Participate in research studies
We are always looking for research study or survey volunteers.
If you would like to participate, please browse through the research studies below.
Most research study volunteers will be reimbursed in some way.
Sisu trait survey: How is the Finnish concept of 'sisu' experienced in Australia?
Participate in a short (< 10 min) online survey to help create a generalisable tool for measuring 'sisu' across different cultures.
The term 'sisu' refers to "extraordinary determination, courage and resoluteness in the face of extreme adversity. An action mindset which enables individuals to reach beyond their present limitation, take action against all odds and transform barriers into frontiers. An integral element of Finnish culture and also a universal capacity, which we all share." (https://sisulab.com/sisu-about/)
The survey is part of the 'Sisu at Work' project, conducted by the University of Helsinki and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd. in collaboration with Flinders University.
More information about the survey, project and sisu, as well as the researchers’ contact information can be found on the survey website.
| PARTICIPANTS REQUIRED | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male or Female |
| Age | 18 years older |
| Other criteria | Proficiency in English |
| Participant benefits |
Amongst all the survey respondents, five (5) Coles & Myer vouchers will be raffled at the end of the study period. The value of one voucher is $15. By participating in the study, you will be contributing to research aimed at developing new psychological interventions that teach individuals personal skills to overcome hardship, as well as, endure and cope with external stressors, without compromising mental well-being. |
| Participants required until |
TBA |
Maritime Cultural Heritage in South Australia
This research is seeking volunteers for a new project to understand how maritime cultural heritage in South Australia impacts the local community. It will examine the social and economic impacts maritime cultural heritage sites have on local communities and the tourists who visit them.
Maritime cultural heritage sites selected for this study are:
- South Australian Maritime Museum
- Garden Island Shipwreck Graveyard
- Clipper Ship City of Adelaide
- Port Willunga
- Rapid Bay
- ex-HMAS Hobart
If you have visited one of these sites between October 2018 and March 2019, you are invited to complete an online questionnaire about your visit. If you have visited multiple sites, you are invited to undertake a questionnaire for each visit.
The questionnaire will take approximately 5-10 minutes to complete and will ask questions related to how much time and money you spent during your visit, as well as any emotional connection you may have to the site.
| PARTICIPANTS REQUIRED | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male or Female |
| Age | 18+ |
| Other criteria | Visited one of the listed locations between October 2018 and March 2019. |
| Participant benefits |
N/A |
| Participants required until |
30 March 2019 |
This study will evaluate the effect patient choice has on the effectiveness of an online intervention in improving perfectionism and related psychological outcomes. It will also investigate self-efficacy in relation to improved treatment outcomes.
What will happen during the study?
You will be asked to complete online questionnaires relating to demographics, perfectionism, depression, anxiety, body image, and self-efficacy.
You will be randomly assigned to either complete the online intervention modules in a fixed order, or to choose which modules you wish to complete. The online intervention contains eight modules which you will have four weeks to complete. These modules contain a mixture of text, images, and audio based on a cognitive behavioural treatment protocol for perfectionism. After the four weeks, both groups will be asked to complete the same questionnaires. In total, the study will take approximately 5 hours of your time over a 4-week period.
The research will be conducted in three phases as follows:
1. Initial questionnaires (15 minutes) to be completed online
2. Intervention modules and inter-module exercises (30 minutes per module over 4 weeks) to be completed online
3. Follow-up questionnaires (15 minutes) to be completed online at the end of the 4-week period
| PARTICIPANTS REQUIRED | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male or Female |
| Age | 17+ |
| Other criteria | A personal struggle with perfectionism. |
| Participant benefits |
Reimbursed with participation credits (Flinders University First-Year Psychology Students) or a book titled Overcoming Perfectionism following the completion of the follow-up questionnaires. |
| Participants required until |
Ongoing |
Volunteers will attend Flinders University on 3 occasions over 3 months to complete several tasks and questionnaires, and learn to use the iPhone tool.
Participants will also use the iPhone tool at home.
Participants should not:
- have a known illness that would affect weight loss
- be pregnant or considering pregnancy
- have lost weight of 5 kg or more in the last 3 months
- have a diagnosed eating disorder
- have any food allergies
- have any metabolic disorders.
Appointments will be scheduled at mutually convenient times.
| PARTICIPANTS REQUIRED | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Female |
| Age | 18-65 years old |
| Other criteria |
|
| Participant benefits |
Participants will be riembursed for their time. |
| Participants required until |
To be advised. |
Do you have insomnia?
Do you have problems getting to sleep or staying asleep?
If so, we invite you to be involved in research to help improve our understanding and treatment of insomnia. All participants with insomnia will be offered an effective treatment program.
This study is being conducted by researchers at Flinders University in Adelaide.
The study firstly involves a telephone interview about your sleep, health and lifestyle. Depending on your answers, you may be asked to record a sleep diary for several weeks and complete weekly questionnaires to assess eligibility for the study.
