Skydiving Study

[skydiving.study 0]

Hi guys,

Please try to see past the official wording (as approved by the ethics committee) and accept my invitation to fill out a questionnaire.
_________________________________________

A study is being conducted on how the alterations in awareness affect the performance of the skydiver. The results of this study should contribute to better training and preparation techniques in skydiving.

I kindly ask for your assistance in filling out a confidential online questionnaire about your experiences during past skydives that should take approximately 20 minutes to complete. Also, please let your skydiving friends know about this.

Your responses are appreciated, and the participants may enter a draw to win one of 4 sunglasses/goggles.

Click here to learn more and access the questionnaire if you choose.
Or email me for more info: www.nk.com@gmail.com
Or simply copy and paste in your browser: http://people.aapt.net.au/~knik/S/index.html

_______________________________________

Thank you for taking the time to consider this,

Blue Skies,

Nik Kotlarov
(BA(Crim), BBehSci).

PS
Please, consider inviting your friends (skydivers) to take part too. The survey is online, however, if you so desire, it can be filled using a print version attached (a PDF document). In this case, you will need to mail it at your expense to my supervisor:
AProf Brett Myors,
School of Psychology - Mt Gravatt,
Mt Gravatt campus, Griffith University,
170 Kessels Road, Nathan, QLD 4111, Australia.

[Danne 0]

Is it only for US-citizens?

/D

[skydiving.study 0]

Dear Danne,

Thanx for your interest in the study.

While it is true that human behavior varies greatly across cultures, in this case, we are not focusing on these variations.

To answer your question, no - this questionnaire can be filled by a skydiver of any citizenship.

Blue skies,
Nik

[Danne 0]

Hi Nik

My question was in regard to having to supply a zip-code. Zip-codes are usually US-only.

I lied and used a New York zip-code but got a error message "SURVEY NOT FOUND".

/D

[skydiving.study 0]

Dear Danne,

This problem was not caused by incorrect zip. Most likely, your browser did not accept cookies or perhaps, there was a temporary site difficulty.

I don't know how much traffic the site is designed to handle, and the response so far has been most positive - thank you guys!

Hope this helps, Danne. Thank you for your persistence, this question probably helped many others with the same dilemma.

Blue ones,
Nik

[happythoughts 0]

Quote

My question was in regard to having to supply a zip-code. Zip-codes are usually US-only.
/D

Zipcodes have a value in marketing, especially when paired with an email address. Because I am naturally suspicious, whenever someone asks for my email and zipcode, I provide them with a special Spam email.

For valid surveys, it is not an issue. For subtle marketing ploys, I am not inconvenienced.

[skydiving.study 0]

Dear Danne and happythoughts,

I agree with you and adhere to the same practice. In this case, however, the actual values are not collected. As explained in the info-sheet, the actual values are converted in to a label to identify your unique responses.

I focus on this a little more because it is a serious concern today. Nevertheless, for a study like this, there needs to be a system to identify the individual responses. Of all other personal data that is unique, zip and email seemed the most harmless. Using non-unique combinations, like with first names, can create a situation where two respondents have the same combination of zip and first name. Upon logging in, one will modify the other's responses instead of creating their own.

In its current state, your email and zip are converted by the software in to a combination of characters, like this weird thing: “U(6)S(2371)(437215).” This is then used as a group name for the answers of the participant, nothing else.

I could continue to elaborate on the measures that we take to protect the privacy of our participants. However, I shouldn’t need to because when it comes to ethical conduct, the university has a set of strict guidelines to which we have to adhere.

I am sorry that it became such a long read. I hope that it clears some of the concerns that people have about their privacy.

Blue skies,
Nik