DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES
BIRKBECK UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

INFORMATION SHEET

As some of you may know, I’m a second-year PhD student in psychology at Birkbeck, University of London, conducting the research for my dissertation. I’d like you to help.

Before you decide to take part in this study, it is important for you to understand why the research is being done and what it will involve. Please read the following carefully and make your decision whether to participate a thoughtful one.

In my dissertation, I’m investigating the frequency with which we misrepresent everyday problems and why with the aim of improving. Everyday problems, or ill-defined problems, are virtually every problem in life. Whereas a well-defined problem is clear in every respect, at least one critical aspect of an ill-defined problem is unclear. For example, in an ill-defined problem, we may be uncertain as to our actual problem, or we may be unsure of our goal.

You have been approached as a potential participant given your assumed willingness to participate in such studies, perhaps as indicated by being in the Birkbeck participant database.

Should you participate, you will do so online or in person starting late November 2016. In participating, you will be presented with one hypothetical everyday problem-solving scenario and asked to answer two short questions regarding it. Then, you will be asked to read two paragraphs that explain what problem representation is and perhaps how people may incorrectly weight different factors in those representations as well as answer two short questions. Lastly, you will see the hypothetical scenario again. You will be asked if you would like to change your original response, and if so, to what and why. Your responses will be confidential and anonymized. There are no risks envisioned in participating, but you are free to withdraw at anytime prior to the aggregation of any data collected. The data will be referred to in my dissertation and may be referred to collectively in conference proceedings and other published works.

This study is the fifth in a series that will inform my dissertation. The project has been approved by Birkbeck’s Department of Psychological Sciences Research Ethics Committee.

Many thanks for your consideration, and I sincerely hope you’ll participate. By participating, you will help me in my search for answers to some important and currently unanswered questions. Should you want any further information, please feel free to contact one of us:

Primary Investigator		Supervisor
Ronald Balzan		Professor Richard Cooper
rbalza01@mail.bbk.ac.uk		r.cooper@bbk.ac.uk

Best regards, Ron Balzan