Part 1: How Do You Play With Your Cat? Consent Form

 

THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK

Hunter College

Psychology Department

 

Title of Research Study: Understanding Cat-Human Play

 

Principal Investigator: 

Julie Hecht, MSc, PhD Candidate

 

Faculty Advisor: 

Diana Reiss, PhD, Professor 

Director, Animal Behavior & Conservation Program, Department of Psychology 

 

Thank you for your interest in participating in a study of cat-human play. The purpose of this research study is to investigate how cats and their owners play together.

 

You are being asked to participate in this research study because you own a cat, are over the age of 18, and want to show us how you and your cat play together. The purpose of this citizen science research study is to learn what it is that cats and people do when they are playing together. Before you begin the study you will be asked to confirm your age to ensure you are eligible; if you are ineligible you will not be able to participate. None of your screening data will be stored.

 

Procedures and time commitment:

Participating in this research study, includes the following:

- Make a short video — between 30 seconds and 2 minutes — of how you and your cat normally play together

- Upload your video at the website CatsDoScience.com

- Complete a short questionnaire about your cat and your cat’s household

- Your participation should take between 15 and 30 minutes

 

Potential risks or discomforts and benefits:

There are minimal risks to you or you cat which are similar to the normal risks associated with interacting with your own cat. Questionnaire questions are not intended to elicit discomfort, but all questions are optional. If you do not wish to answer a question, you can skip it. While there is the potential for a breach in confidentiality, every step is being taken to mitigate this risk by storing data securely as described in the ‘Confidentiality’ section. There are no direct benefits to participants. However, participants will have the opportunity to participate in a citizen science study and reflect on how they interact with their own cat. On a societal level, the general knowledge gathered from this study could be shared with cat owners and will serve to enhance cat-human interactions.

 

Confidentiality and participant rights:

We will make our best efforts to maintain confidentiality of any information that is collected during this research study and that can identify you. We will disclose this information only with your permission or as required by law. 

 

We will protect your confidentiality by the following: All data is only available to the PI and designated research personnel. Submitted videos can either be shared at CatsDoScience.com to a secure, researcher-provided website (files.fm), or participants can upload their video to a personal, secure Dropbox account and share the link with the researcher via a Qualtrics survey box at CatsDoScience.com. After video submission, the short questionnaire (Qualtrics) will be completed at CatsDoScience.com. IP address is never stored.  

 

Video and questionnaire will be linked with a researcher-assigned numerical code and stored in password protected files and encrypted on a password protected computer in Diana Reiss's office at Hunter College, USA, and available only to the PI (Principal Investigator) and research personnel. Should you elect to provide your email address to either be contacted about the results of the current study or to be contacted about future cat-related studies, this identifier — your email address — will be stored in a document solely for the purpose you designated, and stored in the manner described above. Videos and questionnaires will at no time be associated with provided emails. 

 

Upon participant submission of data, videos will be downloaded. Videos shared through CatsDo Science (files.fm) will be deleted from the secure server. The provided Dropbox link will be deleted from Qualtrics. After the study is complete, all data on Qualtrics (including questionnaire responses and email, should it be provided) will be deleted.  

 

All original data will be stored in the office of Diana Reiss, as described above, for three years after the completion of the study. Three years after the study concludes, emails provided in reference to being contacted about the current study findings will be deleted, while emails provided to be alerted about future pet cat-related studies will be maintained indefinitely, and stored in the manner described above. 

 

By consenting to participate in the study, you are consenting to have your data — video and questionnaire — stored with a researcher-assigned numerical code indefinitely for future researcher use, as is customary in animal behavior and human-animal interaction studies. Submitted videos could be used in academic presentations of the research. Participant data will be stored on password protected files and encrypted on a password protected computer in Diana Reiss's office at Hunter College, USA, and available only to the PI and research personnel. As this is a study of cat-human interactions, behaviors appearing in the video will be evaluated by the PI and research personnel. Should you withdraw, all video and questionnaire data will be discarded.

 

Qualtrics is a well known company that collects data for online questionnaire research. The researchers are using an encrypted version of their product to reduce the risk to subjects that their responses will be viewed by unauthorized persons. However, the study is not being run from a secure http server such as those used to handle credit card transactions, so there is a small possibility that responses could be viewed by unauthorized third parties, such as computer hackers.

   

Questions, comments or concerns:

Your participation in this research is voluntary. If you have any questions, you can contact one of the researchers: Julie Hecht, PhD candidate: jhecht@gradcenter.cuny.edu; Dr. Diana Reiss, Faculty advisor: dreiss@hunter.cuny.edu

 

If you have any questions about your rights as a research participant or if you would like to talk to someone other than the researchers, you can contact CUNY Research Compliance Administrator at 646-664-8918 or HRPP@cuny.edu

Are you 18 years or older?

Do you consent to participate?

As a reminder, you are consenting to have your video and questionnaire data used and stored by the researcher for future use, as described in the ‘Confidentiality and participant rights’ section of the Consent Form above.