You have been invited to participate in a research project on trust being conducted by Dr. Stacey MacKinnon in the Department of Psychology at the University of Prince Edward Island.  For the purposes of consent, you must be 18 years of age or older and be in a romantic relationship of at least six months in length in order to participate in this study. 

The goal of this study is to examine trust in intimate relationships in an attempt tounderstand what it is that allows a person to trust and to identify the pivotal moments in trust. I am interested in the events that lead up to feeling that someone is trustworthy, as well as the events that can break that trust. This project will examine when trust occurs and how often it is an issue in a relationship as well as individual and relationship difference variables which may help to explain differing levels of trust in romantic relationships.

Our hope is to have 200+ participants (100+ males, 100+ females) engage in this research so we can thoroughly assess this issue. By answering a set of brief questionnaires as well as charting events in your own romantic relationship, you will be providing information about important events in our lives.   

Participation in this project will take approximately 30-45 minutes of your time, and your participation in the research project will pose no harm to you. Your participation in this research project is entirely voluntary. You may stop your participation in the research project or refuse to answer a question at any time, without penalty or prejudice. All information collected in the course of this project will remain confidential and anonymous, and you will not be able to be identified from any of your responses. Only Dr. Stacey MacKinnon and her research assistants will have access to the data resulting from this research project. All electronic data resulting from the research project will be retained in a password encoded file on Dr. MacKinnon’s computer for a period of five years after the completion of the project, after which time it will be destroyed by Dr. MacKinnon.

By clicking on the submit button at the end of the study, you are consenting to have your data included in the study.  If you do choose to submit your data, it will be automatically added to the data collected from others and will in no way identify you.  All analyses will be conducted on the group data. 

If you have any questions or concerns about this research project, you may consult with Dr. Stacey MacKinnon, (902) 566-0402, email: smackinnon@upei.ca or Dr Fiona Papps, Chair of the Department of Psychology, email: fpapps@upei.ca. You may request a copy of the results of this study by emailing Dr. MacKinnon directly at smackinnon@upei.ca.   

This research project has been approved by the Research Ethics Board of the University of Prince Edward Island. I understand that I can contact the UPEI Research Ethics Board at (902)566-0637, or by e-mail at lmacphee@upei.ca if I have any concerns about the ethical conduct of this study.