SCHOOL OF HEALTH SCIENCES & PSYCHOLOGY

Project title: What Helps Us To Belong? The role of Facebook and Personality in Emerging Adults’ Sense of Belonging.

Principle researcher: Rob Teese Student researcher: Monique Bricknell

Dear Participant,

We are currently seeking interested individuals aged between 18 and 30 years who are Facebook Users and might like to participate in research being conducted by Monique Bricknell, a Bachelor of Psychological Science Honours student under the supervision of Rob Tease at Federation University. We are interested in personality, emotional drives, and Facebook use, and how these things are related to feelings of belonging. This research is intended to help us discover more about the factors that increase or decrease our sense of belonging. The project has received clearance by the Human Research Ethics Committee (Approval number: 17-083). If you volunteer to participate in this research you will be asked to complete a questionnaire that will take approximately 20-30 minutes. The questionnaire will contain questions designed to measure your personality, your level of Facebook use, and your sense of belonging. You will also be asked some basic information about yourself, including your age, sex, education level, postcode, employment status and relationship status. It is important that each question is answered as honestly as possible, so the research is of significant value. Those who complete the questionnaire will go into the draw to win a $50 Hoyts Hollywood star gift card.

Your participation is fully voluntary and anonymous. You may withdraw from participation without explanation at any time whilst completing the questionnaire. Please understand that once you have submitted the completed questionnaire, we will be unable to identify your anonymous questionnaire amongst the larger pool, hence withdrawal at this stage will not be possible. Your responses will form part of a larger database, from which only group data will be reported and only the researchers listed above will have access to. The data will be encrypted and password protected in digital form and will be filed under lock and key if in hardcopy. Data will be kept for a minimum of five years before it is appropriately destroyed. Completing and submitting the online questionnaire indicates to us that you understand the nature of the research and consent to participate.