Join the study

We are asking for your consent to participate in a research study jointly conducted by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Northeastern University. Your participation is voluntary.

• We will ask you to install a browser extension for 10 days that collects two types of data: (1) browsing activity and (2) copies of webpages from specific sites: Google, ChatGPT, and Gemini. The extension may also alter your experience of Google Search. You will also be asked to complete 2 short surveys (one at the beginning of the study and one at the end) that include questions about your demographics and perceptions of online services such as Google and ChatGPT.
• Active Time: We expect that it will take 10-15 minutes to install the extension and 5-10 minutes to complete each survey.
• During the Study: You will be asked to keep the extension installed and use the Chrome Browser for the duration of the study.
• Compensation: You will be paid $10 for full completion of the study.

There are no direct benefits to you from participating in this study. However, your participation may help us learn more about how people access information online. The full purpose of this research study cannot be disclosed before your participation, but you will be told at the end.

The risks associated with this study are minimal. We are collecting basic demographic information, browsing data, and survey responses about your perceptions of online services. To the greatest extent possible, we will remove information that identifies you from all collected web data. Please do not install the extension on a device that you share with other people, as doing so could result in the unintended collection of data from those individuals. There is a small risk that your confidentiality could be lost: that is, people outside the study might access information about you. We will do everything we can to minimize this risk, including using industry standard security measures like encryption and access controls and securely storing data on servers at Northeastern University.

At the end of the study, you will be asked to uninstall the extension. All collected data will be kept strictly confidential and used for research purposes only. We will not share your data with anyone who is not involved in this research. Any reports or publications based on this research will only use aggregate data and will not identify you or any individual participant. Your de-identified information could be used for future research without additional informed consent.

You must be at least 18 years old to participate in this study. You may choose not to take part or to stop participating at any time without penalty. You may also request that any data collected from your browser be deleted at any time. You will receive $10 for full completion of this study.

If you have any questions about this study, you may contact the researchers at intervenr@seas.upenn.edu or please contact PI Danaé Metaxa at metaxa@seas.upenn.edu. If you have any concerns, complaints, or questions about the research or your rights as a participant, please contact the University of Pennsylvania IRB to speak to someone independent of the research team at (215) 898-2614, or email at PROVOST-IRB@pobox.upenn.edu. You may call anonymously if you want.

This study has been reviewed and approved by the Northeastern University Institutional Review Board and the University of Pennsylvania Institutional Review Board. Please save a copy of this consent screen for your records.

If you agree to participate, please click "Next". If you do not, please exit this webpage and do not continue any further. On the next page, you'll create an account with Intervenr using a Google login for security. Please select whichever Google account you'd like to use to log into Intervenr. We do not collect the name associated with this Google account.