Participant Information Sheet

Principal investigator: Alexander T Gunn (A.Gunn@derby.ac.uk) (PhD student)

Supervisors: Dr Edward Stupple E.J.N.Stupple@derby.ac.uk) and Dr Malcolm Schofield (M.Schofield@derby.ac.uk)
We would like to invite you to take part in our research study. Before you decide if you would like to consider taking part, we would like you to understand why the research is being done and what it would involve for you. Alexander would be happy to discuss the study with you and answer any questions you have or clarify anything as needed.

What is the purpose of the research?

The study aims to find links between online fake news detection and what factors can inhibit or promote detection.

Why have I been invited to participate?

Participants are welcome if they are over the age of 18 years of age and have an internet-enabled device and a good command of the English language. Your participation is essential to providing data for this investigation to be successful, which adds to current scientific knowledge.

Do I have to take part?

All participation is voluntary. If, for any reason, after participation, you wish to withdraw your data, you can email the researcher with the unique code produced in the study; this can be done up to two weeks after participation.

What will happen to me if I take part?

If you participate, you will be asked to read and follow all instructions, create a unique code; the code will be produced by using the first two letters of your sir name and the last 3 digits of your telephone number ( for example, name: John Smith number:0778755483 code would be sm483).You will also be asked to give some demographic data (age and gender). In the central portion of the study, you will be asked to complete some multiple-choice questions and give your perspective on some news articles on a scale. The study should take around 15 to 20 mins.
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What are the possible disadvantages and risks of taking part?

There should not be any disadvantages to you taking part in this study. The news articles will contain stories involving sex, violence or other misconduct. The news items may cause minor distress, but no more than any news you would see scrolling through social media.

What are the possible benefits of taking part?

The research aims to add to the existing body of knowledge around fake news, which may lead to the ability to prevent its reach in the future, which benefits wider society.

Privacy notice
Use of your data and your rights
Privacy Notice
Thank you for agreeing to take part in this research project. The information that you supply will be recorded and processed in line with the UK GDPR / Data Protection Act 2018 / EU GDPR.
Data collected will be used by the student researcher to produce a paper that will form part of a PhD submission. The University of Derby is the data controller.
Anonymised data from this project may be used in future publications.
We retain the data for a minimum period of 7 years; after such time, it will be securely destroyed. Data will not be retained for longer than is necessary.
Our lawful basis for processing this data is your explicit consent.
As a data subject, you can request withdrawal of consent within two weeks by contacting Alexander Gunn. After this period, data are anonymised, and we will be unable to extract your individual data.
Our Data Protection Officer (DPO) is Mrs Helen Selby on 01332 591954. Alternatively, you can email gdpr@derby.ac.uk.
Further information on how we handle your information and details of our DPO can be found on our website: https://www.derby.ac.uk/its/datagov/privnotice

Additional Information
The supervisor of this project, who also has access to the data, is highly qualified and experienced and has been very careful to discuss with the student processes to ensure the security of your data. An Ethics review has been completed on behalf of the College of Health, Psychology and Social Care Research Ethics Committee by the supervisor and an independent reviewer
We are obliged to:

Not seek more information from you than what is essential and necessary for this research;
Make sure that you are not identified by using ID codes
Use your anonymised data for the purposes of this study and for any relevant publications that arise from it;
Store data safely in password-protected databases to which only the named researchers have access.

Further information about the project can be obtained from the research student Alexander T Gunn ( A.Gunn@derby.ac.uk or their research, Edward Stupple E.J.N.Stupple@derby.ac.uk) and Malcolm Schofield (M.Schofield@derby.ac.uk), University of Derby, Kedleston Road, Derby, DE22 1GB.

What will happen to the results of the research?
The results will form part of a journal paper to be submitted for publication and form part of a PhD thesis.

Thank You

Provide a thank you message for the time taken reading the information sheet and for considering participation in the research.