Before using the mobile app you will be asked to read the following study information and confirm your consent to participate in the study.
You are invited to participate in a research study for a master’s thesis conducted by Karen Farley, under the supervision of Dr. Sean Geobey, School of Environment, Enterprise and Development of the University of Waterloo, Canada. The objective of the research study is to understand the purchasing decisions of Canadian consumers when buying food in the supermarket.
Eligible participants will need to be food shoppers, age 18 years or over, live in Ontario, and have a cell phone with Android 9.0 and above.
The study will be conducted from August 15 to September 12, 2022 using an Android app (“app”) on your cell phone. If you decide to participate, you will be asked to complete the study in three stages using this app. You can complete all three stages in one shopping trip.
Stage 1: an initial survey (approx. 3 minutes)
You will be asked to provide demographic information for data analysis purposes. You will also be asked about the importance of different product features on your purchasing decisions when shopping for food.
Stage 2: a field study activity while shopping for food (approx. 15 minutes)
Before you start shopping, you will be asked to create a shopping list to identify up to 15 food products you plan to buy while shopping in the supermarket. While you are shopping, you will be asked to take a photo of each of the food products on your shopping list and provide reasons for choosing the product. When you are finished shopping, you will be asked to provide reasons for not choosing any food products remaining on your shopping list.
Notes: You will be able to add 1-15 food products to your shopping list and you will receive $1 per food product you provide information on. You are not required to buy any of the food products you choose as part of this study.
Stage 3: a post-shopping survey (approx. 3 minutes)
After shopping, you will be asked to complete questions on your intentions when shopping for food.
Your participation in this study is voluntary. You may decline to answer any questions that you do not wish to answer. You can withdraw your participation at any time during the study by changing your consent within the app. If you withdraw from the study, your unique ID number, and any data you provide will be deleted before the data is summarized and analyzed. You will not be able to withdraw from the study after the data collection period is complete.
Your participation in this study is confidential and your identifying information will not be collected. You will use a unique ID number and password to log into the app and record your responses during the study. All the data collected will be summarized, and you will not be identifiable from these summarized results. You will not be identified in the thesis, journal articles, or other reports.
The app and data collected through the app during the study will be hosted on an external secure server by Google Firebase – industry standard in hosting mobile apps and databases – to provide you with a smooth and secure experience when using the app. The app will be developed according to industry best practices to maintain your privacy. During the study, your data will be stored in a password-protected file on the Firebase server to maintain the security of your data. When the study is complete, your responses will be downloaded and stored on a secure University of Waterloo server. Your responses will only be accessible to the researcher and their academic supervisor. Your responses will not be shared with any other person or company. The data will be electronically archived, maintained for two years after the completion of the study, and then erased. When information is transmitted or stored on the internet privacy cannot be guaranteed. There is always a risk your responses may be intercepted by a third party (e.g., government agencies, hackers).
In appreciation of your time, you will receive up to $20 based on your participation in all the stages of the research study. You will receive $5 for participating in the initial and/or post-shopping survey, and up to an additional $15 for participating in the field study. To end your participation early, please click through to the End Study button in the app in order to receive your payment for the parts of the study you participated in. At the end of the study, the researcher will provide Quest Mindshare with your unique ID number and the amount of the gift card based on your participation in the study. Quest Mindshare will offer you the choice of e-gift cards through Tango card using the email address you provided when you signed up to the study. No cash remuneration will be offered. The amount received is taxable. It is your responsibility to report this amount for income tax purposes.
This research study has been funded in part by the student researcher’s company which develops mobile apps. The researcher may use lessons learned during the development the app to make improvements to future versions of the app. The researcher will use your responses to answer their research question for this study to complete their master’s thesis and potentially to publish the study in academic journal articles. Your data collected from this study will not be sold for commercial gain. You will not be contacted after the research study for marketing, or other business reasons.
If you are interested in viewing the results of this study, they will be posted by December 31, 2022 at https://nosup.ca/uw-research-results/.
This study has been reviewed and received ethics clearance through a University of Waterloo Research Ethics Board.
For questions, please contact either Karen Farley at karen.farley@uwaterloo.ca or Dr. Sean Geobey at sean.geobey@uwaterloo.ca.
By agreeing to participate in the study you are not waiving your legal rights or releasing the investigator(s) or involved institution(s) from their legal and professional responsibilities.
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