack Overflow behavior and questionnaire data is associated to your email, there is small risk involving your privacy and losing confidentiality. If you think you have been harmed from being in this research, please contact the lead researcher Nigini Oliveira at his email: first_name [at] cs.washington.edu.


Who is conducting this research?
We are a team of researchers at the University of Washington Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering and supported by the National Science Foundation. The project is lead by Nigini Oliveira, a Postdoctoral Researcher advised by Associate Professor Katharina Reinecke.


Who should you contact if you still have questions about this research?
Please email Nigini Oliveira at his email: first_name [at] cs.washington.edu
If you have questions about your rights as a research subject, you can call the Human Subjects Division at (206) 543-0098 or call collect at (206) 221-5940.


If you agree with the study description, please proceed with this questionnaire by filling in your contact email below (preferably, the same one associate with the Google account you will use to download the Chrome extension in the future.)