If you are selected to participate, then you will be invited to undertake an overnight sleep intervention in your home. After treatment, you will be asked to keep a sleep diary for 3 separate weeks and complete several brief questionnaires once a week over 6-week follow-up period.
| PARTICIPANTS REQUIRED | |
|---|---|
| Criteria | Before consenting to participate in this study you will be asked to supply information to discover if you are eligible to take part. If you are considered to be a suitable research participant, you will then be asked to sign a consent form by the research staff. |
| Participant benefits |
N/A |
| Participants required until |
Ongoing |
Using the chemicals in the human body to predict the optimal dose of orally administered anticancer drugs
The Department of Clinical Pharmacology at Flinders is seeking to identify chemicals in the human body that can help predict the optimal dosing of drugs, and is seeking healthy male volunteers.
If you are interested and would like further details please contact Dr Andrew Rowland on 8204 7546 or email andrew.rowland@flinders.edu.au. All correspondence will be treated with the strictest of confidence.
| PARTICIPANTS REQUIRED | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Age | 21-35 |
| Other criteria | Healthy and normal weight. Not currently taking any regular medications, herbal products, supplements etc. Able to refrain from cigarettes and grapefruit juice for two weeks. |
| Participant benefits |
$300 supermarket gift card to compensate for time and travel costs. |
| Participants required until |
March 2019 |
A traumatic stress research study.
The Posttraumatic Stress Research Studies Unit of the College of Education, Psycholopgy and Social Work is seeking participants for a research study.
The study will involve thinking about a negative event in your life.
We strongly suggest that if you believe you may be overly distressed by thinking about a negative event that you DO NOT participate in this experiment.
What happens during the study?
Participants will be asked to pay attention to any thoughts about their negative autobiographical event and complete a series of relevant questionnaires and a daily diary for a one-week period.
How long will it take?
Approximately 2hrs over the course of a week.
Register your interest via email. You will then be contacted with more information about the study.
| PARTICIPANTS REQUIRED | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male or female |
| Age | 18+ |
| Other criteria | Must be a native English speaker. Must have the use of a smartphone. Must be willing to complete questions relating to past negative events. Must have experienced a negative event in the past three months (events don’t have to be bothering you now, or may not have even bothered you at the time). |
| Participant benefits |
Volunteers will be reimbursed for their time. |
| Participants required until |
Ongoing |
Treatment to improve symptoms of disordered eating
Flinders University Services for Eating Disorders (FUSED) is offering treatment to improve symptoms of disordered eating, such as binge eating, purging, fasting and preoccupation with weight and shape.
What happens during treatment?
This treatment involves working through a new treatment for eating disorders, Intensive Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBTi), with a trainee therapist at Flinders University.
As part of treatment you will also be asked to complete an interview and questionnaire on five occasions which will take about 90 minutes for each assessment.
You will also be asked if you are willing to consent to this information being used in a research project investigating the impact of this intervention on quality of life.
Who can participate?
If you are over 15 years of age and are experiencing problems with disordered eating you may be eligible to participate.
| PARTICIPANTS REQUIRED | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male or Female |
| Age | 15+ |
| Other criteria | BMI > 17.5 Be willing for the therapist to communicate with your GP. Fluent English |
| Participant benefits |
Other people doing this treatment have reported improvements in their eating disorder and quality of life. |
| Participants required until |
Ongoing |
Food and cravings daily diary study
Do you experience food cravings? Are you interested in contributing to research?
We are currently seeking participants for a new field study investigating the psychology of food cravings.
Participants will be asked to complete a food craving diary over a period of 2 weeks. Participants will also be asked to fill out several questionnaires.
Additionally, participants will be required to attend two separate information sessions during the 2-week period. Each information session will be 15-30 minutes, and daily diary completion should take no longer than 15 minutes of your time.
| PARTICIPANTS REQUIRED | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Female |
| Age | 18+ |
| Other criteria | Have a craving for food at least once per day. Speak English proficiently. Have a smartphone/tablet and headphones. |
| Participant benefits |
N/A |
| Participants required until |
Ongoing |
Investigating computer gaming and sleep during adolescence.
Participating in this School of Psychology study will involve attending the sleep laboratory at Flinders University for 2 nights spaced approximately 1 day. Food and drinks will be provided.
A brief initial phone screening will be conducted to determine your eligibility for the study.
| PARTICIPANTS REQUIRED | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male or Female |
| Age | 15 - 17 |
| Other criteria | A good sleeper. Do not consume excessive caffeine or take recreational drugs. Have not travelled overseas in the past 3 months. |
| Participant benefits |
$50 Westfield voucher |
| Participants required until |
Ongoing |
Management of our identities
We are seeking participants for a study investigating how people manage their multiple roles in day-to-day life.
