The researchers are looking to investigate the prevalence of digital harassment and its associated effects on mental health. Digital harassment refers to a spectrum of harmful interpersonal behaviours that individuals and/or groups may encounter through the Internet and electronic communication. This survey includes basic demographic questions (age, gender, etc.), as well as several scales addressing digital harassment, mental health, and associated psychological variables.
As a participant in this research, you will be asked to dedicate approximately 30-45 minutes of your time to complete several online questionnaires regarding your online habits, experiences with digital harassment, and risk factors.
The risk to participants is low however, the research team has included a list of resources on the last page of this document for participants to access should they feel the need to seek support after taking part in the survey. If a question in the survey causes too much discomfort or distress, participants are welcome to refrain from responding to it, and either continue with the survey or withdraw participation.
With any online survey, there is a risk of indirect identification. To prevent this, please refrain from including any personal information in your responses with the potential to identify you.
This study is designed to protect participants’ anonymity. No personally identifiable information will be collected at any point. Please do not include your name or contextual information that might directly or indirectly identify you. Participants are under no obligation to share information that they do not feel comfortable disclosing and may withdraw consent, alter answers, and skip questions at any time prior to submitting the survey. However, due to the anonymous nature of the data collection, withdrawing will not be possible after the survey is submitted. Additionally, if you are to exit the survey at any point it is possible for some of the data to be recorded. To ensure none of your responses are reported, navigate back to the consent form and select the ‘no’ option to exit the survey.
Your responses to this survey will be stored in SurveyMonkey’s database in the United States. Due to data being stored outside of Canada, the information will not be protected by Canadian privacy legislation. Further details can be found at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/legal/privacy-policy/
All records will be kept strictly confidential. All data collected will be stored electronically on a secured drive at Vancouver Island University. Only the principal investigator and the research supervisors will have access. Consent forms and data collected will be kept on this secured drive until December 2032, at which point all unaggregated data will be destroyed. This specific research project is estimated to be completed by April 2025, but aggregated data may be kept for future research purposes.
The results of this research will be written in a final report, presented at academic conferences, and submitted for publication in an academic journal. The products of this research will include only aggregate data, rather than individual information.