Sandy Survey

Tell what happened to you during Hurricane Sandy and earn money for charity!

When you run this app, you participate in a study conducted by Northeastern University. The goal of the study is to find out how people use their cell phones during a natural disaster.

The study donates $3 to food banks in New Jersey and New York City for each person who completes the study.

This app includes a survey about the people you called and texted with before, during, and after Hurricane Sandy. The survey also has questions about your other experiences during the storm and your cell phone use in general. The survey takes about 10 minutes.

At the end of the survey, the app shows you a profile of your calling and texting during the week of Hurricane Sandy. The app also summarizes your phone's call and text logs for the study.

All information is anonymous – no names, phone numbers, or email addresses are collected for the study. There is no way you or any of your contacts can be identified in the information sent to the study.

To participate, you must:
* be age 18 or older,
* live in the USA,
* have call and text logs that include the period during Hurricane Sandy, and
* run the app on your Android smartphone while you are connected to the Internet.

Your participation is voluntary, and you do not have to answer any question you do not want to answer.

All information you give will be used for research only.

The food banks that will receive the donations are the Community FoodBank of New Jersey, FoodBank of Ocean and Monmouth Counties, and City Harvest.

Explanation of permissions

The app accesses:

* Your messages - to summarize your texting patterns

* Your personal information - to ask you questions about people you have talked and texted with on this phone

* Network communication - to send your survey responses and log summaries to the study

* Storage - to save your responses and log summaries until they can be sent to the study

* Phone calls - to summarize your calling patterns

* System tools - to check your time zone and whether your phone has an area code in New Jersey, New York City, or Long Island


Contact information

Questions or comments about the overall study? Contact David Lazer, the principal investigator, at Northeastern University (tel. 617-329-1010; email david_lazer@harvard.edu or d.lazer@neu.edu).

Questions or comments about this app? Contact Devon Brewer at ISR (tel. 206-985-2398; email: interscientific@yahoo.com).

Questions about electronic privacy? Contact Mark Nardone, Northeastern Univ. Info. Security (tel. 617-373-7901; email privacy@neu.edu).

Questions about your rights as a participant? Contact Nan Regina at Northeastern Univ. Human Subjects Research Protection (960 Renaissance Park, NU, Boston, MA 02115; tel. 617-373-4588; email irb@neu.edu).

This research study was reviewed and approved by the Northeastern University Institutional Review Board (IRB# 12-12-16).

Study web site: www.volunteerscience.com

Hurricane logo from sweetclipart.com.