Information Page
 

Age differences in Instagram use and its association with psychological wellbeing
 

This survey is intended for anyone with Instagram aged between 11 and 50 years of age. For those under the age of 16 parental consent is required.
 

Dear Parent/Guardian,
 

My name is Isobel Thomson, and I am a Masters student within the Education Department at the University of York. I am currently carrying out a dissertation research project to investigate the age differences in Instagram use and its association with psychological wellbeing and self-esteem and would be happy if your child is able to take part in the study.

 

Your child will be asked to fill in a 10 minute about their Instagram behaviours and motivations, and a short scale to measure both psychological wellbeing and self-esteem. Once I have received your consent, your child will be emailed a link to the questionnaire directly to complete anonymously.

 

The deadline for responses is midnight of 21st July 2019, and I would be very grateful if you could complete this consent form by 7th July 2019 to ensure the questionnaire is completed in time.

Anonymity
 

All of the data collected for this study will be anonymous. Your child’s name or any other identifiable information will not be asked within the questionnaire, but their name will be required in this consent form. Their name and questionnaire data will not be linked in anyway, and their identifying data will be deleted after the deadline of 21st July 2019. The data will be stored in a password protected file and will only be accessible to myself and my supervisor. Your individual data will not be identifiable but if you do not want the data to be used in this way please do not complete the questionnaire. 
 

If you do consent for your child to complete the questionnaire they are free to leave any questions unanswered or to stop completing the questionnaire altogether at any point. Once the questionnaire is submitted the data cannot be withdrawn as it is anonymous so there will be no way to identify their data. The data will be kept for approximately 5 years after which point it will be destroyed.  
 

Processing of your child’s data
 

Information that you provide will be treated confidentially. The University of York is committed to the principle of data protection by design and default and will collect the minimum amount of data necessary for the project. In line with our charter which states that we advance learning and knowledge by teaching and research, we process personal data for research purposes under Article 6(1) (e) of the GDPR: Processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest. For more information on GDPR please follow this link: https://www.york.ac.uk/education/research/gdpr_information/

This research has been approved by the Department of Education, University of York Ethics Committee. If you have any questions that you would like to ask prior to completing this survey please feel free to contact me (ijkt500@york.ac.uk), or if you have any complaints about this research please contact the Chair of Ethics Committee via email (education-research-administrator@york.ac.uk). If you are still dissatisfied, please contact the Universities Data Protection Officer (dataprotection@york.ac.uk).

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Thank you for taking the time to read this information. If you are happy with your child participating in the survey please complete the form on the next page.

Thank you,

Isobel Thomson