1. Invitation to Participate and Description of the Project. You are being asked to participate in a study of instructor communication. I am investigating this topic in order to further my understanding of the ways in which instructor communication affects students. You are being asked to participate in this study because you are a student in MIS 201 at Central Connecticut State University. Your participation in the research study is voluntary. Before agreeing to be part of this study, please read and/or listen to the following information carefully. Feel free to ask questions if you do not understand something.

2. Description of Procedure. If you participate in this study, you will be asked to fill out a questionnaire about a variety of things including your instructor’s communication behavior. It will take about 15 minutes to complete the questionnaire.

3. Risks and Inconveniences. Breach of confidentiality is the only risk of participation in this study, but the steps taken to ensure confidentiality of your responses make it a minimal risk. The principal investigator will not review the data until after grades for this semester are submitted. Individual responses will not be reported anywhere. The principal investigator will only report on trends within the data. There is a possibility that some of the questions in the questionnaire may make you feel uncomfortable. This rarely happens, but if you do feel uncomfortable, you can do any of the following: you can choose not to answer certain questions.

4. Benefits. This study was not designed to benefit you directly; however, what we learn from the study may help us to better understand what forms of instructor communication are most beneficial for students.

5. Financial (or other) considerations. You will be provided with extra course credit for your participation.

6. Confidentiality. Any and all information obtained from you during the study will be confidential. Your privacy will be protected at all times. You will not be identified individually in any way as a result of your participation in this research. No personally identifiable information will be collected. The data collected however, may be used as part of publications and papers related to this research topic.

7. Voluntary Participation. Your participation in this study is entirely voluntary. You may refuse to participate in this research. Such refusal will not have any negative consequences for you. If you begin to participate in the research, you may at any time, for any reason, discontinue your participation without any negative consequences.

8. Other considerations and questions. Please feel free to ask any questions about anything that seems unclear to you and to consider this research and information sheet carefully before you click “continue to questionnaire.”

Authorization: By clicking “continue to questionnaire”, I am indicating that I have read or listened to the above information and I have decided that I will participate in the project described above. The study has been explained to me and my questions have been answered.  If I don't participate, there will be no penalty or loss of rights. I can stop participating at any time, even after I have started.

If you have any questions, please contact the Principal Investigator, Dr. Jason Snyder, Management Information Systems Department, snyderjal@ccsu.edu, 860-832-3251

If you have questions about your rights as a research participant or if you have a research- related complaint please contact Dr. Bradley Waite, Chair, CCSU Human Studies Council at (860) 832-3115, e-mail Waite@ccsu.edu or Kim DeMichele, Administrator, CCSU Human Studies Council at (860) 832-2366, email kim.demichele@ccsu.edu.