Welcome.  

This is a consent form. Please read through the following and if you agree to participate, click the next arrow at the bottom. 

Concise summary: This is a study that examines how individuals navigate the issues of our time. Participation is voluntary. The survey takes about fifteen minutes to complete. The main requirement of participation is to answer a series of survey questions on your computer or mobile phone. There is no direct benefit for participating. (You will be paid, but this does not count as a direct benefit for consent form purposes.) The only significant risk from participation is from an accidental breach of confidentiality (see below for more details).  

Here are some additional details we are required to make clear:  

This study involves research.

• Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how individuals and their local community navigate the issues of our time.
• Duration: The survey takes about fifteen minutes to complete.
• Procedures: This study will present you with a series of survey questions about your background, religious beliefs, and public affairs.
• Risks: The information you provide will be stored anonymously, using unique, randomly generated identifiers. You are not required to provide any individually identifying information as part of the study. However, if you provided such information anyway, an accidental breach of confidentiality would mean that this information could be disclosed.
• Benefits: There are no direct benefits to participating. (To avoid confusion, the survey company will provide a small compensation for completing the survey, but this is not a benefit.)
• Alternative courses of treatment: Since this is not a medical study, there are no relevant alternative courses of treatment to disclose.
• Confidentiality: Personally identifying information will be deleted from the dataset after the data collection period is over. De-identified survey responses will be posted for scholarly replication.
• Contact information: For questions or concerns regarding this research, please contact L. Hooghe via email at hooghe@unc.edu. Additionally, if you have questions about this study or your rights as a research participant, you may contact the UNC Institutional Review Board at (919) 966-3113, or IRB_subjects@unc.edu
• IRB Study number: 22-0061. Your IP address will be removed from the data before analysis. 

Declining to participate will involve no penalty or loss of benefits to which you are otherwise entitled, and it will not affect your relationship with UNC. You may discontinue participation at any time without penalty.  

If you complete this questionnaire, you will receive the compensation that was agreed between you and the survey company before you started the survey.

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