INFORMED CONSENT FOR RESEARCH

Description of the project:
You have been asked to participate in this study titled “Gender Identity Differences in Sense of Belonging”. The aim of this study is to investigate if there is a difference in sense of belonging between cisgender individuals and gender identity nonconforming individuals. To participate in this study, you must be from Asian countries and aged between 18 and 45.

What will happen:
Should you decide to participate in this study, you will be required to fill in the demographic form and the Sense of Belonging Instrument (Psychological measure), an18-item scale. The study should take no longer than 10 minutes. No compensation will be provided upon completion.

The risks/discomfort:
You will be asked to disclose your gender identity in the demographic questionnaire (next section). If you do not feel comfortable, you have no obligation to continue the study and may choose to exit the google form. Otherwise, we do not predict that there will be any major risk to your well-being in this study except for minimal fatigue. However, if you do find your participation in this study has caused you psychological harm, you may contact the Centre for Psychological and Counselling Services (CPCS) of HELP University at 03-7849 3200 if you are from HELP University or do contact the closest counselling centre near you. Please note that the CPCS only sees clients on an appointment basis.

Benefits of this study:
There will not be any direct benefit to you in participating this study, but you will be helping the researcher to gain insight on the differences in sense of belonging between conforming and nonconforming gender identities.

Confidentiality:
Your participation in this study is confidential. The researcher will take every effort to ensure that any information collected remains anonymous. You will not be identified as no names are required during participation and any data released for presentation of the findings in this study will be group data. The data collected will only be known and accessed by the researcher, as well as the research supervisor.

Decision to terminate participation:
Participation in this study is voluntary based, you may choose to withdraw at any time as you see fit. No adverse action will be taken against you for withdrawing your application. If you wish to terminate participation, please exit the google form without submitting your responses.

Rights and complaints:
This study has been reviewed and approved by the Ethics Review Board, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Behavioral Sciences, Education, and Languages at HELP University. For any research related problems or questions regarding participants’ rights, please contact the Chairperson of the Ethics Review Board.

I understand that this research study has been reviewed and approved by the Ethics Review Board, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Behavioral Sciences, Education, and Languages, at HELP University (ERB Approval Code: E202203/013). For research related problems or questions regarding participants’ rights, I can contact:

Chairperson
Ethics Review Board
Department of Psychology
Faculty of Behavioral Sciences, Education, and Languages
Level 3, Block B
HELP University Subang 2
Persiaran Cakerawala
Seksyen U4
40150 Shah Alam
Selangor
Malaysia
Phone: 03-78493000

For any enquiries of this study, please feel free to contact the researcher via the email address as stated below:

Researcher:
Tan Zhi Jing Jenni (jennitanzj@gmail.com)

Research supervisor:
Bashir Bashardoost (bashir@help.edu.my)

Thank you.