Supporting students in making informed data sharing decisions: from comprehension to consenting

Whether deciding to participate in research or gain access to online applications, studies on consent suggest that individuals often do not read or fail to understand the text outlining the conditions they agree to when giving their consent. Limited comprehension related to the risks of big data and habituation may contribute to consent being given in a manner that counters the best interests of individuals (i.e. a privacy paradox). Are those asking students to use new technologies and share their data ethically responsible for helping students learn to make informed decisions regarding the sharing of their data? As educational technology researchers, we conducted a quasi-experimental study involving 127 undergraduate students in which we explored the effects on study enrollment of supporting students in making informed data sharing decisions. Prior to reading the consent form for a study involving the evaluation of a collaborative learning application, one group of participants was primed to consider data sharing risks whereas the other group was not. The primed group scored lower on a consent form comprehension quiz yet had higher enrollment rates and were more likely to cite trust as reasoning for enrolling in the study.

The data set is composed by:

• ‘Classes’ spreadsheet: including the relation of flows, group of students, number of students, instructor id, day and time
• ‘Participants’ spreadsheet: including the relation of ID (of each participant), if s/he consented, group class, flow and language
• ‘Prior knowledge Survey’ spreadsheet: participant’s ID and ID, relevant prior knowledge questionnaire data (questions included).
• ‘Quiz data’ spreadsheet: participant’s ID, quiz data and survey data (questions included)
• PDF including: 
  • Table S1. Summary of participating classes 
  • Table S2. Consent form subsections and summaries 
  • Table S3. Consent form quiz questions, question types, and assigned points 
  • Table S4. Guiding questions in the prior knowledge questionnaire 
  • Table S5. Comparison of Flow A and Flow B quiz scores per question