Title of Project: Static vs dynamic multi-modal emotion expression recognition
 Name of Researcher(s): Andrei Zarie, Petra Pollux
 
 Ethics reference number: 2020_3460

We'd like to invite you to take part in our research study. Joining the study is entirely up to you, before you decide we would like you to understand why the research is being done and what it would involve for you. Please go through this information sheet to decide whether or not you would like to take part. If you have any questions, please feel free to email the main researcher (contact details at the end). This study should take about 30 minutes. Please feel free to talk to others about the study if you wish. Please do not take part in the study if you are not an adult (18+) that can provide consent for themselves. 

What is the purpose of the study?
The present study is aiming to investigate the ability to recognize emotions. Several different types of emotion recognition abilities are measured in this study, along with their relationship to certain personality traits. The findings of this study could inform future clinical studies into populations who suffer from impairmed emotion recognition ability. This study could serve as a baseline normative sample for comparison with clinical samples. 

The data will be analysed anonymously. There are no right or wrong answer, as this study is about emotion perception and personality. Do not spend too much time unpacking the emotion expression, just answer based on your immediate subjective perception. The same applies to the questionnaires, try to answer the questions in a manner that reflects your basic perceptions/recollections about yourself. 

Why have I been invited?
Participants in this study must be at least 18 years old. We are looking to gather a diverse age and gender sample, so as long as you are a consenting adult, your data will be very valuable. 

Do I have to take part?
It is up to you to decide whether or not to take part.  If you do decide to take part you will be presented with a consent form. If you decide to take part you are still free to withdraw at any time and without giving a reason. This would not affect your legal rights.

What will happen to me if I take part?
The study does not involve more risks than any simple computer task.
 
Please do not take part if you suffer from photosensitive epilepsy.
 
The study takes about 30 minutes.
 
You will be asked to look at some images and videos of actors expressing emotions using their face and body. You will be tasked with selecting one emotion or mental state out of a given list. After that, you will be asked how confident were you in your answer. The speed with which you answer is important, so try to be as fast as possible.
 
Finally, you will be asked to fill in a few simple personality questionnaires. They contain questions about your thoughts and behaviours in general, such as about how much you tend to fantasize or how well you think you perform in perspective taking or about how often you tend to express your feelings. These are not clinical questionnaires and are not diagnostic tools, just personality-type scales. Please answer as honestly as possible, these questions are also anonymous and nobody will know your answers. The content of the statements in the questionnaires do not, in any way, reflect the views of the researchers or the University of Lincoln.
 
Participants will be asked to answer some questions about their own feelings and emotions, including times when they are upset or particularly anxious. If you feel that this might upset you, we advise that you do not participate in the study. Should you experience any psychological distress, please stop the study and seek help from your local GP or use the NHS mental health help page (https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/). 

Expenses and payments
Participation is voluntary, no remuneration will be awarded.

Will my taking part in the study be kept confidential?
 Data will be stored in a database without any identifiable personal information. Your data will simply be indicated by a number representing the order of your participation (e.g. 016).
 We will follow ethical and legal practice and all information about you will be handled in confidence.
 
Privacy notice
The University of Lincoln is the lead organisation for this study. The university’s Research Participant Privacy notice https://ethics.lincoln.ac.uk/research-privacy-notice/ will explain how we will be using information from you in order to undertake this study and will be the data controller for this study. This means that we are responsible for looking after your information and using it properly.  What will happen if I don’t want to carry on with the study?  Your participation is voluntary and you are free to withdraw at any time, without giving any reason, and without your legal rights being affected. If you withdraw from the study, we will keep the data that we have already obtained, but it will most likely be soon deleted. To safeguard your rights, we will ask you for no personal identifiable information.
  
What will happen to the results of the research study? The results of the study will be published in a final doctoral thesis, possibly in a scientific journal as well. No identifiable information will be published in these reports. 

Who is organising and funding the research?
This research is being organised by the University of Lincoln and is conducted with internal funding.Who has reviewed the study? All research conducted by the University of Lincoln is looked as by an independent group of people, called a Research Ethics committee, to protect your interests.  

What if there is a problem?
If you have a concern about any aspect of this study, you should ask to speak to the researchers who will do their best to answer your questions.  The researchers contact details are given at the end of this information sheet. If you remain unhappy and wish to complain formally, you can do this by contacting ethics@lincoln.ac.uk.
 
If you feel that we have let you down in relation to your information rights then please contact the Information Compliance team by email on compliance@lincoln.ac.uk or by post at Information Compliance, Secretariat, University of Lincoln, Brayford Pool, Lincoln, LN6 7TS.
 
You can also make complaints directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO is the independent authority upholding information rights for the UK. Their website is ico.org.uk and their telephone helpline number is 0303 123 1113. 

Further information and contact details
 Main researcher: Andrei Zarie, PhD student
 Email: azarie@lincoln.ac.uk / 15620193@students.lincoln.ac.uk
 
 First Supervisor: Petra Pollux, Senior Lecturer
 Email: ppollux@lincoln.ac.uk
 
 
 Press the “Next” button if you understood the information provided and want to continue with the study. Otherwise, if you have further question before participating, close the browser tab right now and contact the main researcher with any questions.