Virtue Scale Development Survey Invitation (IRB # 4264)

Introduction: Would you like to help us with a research project by taking a 2-part survey where you will also learn about your own unique constellation of virtues? If you decide to participate, you will be asked many questions on the computer about yourself. It will take about two class periods of your time. Once you have completed both parts of the survey, you will see your own ranking of virtues, highlighting your top three as special to you. However, you don’t have to take the survey. It’s your choice. Answering the survey questions is not intended to be scary. It’s as simple as reading a sentence and rating how it applies to you in your daily life. If at any point during the survey, you don’t feel good, you may stop, and it will not impact your grades.

Study Leadership: This research project is led by Jaclyn Gaffaney, as supervised by Stewart Donaldson of the School of Social Science, Policy & Evaluation at Claremont Graduate University(CGU).

Purpose: The findings will be used to validate a new Catholic virtue survey for educational purposes.

Eligibility: To be in this study, you must be a student enrolled at a Catholic school. You do not have to be Catholic to participate.

Participation: You will be answering many questions about how you act in real life. It will take about two class periods of your time. Once you have completed both parts of the survey, you will automatically receive your results.

Risks: The risks of taking this survey are minimal. Answering the survey questions is not intended to be scary. You will not be graded on your participation or your results - nor will it impact your class standing. If you choose to not take the survey, please remain in your seat quietly and work on schoolwork.

Benefits Of Participation: You may better understand your own strengths since you will see your ranking of virtues after you complete the second part of the survey.

Compensation: You will not be paid for taking this survey.

Voluntary Participation: It’s your choice whether or not you want to take this survey. In order to provide you with accurate results at the end of the survey, you are required to answer all of the questions. If you are confused about how to answer a question, respond with your best guess. If you are uncomfortable answering a question, you may quit the survey. At any time during the survey, you may stop for any reason. No one will be upset with you if you don’t complete the survey.

Confidentiality: When we - the researcher at CGU and the non-profit, Disciple of Christ | Education in Virtue- are finished collecting all of the student responses, we want to tell others what we have learned, but all of your individual survey responses will be kept confidential. We will tell others about the overall findings of the survey, but we won’t include your name or anything that could identify you. To make sure no one finds out how you answered, or whether you took the survey at all, we will not collect any of your contact information. For example, we will NOT ask you for your name, email address, or any other information that could identify you. At the beginning of the survey, we will provide you with an automatically generated random code so you are able to access both parts of the survey and retrieve your results at a later time. We will also ask a couple of demographic questions at the end of the survey (your age and gender), but it is not our intention to be able to figure out who you are based on the data. No one at your school will have access to the data, not even your teacher. For each question, please respond honestly with your gut instinct; if an item does not feel relevant to you, please respond the best you can.

Sponsorship: This research project is being funded by the non-profit organization, Disciple of Christ | Education in Virtue who is committed to creating content and tools to help children learn and grow in virtue.

Further Information: If you have any questions about this project, you may ask your parent(s) or you can email (or have a parent email) the project researcher, Jaclyn Gaffaney ([email protected] or 602-620-2235). The Internal Review Board (IRB) at Claremont Graduate University has reviewed this survey to make sure this research is as safe as can be for the students. They said this project is okay. You or your parent(s) can also ask them questions. You can call them at 909-607-9406. Or you can send a message to [email protected].

Assent: If you check the box below, it means that you have read this and that you want to help with the project. If you don’t want to help with the project, don’t check the box. Helping with the project is your choice, and no one will be upset if you don’t check the box or if you change your mind later.