Cognitive Affective Neuroscience Lab Sleep and Exercise Study at Boston College
Boston College Consent Form, Department of Psychology
Informed Consent for Participation in Sleep, Activity, and Cognition across the Adult Lifespan:
Fitbit Consent Form
Principal Investigator: Elizabeth A. Kensinger
Informed Consent for Participation in Sleep, Activity, and Cognition across the Adult Lifespan:
Fitbit Consent Form
Principal Investigator: Elizabeth A. Kensinger
Introduction
You are being asked to participate in a research study titled, “Sleep, Activity, and Cognition across the Adult Lifespan.” You were selected to participate because you own and wear the Fitbit Activity Tracker. The purpose of this study is to look at how sleep quality and physical exercise changes as adults age. Please read this form and ask any questions that you may have before agreeing to participate.Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to assess how physical exercise and sleep quality, vary across people of different ages. Participants in this study are adults over 18 years old who own and wear a Fitbit Activity Tracker. If you participate in this research, you will be one of about 6,000 people to do so.Description of the Procedures
We are asking you to share a copy of your physical activity, sleep, and basic demographic information that already exists at Fitbit.com. We are also asking to access a daily copy of this information from your Fitbit for the next 9 months. After that time, we will stop collecting data. During the 9 month period, you can withdraw from the study at any time and we will stop getting a copy of this information.Payments
If you agree to share a copy of the information from your Fitbit you will be entered into a raffle for a $100 gift card, with an approx. 1:100 chance of winning.Risk and Benefits of Being in the Study
There are no costs to you associated with your participation. This study is designed for the researchers to learn more information about the associations among aging sleep, and activity. There are no direct benefits to you, this study is not designed to treat any illness or to improve your health, but you may feel gratified knowing that you helped further the scholarly work in this research area.Right to Withdraw from the Project
Your participation is voluntary. If you choose not to participate it will not affect your relations with Boston College, BC Walk Across Campus, or Fitbit. You are free to withdraw from the study at any time by amending the permissions on the Fitbit website, by emailing us at activitystudy@bc.edu, or by calling us at 617-552-6949. There are no penalties for withdrawing.Confidentiality
The Principal Investigator Dr. Elizabeth Kensinger, and her research staff, will exert all reasonable efforts to keep your responses and your identity confidential. Your name and other identifying information will not be released to anyone outside the study without your explicit written permission. While we have no control over the personally identifiable information that you have already disclosed to Fitbit.com, any new information that we collect from you will be stored independently, stripped of identifiers and alphanumerically encoded. This informed consent document, with your name on it, will be stored separately in online secure storage as well as stored in a locked filing cabinet in Dr. Kensinger’s laboratory, and no one but Dr. Kensinger and members of her research team will have access to the cabinet. Although this happens very rarely, please note that regulatory agencies, such as the Boston College Institutional Review Board, and Boston College internal auditors may review research records.The information you give will be entered into an electronic database and analyzed. In this process, your information will be combined with information from other people taking part in the study. When Dr. Kensinger and her research staff writeup the results of the study to share them with other researchers at meetings or in journal publications, this combined information will be reported. You will not be identified in these written materials.
Contact Person for Questions
If you have questions or concerns about this research you may contact the Principal Investigator Dr. Elizabeth Kensinger. She can be reached at 617-552-6949 or activitystudy@bc.edu, during weekdays. If you have questions about your rights as a research participant, you may contact the Office for Research Protections, Boston College, at 617-552-4778 or irb@bc.edu.Copy of Consent Form
You are encouraged to print or save a copy of this form to keep for your records and future reference.Certification
I have read and I believe I understand this Informed Consent document. I believe I understand the research and what I will be asked to do. I have been given the opportunity to ask any questions and they have been answered satisfactorily.I understand that I may stop my participation in this research study at any time.
I understand that my identifying information will remain confidential, and that I will not be identified in reports on this research.
If you agree to the statements above and agree to participate in this study, please press the “Consent Given” button below.
After submitting your consent, you will be taken to the Fitbit website where you will need to log in and give permission for the application to access your data. When you are taken to the Fitbit webpage, please ensure you are logged in and/or that the Fitbit account that you are permissioning is your account (if you are doing this on a shared computer).This study was reviewed by the Boston College Institutional Review Board and its approval was granted on December 7th, 2016.