Title of Research Study:
Our Mobility, A Mixed-Methods Research Protocol for Measuring Daily Mobility
Principal Investigator
Jessica Murray, Doctoral Student, Human Development/Psychology
The Graduate Center, CUNY
[email protected]
214.454.6298
Faculty Advisor
Kristen Gillespie-Lynch
Assistant Professor, Human Development/Psychology
College of Staten Island, CUNY
[email protected]
718.982.4121
You are being invited to participate in this research study because you are interested in your personal mobility, are over the age of 18, live in New York City, have a smartphone, and have access to a computer that can connect to the internet. By completing a screening form and online demographic survey on ourmobility.org, you indicated that you are interested in taking part in this study, and have been selected as part of a diverse participant pool.
Purpose:
The purpose of this research study is to learn how travel behaviors and experiences vary because of factors like age, race, gender, income, or disability.
Procedures:
If you agree to participate, you will be asked to:
- Install Google Maps and PACO apps on your phone. Log in with your email address, enable location history, and join a survey in PACO.
- Answer questions once a day or 3 times a day, and correct your location history in Google Maps for 1 week.
- At the end of the week, download location files and upload them to this website, and fill out a brief online survey about using the mobile apps.
- Be part of a 30-minute conference call with other participants to give feedback about the study.
Audio Recording
The PACO app has an option to audio record answers to some questions. Participants can record their voice instead of typing responses. The audio will be transcribed or coded at a later date, and audio files will be discarded. The conference call will be recorded and used solely for writing reports about the research development process. You can join the conference call anonymously by computer or phone.
Time Commitment:
Your participation in this study is expected to take a total of 1-2 hours over the course of 2 weeks. The first week will entail seven days of surveys, either once a day or 3 times a day, plus correcting and uploading your location history and completing a brief online survey. You have the option to use a Gmail account created for this study. See the Email Address section for more information. After the week of data collection, a 30-minute focus group will be scheduled and conducted by conference call.
Potential Risks or Discomforts:
There are few potential risks or discomfort associated with this study. Privacy concerns are a related research risk, which is why an email address is the only personal identifiable information associated with your demographic information, location history, and survey answers. To mitigate privacy concerns, you are encouraged to create a new Google account that is not connected to your real identity, or you can use an email account created for you by the researchers. In order to understand what information Google Maps Timeline collects, and how you can edit the details, please visit https://support.google.com/maps/answer/6258979.
Potential Benefits:
Participants may learn more about their travel behaviors and how travel impacts their moods. The research may improve travel survey methods, and allows for higher quality location data that can add insights to current data collection methods. Data collected may contribute to knowledge about inequalities in transportation and could be used for advocacy purposes in the future.
Payment for Participation:
You will be compensated $50 for completion of the research protocol described above under “Procedures” and “Time Commitment” Upon satisfactory completion of the study, which will last approximately two weeks, the Principal Investigator will ask you to send your preferred payment method (check, PayPal, or Venmo) and associated contact information such as your full name, mailing address, or email address for purposes of payment. This information will not be stored with your location data or survey responses. You will be paid by your preferred mode within one month of the study completion. If you are unable to complete the study protocol for any reason, a payment will be made based on the level of completed participation. You will be paid $2 for each day of PACO surveys and location history, $10 for completion of the online survey, and $25 for participation in the conference call.
New Information:
You will be notified about any new information regarding this study that may affect your willingness to participate in a timely manner.
Confidentiality:
We will make our best efforts to maintain confidentiality of any information that is collected during this research study, and that can identify you. We will disclose this information only with your permission or as required by law. We will protect your confidentiality by maintaining secure data storage and collecting minimal personally identifiable information (only your email address), which will be replaced by a participant ID when data from different sources (demographic surveys, Google Maps Timeline, and PACO survey answers) are combined into one database. The research team, authorized CUNY staff, and government agencies that oversee this type of research may have access to research data and records in order to monitor the research. Research records provided to authorized, non-CUNY individuals will not contain identifiable information about you. Publications and/or presentations that result from this study will not identify you or contain your identifiable information.
Participants’ Rights:
Your participation in this research study is entirely voluntary. If you decide not to participate, there will be no penalty to you, and you will not lose any benefits to which you are otherwise entitled.
Questions, Comments or Concerns:
If you have questions, comments or concerns about the research, you can talk to:
Jessica Murray, Principal Investigator, Doctoral Student Human Development/Psychology
Kristen Gillespie-Lynch, Faculty Advisor, Professor Human Development/Psychology
If you have questions about your rights as a research participant, or have comments or concerns that you would like to discuss with someone other than the researchers, please call the CUNY Research Compliance Administrator at 646-664-8918 or email [email protected]. Alternately, you can write to:
CUNY Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research
Attn: Research Compliance Administrator
205 East 42nd Street
New York, NY 10017
Email Address:
If you decide to use an email address created for this study, the researchers will download the files for the week. You can choose this option at the bottom of this form. The researchers will only access data for the week of the study, and provide instructions to disable location tracking after the data is downloaded.
