Informed Consent

This research project aims to gather information to better understand people’s perceptions of acceptable co-worker interactions and to help identify scenarios in which workplace harassment might occur. This online survey is brief and should take no more than 10-12 minutes of your time. We would greatly appreciate you filling out the entire survey, but please feel free to skip any item(s) that you wish. You may withdraw from the survey at any time prior to hitting the submit button. This survey is anonymous and we ask that you make no entry that might identify you in any way. You must be at least 18 years of age and a student at Virginia Tech to participate. There is no way for your answers to ever be linked to you. The information you provide will be reported in aggregate form to protect your identity and to guard against the possibility of connecting you to your responses. In addition to rating scenarios about co-worker interaction, you will be asked a few questions about yourself, such as your age, education level, work experience and ethnicity.  These questions are included solely for comparisons. You will remain anonymous.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns about the research project at any time, please feel free to contact Angela Barlow, at barlow.a@vt.edu, or Dr. James Hawdon at hawdonj@vt.edu. The only benefits expected for this research are that you may potentially feel good about contributing to the knowledge base of sociological research on workplace harassment and co-worker interactions. There are no known risks for your participation in this project. By continuing forward with the survey from this point, you are implying that you have read and agree to the above conditions. Thank you very much for your time.