Consent Form

Purpose of the research:
This is a Brown University research project designed to determine what aspects of scientific images are most noticeable to the viewer. The goals of the project are: To develop a method for identifying effective features of scientific images used in education and communication. To test this method using crowd-sourcing (with Amazon Mechanical Turk) with large international populations of adults.

Inclusion Criteria: You must be 18 years or older to participate in this survey. You must have strong proficiency in English.

What you will do in this survey: If you decide to participate, you will look at a series of images and respond to questions about the images.

Time Required: The survey will take less than 1 hour to complete. We expect that you should spend about 30 seconds on each image.

Benefits: There are no anticipated direct benefits to you. Your participation is an opportunity to help in research to learn about how people perceive images used in science education.

Compensation: Your responses are voluntary and there is no monetary compensation for participation.

Participant Risks: There are no anticipated risks associated with participation in the surveys.

Confidentiality: Your responses will be anonymous. The data you give may be used as the basis for articles or presentations in the future, as well as for future institutional program development and planning, and for faculty and/or staff professional development. When research results are reported, responses will be aggregated (added together) and described in summary.

Participation and withdrawal: Your participation is completely voluntary, and you may quit at any time without penalty.

Contact: If you have questions or concerns about this research, please contact:

Kathy Takayama
Director, Sheridan Center for Teaching & Learning
Box 1912
96 Waterman Street
Providence, RI 02912
1-401-863-1141
Kathy_Takayama@brown.edu

Whom to contact about your rights in this research, for questions, concerns, suggestions, or complaints that are not being addressed by th

Research Protections Office
Box 1986
Brown University
tel: (401) 863-3050
toll-free: (866) 309-2095

Please print or save a copy of this page for your records.

The nature and purpose of this research have been sufficiently explained and I agree
to participate in this study. I understand that I am free to withdraw at any time
without incurring any penalty.

I assert that I am a proficient English speaker.
I agree
I disagree

Note: please do not click the back button or leave/reload the page as your work will be lost. Thank you.

Participant demographics

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What is your gender?

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Male
Female
Other

Highest level of science courses completed (select one):

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Grade school
Up to grade 6
Up to grade 12
College/ University
Masters or 3rd Year PhD
MD or PhD

If the highest level of science courses completed was college/university, what was the highest difficulty level of science courses that you took?

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Introductory
Intermediate
Advanced
Not Applicable

If the highest level of science courses completed was college/university, what areas of science did you take courses in? (Select all that apply)

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Biology
Chemistry
Physics
Engineering
Computer Science
Not Applicable

If you completed a university level or higher science degree, which area of science is closest to the area you specialized in?

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Biology
Chemistry
Physics
Engineering

Do you work in a science or engineering-related field?

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Yes
No

Are you color blind?

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Yes
No

If you are color blind, what form of color-blindness do you have?

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Red­green
Blue­yellow
Total color­blindness
Not Applicable

Handedness (?)

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Right­handed
Left­handed
Ambidextrous

Do you have corrected vision?

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Yes
No

If you have corrected vision, please wear your contact lenses or glasses while completing the survey.

Draw 2-5 polygons on the image, in order from most important to least important. We expect that you should spend about 30 seconds on this image. We are looking for your rapid expert judgment about the most important elements of the image.

Undo Next Image Cancel Current Polygon

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262

Error: between 2 and 5 locations must be highlighted.

You have completed all of the images. Thank you very much for participating in our experiment!