INFORMED CONSENT FORM FOR SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH
The Pennsylvania State University

Principal Investigator: Lisa LM Welling, PhD
409 Carpenter Building
University Park, PA 16802
(814) 865-3471; llw21 {at} psu.edu

Thank you for your interest in participating in our study (IRB# 34575).

The purpose of this research is to explore how people choose and compete for mates. Basically, there has been a great deal of research done on heterosexual participants’ preferences, while participants of other sexual orientations have been neglected.

You will be asked to complete a questionnaire that includes questions about your age, sex, sexual orientation, and sexual preferences. You will further be asked to complete a questionnaire about your sexual behaviors and desires. Lastly, you will be asked to choose between a series of pairs of faces by indicating which face or voice in each pair you feel is more attractive. The order of these tasks will be completely random.

There are no risks associated with this study, but some of the questions are of a personal nature. The study will take approximately 5 minutes to complete.

Your confidentiality will be kept to the degree permitted by the technology being used. No guarantees can be made regarding the interception of data sent via the Internet by any third parties; however, your responses will be stored on a secure server. Penn State’s Office for Research Protections, the Social Science Institutional Review Board and the Office for Human Research Protections in the Department of Health and Human Services may review records related to this research study. No personally identifiable information will be shared and all answers are completely confidential.

You must be 18 years of age or older to take part in this research study. Your decision to be in this research is voluntary. You can stop at any time. You do not have to answer any questions you do not want to answer. Refusal to take part in or withdrawing from this study will involve no penalty or loss of benefits you would receive otherwise.

Completion of this study implies your consent to participate in this research. If you wish, you can print this screen for your records before continuing on to the study.

If you wish to take part in the study, click on "I agree" below. Clicking on “I agree" implies that you have read the information in this form and consent to take part in the research. If you do not wish to take part in the study, please close this window now. Please print off this form to keep for your records.

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