Intro 

Principal Investigator: Katalin Parti

IRB# and Title of Study: 23-408; Cybersecurity Interactive Story Circle Workshops.

Sponsor: Commonwealth Cyber Initiative Southwest Virginia

You are invited to participate in a research study.  This form includes information about the study and contact information if you have any questions.

WHAT SHOULD I KNOW? 

If you decide to participate in this study, you will be invited to participate in one or more workshops (storytelling about scams), and a photo journal (where you take photos and associate a narrative to that indicating a metaphoric meaning). The goal of the workshops is sharing experiences about the scams, but also to create an informed community that knows the resources used against scams. Finally, you will be invited to complete a post test (where we ask you to share socio-demographics, scam victimization information, and your feedback and takeaways). In the post test, participants will be able to sign up for a follow-up, optional, one-on-one interview about their scam victimization and related experiences. The post test survey will include multiple choice and multiple answer questions, as well as open ended questions. 

The workshops and the interviews will be audio recorded, and anonymized (de-identified) after transcribing. Recording is a requirement of participation. 

The study should take approximately 3 hours minimum and 12 hours maximum of your time, depending on the commitment you choose.

The risk associated with this study is psychological, and associated with scam victimization. As a participant, you might hear stories about scam victimization, or you might choose to share the story of your own victimization, or a person’s experiences you know. 

You can choose whether to be in this study or not. If you volunteer to be in this study, you may withdraw at any time without consequences of any kind. You may also refuse to answer any questions you don’t want to answer and remain in the study. The investigator may withdraw you from this research if circumstances arise which warrant doing so.  

We will do our best to protect the confidentiality of the information we gather from you, but we cannot guarantee 100% confidentiality.

Any data collected during this research study will be kept confidential by the researchers. Your workshop and (optional) interview will be audio-recorded using a digital recorder and then transcribed. The researchers will code the transcripts using a pseudonym (false name). The recordings will be uploaded to a secure password-protected computer in the researcher’s office. The researchers will maintain a list that includes a key to the code. The master key and the recordings will be stored for 3 years after the study has been completed and then destroyed. 

If you participate in this study, you might be eligible for compensation. Condition of compensation: participating in the baseline survey, at least one workshop, submitting a photo journal, and taking the post test. The interview is optional and is not a condition of compensation. As a compensation, $35 gift card will be provided to a participant who meets the minimum requirements (see above conditions; if the participant does not meet the minimum compensation criteria, no compensation will be provided). Every additional workshop participation (+photo journal submission) will add an additional $30 gift card to said participant. Minimum amount of compensation: $35, maximum amount of compensation: $125 per participant. Gift cards will be sent via email, two weeks after the last workshop has concluded. 

If you have any questions or concerns about the research, please feel free to contact Katalin Parti, kparti@vt.edu.  You are not waiving any legal claims, rights or remedies because of your participation in this research study.  If you have questions regarding your rights as a research participant, contact the Virginia Tech HRPP Office at 540-231-3732 (irb@vt.edu).