IF YOU SPEAK OR KNOW ARABIC, FARSI, RUSSIAN, CHINESE, OR URDU, PLEASE CHANGE YOUR LANGUAGE SETTINGS USING THE "LANGUAGE" BUTTON AT THE TOP LEFT OF YOUR SCREEN.
Purpose of the Study:
We are inviting you to participate in our survey-based study to investigate the relation between an individual's temperament and the environment they construct around themselves. The aim of this research is to pilot and validate a novel questionnaire (SEP-STQ) that assesses both temperament and personal environment.
We hope that this research will help clarify relations between temperament, surrounding environment, and mental health. This research could help mental health professionals deliver more targeted interventions crafted to the specific environmental and temperamental profiles of their clients.
Procedures Involved in the Research:
If you choose to participate in this study, you will be directed to an online survey on the next page. You can select which language you would like to complete the survey in (English, Arabic, Farsi/Persian, Chinese, Russian, Urdu) by selecting from the dropdown in the top right corner of this webpage. This survey will include a demographics section, as well as a section assessing surrounding environment, and a section assessing temperament. The entire study should take approximately 30-60 minutes to complete, will be completely anonymous, and you will be able to withdraw from the study at any point before submission. You may also stop at any point before submission and save the study to complete later by clicking the "Resume Later" button at the top of the survey window.
Potential Harms, Risks, or Discomforts:
This is a low-risk study. However, there is a small risk that you may feel uncomfortable when answering some of the survey questions (e.g. medical history, weight, gender). You may withdraw from the study at any point during the questionnaire completion, thereby withdrawing your consent to participate. If this is the case, you will not be penalized, and your data will subsequently be destroyed. There is also a small risk of a loss of privacy in the event of a data breach. All efforts will be made to keep participant data confidential. Your survey responses are and will remain anonymous. Additionally, data will be securely stored on a university secure-server that is encrypted, and only accessed by the members of the research team. After writing up the study, we plan on uploading the data, which is completely anonymous, to a public database to support Open Science and future research.
Potential Benefits:
We hope that the results of this study will help clarify the relations between temperament, surrounding environment, and mental health. Such knowledge could help professionals in more precise treatment by directing attention to key environmental features, the manipulation of which could prove pivotal in therapy.
Confidentiality:
Your participation in this study is confidential. Your survey answers will be completely anonymous and your name and any other identifying information will not be collected.
Participation and Withdrawal:
Your participation in this study is voluntary. If you decide to be part of the study, you may withdraw from the study at any point during the completion of the questionnaire by clicking “Exit and clear survey” at the top of the survey window. However, once your survey responses have been submitted, you will no longer be able to withdraw from the study as your responses will be anonymous.
Information About the Study Results:
We expect to have this study written up by approximately April 8, 2026. If you would like to receive a brief overview of the findings, please email Anastasia Kozlovsky (kozlovsa@mcmaster.ca), Hussain Sindhu (sindhh1@mcmaster.ca), or Chenxi Zhang (zhanc226@mcmaster.ca) and use the following subject heading: "Request for overview of findings for Temperament and Specialized Extended Phenotype study".
Questions About the Study:
If you have any questions or need more information about the study itself, please contact Anastasia Kozlovsky (kozlovsa@mcmaster.ca), Hussain Sindhu (sindhh1@mcmaster.ca), or Chenxi Zhang (zhanc226@mcmaster.ca).
HiREB Statement:
This study has been reviewed by the Hamilton Integrated Research Ethics Board and received ethics clearance under project 18060. If you have concerns or questions about your rights as a participant or about the way the study is conducted, please contact:
Hamilton Integrated Research Ethics Board
Telephone: (905) 521-2100 ext. 42013
Consent:
- I have read the information presented in the information letter about a study being conducted by Anastasia Kozlovsky, Hussain Sindhu, Chenxi Zhang, and Dr. Irina Trofimova.
- I have had the opportunity to ask questions about my involvement in this study and to receive the additional details I requested.
- I understand that if I agree to participate in this study, I may withdraw from the study while completing the survey by clicking “Exit and clear survey” at the top of the survey window, but not after I submit my responses because they will be anonymous.
- I agree to participate in the study. By clicking “Next,” I acknowledge that I agree to the above and consent to participating in this study.
This survey is anonymous.
The record of your survey responses does not contain any directly identifying information about you.
If you used an identifying access code to access this survey, please rest assured that this code will not be stored together with your responses. It is managed in a separate database and will only be updated to indicate whether you did (or did not) complete this survey. There is no way of matching identification access codes with survey responses.
There are 67 questions in this survey.
