Online Health in Victoria

INVITATION TO PARTICPATE IN RESEARCH PROJECT

You are invited to participate in a research project being conducted by RMIT University. This information sheet describes the project in straightforward language, or ‘plain English’. Please read this sheet carefully and be confident that you understand its contents before deciding whether to participate. If you have any questions about the project, please ask one of the researchers.

Title: ONLINE HEALTH IN VICTORIA

Researchers

• Matthew Harris (MBIT Student)
• Dr Say Yen Teoh (Research Supervisor: Lecturer, School of BIT)

Who is involved in this research project? Why is it being conducted?

This project is being conducted as a part of the Information Systems Research Methodology course being undertaken by Matthew Harris. The project is being supervised by Dr. Say Yen Teoh who is a lecturer in the School of Business Information Technology. The project has been approved by the RMIT Human Research Ethics Sub-Committee (HREC). The study is being conducted to investigate attitudes towards participating in health related activities on the internet. Health related activities could be anything from finding medical information online, to undertaking a medical consultation with a medical practitioner on the internet.

Why have you been approached?

You have been approached because you are an internet user who lives and/or works in Victoria. If this does not apply to you, please disregard this survey.

Your participation is voluntary and obligation free.

No personal data is being collected and all data collected will be treated as confidential.

What you need to do?

If you agree to take part in this survey you will be required to undertake a simple questionnaire which assesses your attitude to conducting different activities online. The questionnaire itself is taken online and should take no more than 10–15 minutes of your time.

What are the risks associated with your participation in this research?

There are no foreseen risks associated with your participation in this research project. You have the right to discontinue participation in this research at any stage and any collected data will be immediately destroyed. However, if you have any questions or concern raised by the study you are encouraged to contact Matthew Harris (Tel: 0410 839 586 Email: matthew.harris@student.rmit.edu.au) or Dr Say Yen Teoh, supervisor (Tel: 9925 5788 Email: sayyen.teoh@rmit.edu.au).

What are your rights as a participant?

You have the right to withdraw your participation in this research at any time.

You have the right to have any unprocessed data withdrawn and destroyed, provided it can be reliably identified, and provided that so doing does not increase your risk.

You have the right to have any questions answered at any time.

Security of the website

Participants should be aware that the World Wide Web is an insecure public network that gives rise to the potential risk that a user’s transactions are being viewed, intercepted or modified by third parties or that data which the user downloads may contain computer viruses or other defects. However, the use of SSL encryption in this survey significantly reduces this risk.

Security of the data

This project will use an RMIT School of Business Information Technology server to create, collect and analyse data collected in a survey format. If you agree to participate in this survey, the responses you provide to the survey will be stored on a host server provided by RMIT.

Only the researchers will have access to this data using password authentication. Once we have completed our data collection and analysis, we will export the data we collect to an RMIT server where it will be stored securely for a period of five (5) years. The data on the survey web host server will then be deleted.

What will the information be used for?

Results, in summary form, will appear in papers and reports prepared as part of the Master of Business Information Technology program. In the future, they may also appear in peer-reviewed publications. Once completed, any papers or reports may be obtained, on request, from the researchers.

Whom can I contact if I have any questions?

Should you require clarification of any aspects of the research, please feel free to contact one of the researchers at any time. If you have any concerns or issues about this research, please contact Matthew Harris (Tel: 0410 839 586 Email: matthew.harris @student.rmit.edu.au) or Dr Say Yen Teoh (supervisor) of the School of Business Information Technology at RMIT University (Tel: 9925 5788 Email: sayyen.teoh@rmit.edu.au).

Any complaints about your participation in this project may be directed to the Secretary, RMIT Human Research Ethics Committee, University Secretariat, RMIT, GPO Box 2476V, Melbourne, 3001. The telephone number is (03) 9925 1745.

Details of the complaints procedure are available from the above address.

Yours sincerely,

Matthew Harris, BSc (Hons)
RMIT University
Tel: 0410 839 586
Email: matthew.harris@student.rmit.edu.au

Dr Say Yen Teoh, BBusCom (Hons) PhD
RMIT University
Tel: 9925 5788
Email: sayyen.teoh@rmit.edu.au

Section 1 – You and the Internet

1. How often do you use the Internet?

Every day

2-3 times per week

Once a week

A few times per month

Less than once a month

2. Where do you access the Internet?

Work

Home

University/School

Internet cafe

Mobile

Other

3. How often you do the following activities on the Internet?

4. Please indicate how much you agree or disagree with the following statements.

Section 2 – Health Services and the Internet

5. How often have you undertaken the following activities within the last year?

6. Now consider how you would feel undertaking the following activities on the Internet. Please indicate how likely you would be to use the following services.

7. Please consider the following options that may be used to provide secure access to online medical services and indicate how they would affect your likeliness to use the services.

8. Please indicate how far you have to travel to visit the following health services (assume this is your regular health provider).

9. Please indicate your most likely mode of transport when visiting the following health service providers.

Section 3 – About you

10. Please indicate your age range.

18-25

26-35

36-45

46-55

over 55

11. Please indicate your gender.

Male

Female

12. Please indicate the phrase that best describes the location of your primary place of residence.

Urban

Regional

Rural

Outside Victoria

“Thank you for completing this survey. Your results are valuable. We would be grateful if you could provide us with the email addresses of up to five more potential participants - please note that these addresses can not be linked to any responses given above."

Five potential participants

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.