Contact

If you have any questions, comments or if you would like to receive further information, please feel free to reach out to us at psycorona@rug.nl. For professional or funder inquiries please address your message to Dr. Pontus Leander and/or Dr. Jocelyn Belanger

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Frequently asked questions

How is my data stored?

The data from this study will be stored in a secure location in the Department of Psychology at the University subject to the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union (GDPR) and the American Psychological Association. If you want to have full details on this process please have a look at how we manage your data.

How is my sensitive data stored?

Only two people have access to your e-mail and your ZIP code (if you decide to provide them in the first place). If you are interested in knowing how we make sure that your data is secure please have a look at the data management.

Who has access to my data?

Your completely anonymized responses can be shared with researchers at universities subject to the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union (GDPR) and the American Psychological Association. There is a whole process specified here that ensures that as little as possible data is shared and that you as an individual can never be identified in the shared dataset.

How will my data be displayed?

Your data will only be displayed as aggregate data. This means that your individual response cannot be identified within the visualization. Data visualization will also only be used for public information and scientific purposes.

Why am I asked to provide my e-mail address?

We will ask you for your email so that we can invite you to participate in follow-up weekly surveys. This can help us to understand how your responses may change over time when dealing with the coronavirus.That being said, providing your e-mail adress does not obligate you to respond to the questionnaires on a weeky basis. The more data you provide, the better our knowledge base will be. Your contact information will remain confidential and we will not share it with third parties. After the research is completed, your email will be deleted from our data. This ensures that we cannot connect your actual survey responses to any of your personal information.

Why am I asked to provide my ZIP code?

ZIP code information allows us to combine responses from multiple people in a given region. This helps us to get a more general idea of what people are thinking and feeling in that region, and to compare responses from individuals in different regions. Your ZIP code will also be matched to local virus spread information. This may give us an insight whether there are specific psychological variables that combat the spread of the virus (e.g. why are some people more willing to stay at home). Next to your ZIP code also your IP and, if you have enabled it, your location information can be used to triangulate your general location. This is because sometimes VPNs or countries that do not use ZIP codes are problematic to match. After the research is completed, your ZIP code, IP, and location information will be deleted from our data. This ensures that we cannot connect your actual survey responses to any of your personal information. Also have a look at our data section if you want to see how we ensure that local virus spread information is securely matched to your response.

Will you ask for personal information?

The survey asks respondents to indicate their gender, general age range, and general religious and political philosophies. Like all questions in the survey, these questions are optional.

Why are there questions about religious beliefs?

Some people believe that spirtual deities are guides, others believe that dieties control events in their lives. This may affect people's sense of safety and thus their pandemic behavior.

Why are there question about political opinions?

Many countries show sharp partisan divides in beliefs about the pandemic. This may affect people's sense of safety and thus their pandemic behavior.