Recruiting Volunteer Research Participants for a Listening Study
Lewis College of Human Sciences Associate Professor of Psychology Arlen Moller and his team of researchers are conducting a four-phase study on the 7 Cups of Tea “listener experience.”
What is 7 Cups of Tea? 7 Cups of Tea is an online community that brings together people who are struggling with volunteer listeners. In order to be a listener, you must complete a short online training program to help prepare you. You can then participate in text chat conversations that are free, anonymous, and confidential as frequently or infrequently as you like. If as a listener you think the person you’re chatting with is struggling with something that is more serious than you feel prepared to help them with, the site helps you refer your client to a professional therapist or counselor.
Interested? In order to qualify for this study you must be 18 years or older. Each of the four phases take approximately 30 minutes to complete, and participation in each phase is 100% voluntary. If you’re enrolled in a participating psychology course, you can also earn two hours of research participation credit on Sona. However, any member of the Illinois Tech community can volunteer.
Phase 1 (Online Listener Training: 30 minutes): You can complete Part 1 now by clicking here. When you have completed Phase 1, take a screen shot of the certificate of completion page and email the screenshot, along with your registered username to Moller at 7cups.study@gmail.com.
Phase 2 (Listener Motivation Survey: 30 minutes): After Moller received your Listener Training certificate of completion and username, you will receive a link to Survey 1.
Phase 3 (Volunteer Listening: 30 minutes): At your convenience, during the next two weeks, log onto the 7 Cups website as a Listener and engage in some listening for peers who are seeking help. We ask that you do this for at least 30 minutes during the two-week period. However, participants are welcome to listen for much longer if they have the time and interest.
Phase 4 (Follow up Listener Survey: 30 minutes): Approximately two weeks after completing Survey 1, you will receive an email from the research team inviting you to complete Survey 2.
At the end of the Survey 2, we will share with you a summary of our hypotheses and a careful review of prior research on this topic. Any and all questions can be directed to the study’s PI, Arlen Moller, at amoller@iit.edu. Study credit will be updated on Sona within seven days of completing each phase. Although we strongly encourage completion of all four phases, if you partially complete the study, you can earn partial Sona credit.
