Once Upon a Party Efficacy

Dear Participant:

I am an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at Virginia Commonwealth University  I invite you to participate in a research study entitled Understanding the Effects of a Text Based Game on Gender Based Violence. This study aims to understand how the text-based game “Once Upon a Party,” influences cultural norms that impact the risk of gender-based violence (e.g. sexual assault, dating/intimate person violence, sexual harassment).

Participants must be 18 years or older.

Your participation will involve completing an online survey using QuestionPro and should only take about 15-20 minutes of your time. You will then participate in a text based game using any equipment that has an internet browser. After completing the game, you will take the same survey again. The second survey will take 15-20 minutes.

Your involvement in the study is voluntary, and you may choose not to participate or to stop at any time without penalty or loss of benefits to which you are otherwise entitled. If you decide to stop or withdraw from the study, the information/data collected from or about you up to the point of your withdrawal will be kept as part of the study and may continue to be analyzed. You can skip questions you do not want to answer, including demographic questions. If you find the content triggering or upsetting, you may stop participating at any time.

All data collected in this study will be protected with a username and password. In addition, participants will not be asked to provide any identifying information while completing the survey or playing the game. This research involves the transmission of data over the Internet. Every reasonable effort has been taken to ensure the effective use of available technology; however, confidentiality during online communication cannot be guaranteed. The results of the research study may be published, no matter the number of participants that agree, but your name or any identifying information will not be used. In fact, the published results will be presented in summary and aggregate form only.

The findings from this project may provide information to be used to make changes to, “Once Upon a Party”  The data collected can be used to inform changes that can be made, on college campuses in particular, to help students develop the skills and change norms that reduce the risk of preventing gender base violence. After playing the game and completing the final survey, all participants will provide their email address that will be used to enter them into a raffle to win 1 of 5 $100 gift cards. The gift cards will be emailed after the study is complete. These gift cards are compensation for the time participating in the study.

Total payments within one calendar year that exceed $600 will require the University to report these payments annually to the IRS and you. This may require you to claim the compensation you receive for participation in this study as taxable income. VCU is required by federal law to collect your social security number. Your social security number will be kept confidential and will only be used to process payment.

There are some minimal risks or discomforts associated with this research. While completing the survey, a participant may be triggered reading the scenarios or answering questions due to their own personal experiences of sexual assault, dating violence, or stalking. If you experience any mental health concerns after completing the survey, there are multiple options for seeking help.

You can contact Counseling and Psychiatric Services for the medical campus at (804) 828-3964. You can also contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800.656.HOPE (4673). There are no direct benefits to completing this survey.