Researchers at the University of Kentucky are inviting you to take part in an online survey about personal pronouns – that is, what pronouns (such as they, she, he, ze, hen, or other words) a person would use to talk about or describe themself, specifically referring to gender. We are specifically looking for participants who use pronouns different from those assigned at birth all the time or at least part of the time.  Your responses will be used to determine your eligibility for future studies by these researchers.

Although you may not get personal benefit from taking part in this research study, your responses may help us understand more about personal pronoun use. Some volunteers experience satisfaction from knowing they have contributed to research that may possibly benefit others in the future.

If you complete the survey, you will be paid $0.20 through your Prolific account for taking part in this study.  The survey will take approximately 1 minute to complete.

There are no known risks to participating in this study. These are issues that people might talk about in everyday life.

Your response to the survey is anonymous to the researchers. The research team will not know that any information you provide came from you, nor even whether you participated in the study.  Only your Prolific ID and some basic demographic information is provided by Prolific.

We hope to receive completed surveys from about 1000 people, so your answers are important to us. Of course, you have a choice about whether or not to complete the survey. If you do not complete the survey, then you will not be eligible to be paid.

Please be aware, while we make every effort to safeguard your data once received from the online survey company, given the nature of online surveys, as with anything involving the Internet, we can never guarantee the confidentiality of the data while still on the survey company’s servers, or while en route to either them or us. It is also possible the raw data collected for research purposes will be used for marketing or reporting purposes by the survey/data gathering company after the research is concluded, depending on the company’s Terms of Service and Privacy policies.

If you have questions about the study, please feel free to ask; my contact information is given below. If you have complaints, suggestions, or questions about your rights as a research volunteer, contact the staff in the University of Kentucky Office of Research Integrity at 859-257-9428 or toll-free at 1-866-400-9428. Thank you in advance for your assistance with this important project.

Researcher contact:  Ellen D.B. Riggle, Professor, University of Kentucky Department of Political Science; PHONE: 859-257-7036; E-MAIL: e.riggle@nulluky.edu