Invitation to Participate in Web-Based Survey:
Assistive Technology Use Project at the University of Illinois Chicago
You are invited to participate in a survey created by The Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for the Advancement of Cognitive Technologies (RERC-ACT) to help understand how people with disabilities use technology. Your input is very important -- however, your participation is voluntary and you can choose to end your involvement at any time. We hope the information we gather through this survey will help create better technologies in the future for people with disabilities. Please read further for more information and who to contact.
Technology can help people with developmental disabilities, problems with memory, and/or traumatic brain injury in many ways. Technology can assist you to:
- plan to do things, remember to do things
- stay healthy and safe
- complete daily activities (e.g., bathing, toileting, eating)
- control your surroundings (e.g. turning lights on and off; changing the temperature in your house)
- do things in the community (e.g. take the bus, participate in recreational activities, communicate better)
- do school and work activities
- use the computer and the Internet
You are invited to participate in a research project being conducted at UIC on how people with disabilities use technology to increase independence. We are interested in gathering information from people with developmental disabilities (age 18+), acquired brain injuries, or problems with memory, as well as from people who provide them support. While there are no direct benefits to individual subjects, we hope the information obtained will help technology developers and researchers to create technologies that will promote the independence of people with disabilities. To access the survey go to the following website: http: //206.188.20.148/survey/survey.php?sid=62 or call Mary Rizzolo at 312-413-8833 or by email at mrizzo3@uic.edu to schedule a phone interview to complete the survey. The survey will take from 1 to 15 minutes to complete (depending on the extent of technology use).
Your participation in this study is completely voluntary. There are no forseeable risks associated with this project. However, if you feel uncomfortable answering any questions, you can stop answering questions on the survey at any point. Some participants (if willing) will be randonly selected to reveive additional information on technologies. These individuals will also later be sent a survey to determine if access to this information increases knowledge of and use of technology. [At the conclusion of the research project, individuals from the control group (those not receiving information) will be provided with copies of all the documents given to the randomly selected group.]
It is very important for us to learn your opinions so that we can better support people with disabilities. Your survey responses will be strictly confidential and no one will be able to identify you from your responses. Your name and contact information will not be shared with anyone outside the research project. Research staff will only use your name and address (if provided by you) to send you additional information, if you indicate you are willing. All information from the study will be presented in the aggregate: no individual responses will be used. This project is being done by Tamar Heller (Principal Investigator) at the Dept. of Disability and Human Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago. If you have questions you can call Tamar Heller at 312-413-1647 or you can email her at theller@uic.edu. You may also contact Mary Rizzolo at 312-413-8833 (you can call any of these numbers collect). If you have further questions or concerns, you can contact the University of Illinois Institutional Review Board (IRB) at 312-996-1711 or uicirb@uic.edu.