Thank you for your interest in being a subject in one of our decision-making experiments. If you are chosen for an experiment, you will be given a specific consent form or an information sheet which will make a formal disclosure of information to you and which you may be asked to sign. The following information covers much of the same material as you will see in the consent form or the information sheet, but this is not a consent document. It is a disclosure document to provide you with information before you decide whether or not to sign up.
Purpose
You are being invited to participate voluntarily in this research experiment to study the economics of decision-making. We will not report your participation, your decisions, or your payments to your professors, your friends, nor in any identifiable way in our research. Payments are not now but in the future could be reported to appropriate tax authorities depending upon instruction that we could be given from Florida State University. Our research is related to how individuals and groups of individuals make decisions in the context of markets or market-like institutions. Our research is NOT related to your medical or psychological history, nor is it
related to sensitive issues of your personal life (criminal records, sexual behavior, alcohol or drug abuse). These experiments are neither IQ tests nor are they tests of general economic knowledge
Selection Criteria
Certain criteria (such as class at the university or previous participation) may play a role in how the set of subjects is selected for any one particular experiment. This may change from one experiment to another. Only persons 18 years of age or older may participate.
Procedure
Experiments will typically last up to two hours (unless clearly pre-announced otherwise). You may be assigned to a participant id, name or role by chance, like the "flip of a coin" or "random arrival." You will be asked to make decisions in a Florida State University classroom or computer lab, or online.
Participation Costs and Subject Compensation
In addition to a guaranteed show up payment for showing up on time, you will have the opportunity to earn additional compensation, which will be based upon your decisions, the decisions of others who are in the experiment, and the rules within which those decisions are made. You are free to ask any questions about the rules as to how your compensation will be determined. Any compensation
you receive as a result of your participation in this experiment is taxable income. Your earnings in the experiment are not now but could be reported for taxation purposes, but your decisions in the study will remain confidential and will not be forwarded to tax authorities. You are free to withdraw from the experiment without compensation at any time. If you should choose to withdraw, you may keep the show-up payment. Likewise, should any unforeseen event (e.g. power failure, computer problems, the wrong number of participants showing-up, etc.) cause an unexpected cancellation in your participation after you have arrived on time and are ready to participate, you will be paid your guaranteed show-up payment.
Risks and Benefits
There are no known health risks or health benefits for these experiments beyond those from any other typical activity in a Florida State University classroom or computer lab. We do not employ deception. If we make a representation to you about the experiment, to the best of our knowledge it is true.
Confidentiality
The confidentiality of any personal information will be protected to the extent allowed by law. To the extent allowed by law, our rule is that only the researchers and any research assistants conducting this experiment may know what your earnings are (subject to tax reporting and auditing requirements) and only researchers affiliated with the XS/FS research group at Florida State University may have access to any other data with your name. Your name will not be reported with any results related to this research.
Contacts
You can obtain further information from Prof. Mark Isaac at (850) 644-7081 or by email at misaac@fsu.edu. If you have questions concerning your rights as a research subject, or if you believe I have been placed at risk, you should call the Human Subjects Committee Hotline Information Number at (850) 644-8836.
Other
Before giving your formal consent at the time of the experiment, the methods, inconveniences, risks, and benefits will be explained to you and you will have a chance to ask questions. You may ask questions at any time and you are free to withdraw from the project at any time without causing bad feelings. Your participation in this project may be ended by the investigator or by the sponsor for reasons that would be explained, but which will carry no bad effects beyond this experiment. In either case, you will be paid your show-up fee. Should you decide to participate, your signed and witnessed consent form will be filed in an area designated by the human subjects committee with access restricted to an authorized representative of the Florida State University economics department. You will not give up any of your legal rights should you sign the consent form and agree to participate in a specific experiment. A copy of the consent form will be given to you in advance of an experiment upon request by calling Prof. Mark Isaac at (850) 644-7081.
Please bring your FSU ID with you to any experiment.
