Informed Consent

Thank you for choosing to participate in this survey. your responses will be highly valued. There are no known risks if you decide to participate in this research study. There are no costs to you for participating in the study. The information you provide will help us to understand how bats use swimming pools across a broad geographic area. The questionnaire will take about ten minutes to complete. The information collected may not benefit you directly, but the information learned in this study should provide more general benefits. This survey is anonymous. Do not write your name on the survey. Although absolute anonymity cannot be guaranteed over the Internet, we will not collect IP address for respondents. The only identifiable information in your response will be ZIP/ postal code. No one will be able to identify you or your answers, and no one will know whether or not you participated in the study. Individuals from the Institutional Review Board may inspect these records. Should the data be published, no individual information will be disclosed. Your participation in this study is voluntary. By completing and submitting the survey via the Internet, you are voluntarily agreeing to participate. You are free to decline to answer any particular question you do not wish to answer for any reason. No further contact from the investigators will occur once you have submitted the survey.

 If you have any questions about the study, please contact Zachary Nickerson or Dr. Joy O’Keefe at the Department of Biology, Science 281, Indiana State University, 600 Chestnut St., Terre Haute, IN 47809. You may also contact the investigators via e-mail (znickerson@sycamores.indstate.edu or joy.okeefe@indstate.edu).If you have any questions about your rights as a research subject or if you feel you’ve been placed at risk, you may contact the Indiana State University Institutional Review Board (IRB) by mail at Indiana State University, Office of Sponsored Programs, Terre Haute,  IN,  47809, by phone at (812) 237-8217, or by e-mail at irb@indstate.edu. If this survey was sent to you in an e-mail, please delete the e-mail from which it came.