Participation Information Sheet
Psychology Research Ethics Committee – Regent’s University London

PROJECT TITLE

Role of emoji and emoticons in reading comprehension of individuals with dyslexia.

INVITATION

I am Lorena Enrich Piza and I am a student at Regent’s University London. For my MSc dissertation, I am undertaking a study on the role of emoji and emoticons as visual cues in reading comprehension on individuals with a diagnose of dyslexia. The project is being supervised by Christopher M. Robus and has been approved by the Psychology Research Ethics Committee at Regent’s University London (reference: 477).
You need to be at least 18 years of age to participate in this study, neurotypical individuals or individuals who have a diagnose of dyslexia (with no underlining disorder) and be a native or proficient English speaker.
Please take your time to consider this information and discuss it with others if you wish. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you may have about the research.

WHAT YOU WILL BE ASKED TO DO

If you agree to participate, you will be directed to an online questionnaire. You will be asked to provide some background demographic information about yourself, such as your age, gender, employment status, ethnicity and English level. Additionally, you will be asked to fill out a questionnaire to assess reading skills. Afterwards, you will be asked to read 30 sentences and rate each sentence for emotional valence, predictability, and clarity.
It will take approximately 20 minutes to complete the survey online.  

BENEFITS AND RISKS OF PARTICIPATION

There are no known risks associated with participating in this study. Results of this study may be beneficial to society because it may help us understand more about the influence of emoji and emoticons in reading comprehension of individuals with dyslexia. You will receive no remuneration for your participation.

PARTICIPANTS’ RIGHTS

Participation in this study is completely voluntary. You are free to withdraw at any point during your participation without penalty and without having to give a reason.

CONFIDENTIALITY/ANONYMITY

The data we collect are anonymous and do not contain any personal information that could be used to identify you. Like all websites, the online questionnaire will record your IP address, which will be deleted upon download of the data. The data you provide will be password protected and kept securely in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). Only members of the research team will have access to this information. The data collected in this study may be published or presented at conferences in aggregate form, in which case no individual information will be disclosed.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me Lorena Enrich Piza, at S22005800@regents.ac.uk  or Christopher M. Robus at robusc@regents.ac.uk who will be glad to answer your questions about this study at any time. If you would like to find out about the results of this study, you should contact Lorena Enrich Piza at S22005800@regents.ac.uk  or Christopher M. Robus at robusc@regents.ac.uk, who can provide the final report after September 2023.
If you have any comments or concerns about the study which you would rather not discuss with the researchers, please contact the chair of the Research Ethics Committee at Regent’s University London at psychology.ethics@regents.ac.uk.