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You are invited to participate in a research survey, entitled "Motivations in a small community dedicated to scientific collaboration" The study is being conducted by Yla Tausczik and James Pennebaker (faculty sponsor), from the Department of Psychology of The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station A8000, Austin, TX 78712; phone contact: 512-471-6852; email contact: tausczik@mail.utexas.edu.

The purpose of this study is to examine motivations for contributing to an online community of question answering. Your participation in the survey will contribute to a better understanding of individual's motivations and behavior in online volunteer communities. These communities have become an important resource (e.g. Wikipedia). We estimate that it will take about 15 minutes of your time to complete the questionnaire. You are free to contact the investigator at the above email address or phone number to discuss the survey.

Risks to participants are considered minimal. There will be no costs for participating, nor will you benefit from participating. As part of the survey, you will have the option of providing your registered user name on the site MathOverflow. If you decide to provide your user name it will be used for tracking purposes only, that is it will be used to connect your responses to the survey to your publically available behavior on the site (e.g. number of questions posted). Only the principal investigator will have access to the data during data collection. This information will be stripped from the final dataset.

Your participation in this survey is voluntary. You may decline to answer any question and you have the right to withdraw from participation at any time without penalty. If you wish to withdraw from the study or have any questions, contact the investigator listed above.

If you have any questions, please call Yla Tausczik at 512-471-6852 or send an email to tausczik@mail.utexas.edu. You may also request a hard copy of the survey from the contact information above.

If you do not want to receive any more reminders, you may email us at tausczik@mail.utexas.edu.

This study has been reviewed and approved by The University of Texas at Austin Office of Research Support. If you have questions about your rights as a study participant, or are dissatisfied at any time with any aspect of this study, you may contact - anonymously, if you wish - the Office of Research Support or the Institutional Review Board by phone at (512) 471-8871 or email at orsc@uts.cc.utexas.edu.

IRB Approval Number: 2010-08-0051

If you have read the above information, have sufficient information to make a decision about participating in this study and you consent to participate in the study please press the 'I agree' button at the bottom of the screen otherwise use the X at the upper right corner to close this window and disconnect. You may print this page for your records.

Thank you.