What are the different parts of the study?
  • Baseline: 
    • Consent to participate and complete an online survey (~30 minutes)
    • Come in person for an orientation, download a survey app to your phone and learn about the reports you will complete every day on the app (~60 minutes)
  • Phone reports:
    • Complete short reports about your current experiences when you receive notifications on your phone (2-4 reports per day, 1-4 minutes to complete each, for 15 days)
  • Exit survey and interview: 
    • Complete an online exit survey (10-15 mins) and Zoom interview (~30 minutes) about your experiences participating in the research
Will the phone app collect anything from my phone?
  • No – the app only prompts you to answer questions and then sends your answers to a database (without any identifying information about you) so researchers can access them.
  • Nothing else is recorded from your phone, and you can delete the app when you complete the study.
How and when am I paid for participating?
  • We will give you a reloadable debit card at the in-person meeting and will add the additional compensation you have earned after the exit interview.
  • For more information about compensation, click here.
Participants will be asked questions about their alcohol and drug use, even if they are underage. Will they get in trouble if they reveal that they do something illegal (or against university policy)?
  • No, participants do not have to be concerned about getting in trouble for answering honestly. There are a few instances (reports of abuse, self-inflicting harm or intent to hurt others) in which the promise of confidentiality can be broken to protect the participant or others who are in danger.
  • Also, no one other than the research team has access to data collected for this study, and
    • Survey responses are coded by ID number. That means no identifying information (including your name) is stored with your answers
    • Data are securely stored, in password-protected files on secured servers.
Who will see my responses?
  • Members of the research team will have access to your answers, but your name is not stored with your answers.
  • Whether you participate will not be shared with Brown University administrators or anyone outside the research team.
What precautions are you taking to keep my data confidential?
  • Participation in this study and information gathered from this study is kept confidential. Here is how we protect your confidentiality:
    1. Your decision to participate (or not) will not be shared with anyone, including Brown University staff, administrators, coaches, or your parents/guardians.
    2. Your report answers will be coded by an identification number, so no identifying information about you (including your name) will be stored with your answers. Your name and contact information will be stored in a separate report and database, so they cannot be linked to your report answers.
    3. When you submit report answers, they are encrypted using Transport Layer Security (TLS), which is the same technology used for making online purchases with credit cards. This method ensures that no one can see your answers while they are transmitted over the internet.
    4. Report data will be stored on a secure server in the School of Public Health in password protected database files.
    5. To help protect your privacy, we have a Certificate of Confidentiality from the National Institutes of Health. With this certificate, the researchers cannot be forced, even by a court subpoena, to disclose information that may identify you. The researchers will use the Certificate to resist any demands for information that would identify you, except:
      • The Certificate cannot be used to resist an audit or evaluation by the US government.
      • If an insurer, employer or other person obtains your written consent to receive research information, then we can’t use the Certificate to withhold that information.
      • In instances such as evidence of child abuse or a participant’s threatened violence to self or others.
    • Information about Confidentiality: Our procedures are approved by the Brown University Institutional Review Board. No Brown administrators, parents/guardians or other students have access to identifiable information about participants.
I would like to participate, but the screening survey says I am ineligible. What do I do?