This project will investigate how individuals experience and cope with situations in which their social identities have conflicting expectations.
Social identities are the groups and roles we identify with in our day-to-day life, they may include being a parent, a worker, an athlete, a student, or other groups and roles.
Due to individuals having many different social identities, there may be times when an individual is unable to adhere to the expectations of both identities at once. A working parent, for example, may be unable to simultaneously prioritise their working and parenting commitments.
We are interested in how conflicts between social identities impact on overall psychological well-being, and if there are management strategies that enable people to cope with conflicts more effectively.
Participation will involve completing an 20-30 minute online survey. You’ll be asked a number of questions, including what your social groups/roles are, how important these social groups are to you, and whether the expectations of these social groups conflict with each other.
You’ll also be asked to rate your emotions (including emotions such as shame, anger, remorse, pride and others). Some questions will ask how you responded in situations when your social groups had conflicting expectations of you (e.g., whether you took time to think about the best way to deal with the situation, whether you tried to avoid the situation, whether you could not stop thinking about the situation).
| PARTICIPANTS REQUIRED | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male or Female |
| Age | 18+ |
| Other criteria | Fluent in English. Live in South Australia. |
| Participant benefits |
N/A |
| Participants required until |
Ongoing |
Behavioural Activation group treatment program for young people.
The Emotion and Behaviour Lab within the School of Psychology, Flinders University, runs a Behavioural Activation group treatment program for young people with excessive worry.
For more information email youth.worry.flinders@gmail.com or phone 0434 809 354.
Investigating the use of Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) to treat those who have been traumatised.
The School of Psychology in Flinders University is conducting a research study investigating how a more individualised Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) can be used to treat those who have been traumatised.
Participating in the study will involve attending 12-15 individual therapy sessions with a trained therapist. You will also be asked to complete an interview and questionnaires about your life experiences, beliefs and symptoms before therapy, immediately after and 3-months following therapy.
A brief initial phone screening will be conducted to determine your eligibility for the study.
| PARTICIPANTS REQUIRED | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male or Female |
| Age | 18+ |
| Other criteria | Experienced or witnessed a trauma 4 or more weeks ago. |
| Participant benefits |
N/A |
| Participants required until |
Ongoing |
Negotiating safety, belonging and choice in shared disability accommodation
This project investigates experiences of safety, belonging and choice in the context of shared accommodation settings such as group homes, clustered housing and other types of shared accommodation. This research is being conducted in all regions of South Australia.
If you are someone who has experienced living in disability shared
accommodation settings, or know someone who has experience, we would like to hear from you.
| PARTICIPANTS REQUIRED | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Female |
| Age | 17 — 25 |
| Other criteria | Participants must be able to read and write in English. All interested participants |
| Participant benefits |
Participants will potentially learn a new way to improve their body image. |
| Participants required until |
February 2019 |
An investigation of new methods to improve body image among young women
This study is an investigation of new methods to improve body image among young women. The total study will approximately take two hours of your time. The research will be conducted in two parts as follows:
- Questionnaires, recall and write about a time when you felt bad about your body or yourself in general, and a brief training exercise (60 minutes in length; $ 15.00) to be completed at Flinders University.
- 2. Daily home practice (5 minutes daily for 7 consecutive
days) and 1-week follow-up questionnaire (30 minutes in length; $ 25.00) to be completed online.
You do not need to show up in the lab for part 2 of the study.
| PARTICIPANTS REQUIRED | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male or Female |
| Age | 18+ |
| Other criteria | Experienced or witnessed a trauma 4 or more weeks ago. |
| Participant benefits |
N/A |
| Participants required until |
19 April 2019 |
Virtual Reality, men and violence prevention
This study seeks participants to help co-create virtual reality experiences for possible future use in violence prevention programs.
The first stage of this study are interviews that will inform the VR creators of the types of experiences that males can identify with, perceptions of violent experiences that young males might experience and the type of experiences that could encourage young males to reflect on their masculinity.
The second stage of the study is the evaluation of these experiences. Those participating in the first stage will be invited to partake in the second stage.
| PARTICIPANTS REQUIRED | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Age | 18 — 21 |
| Other criteria | Experienced or witnessed a trauma 4 or more weeks ago. |
| Participant benefits |
Parking or public transport costs to attend interviews |
| Participants required until |
February 2019 |
Orally administered anticancer drugs
Using the chemicals in the human body to predict the optimal dose of orally administered anticancer drugs
| PARTICIPANTS REQUIRED | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Age | 21 — 35 |
| Other criteria | Healthy and normal weight. |
| Participant benefits |
$300 supermarket gift card to compensate for time and travel costs. |
| Participants required until |
March 2019 |
About our research studies
All research involving human participants requires ethics approval. These research studies have received approval from a human research ethics committee registered with the NHMRC, most commonly the Social and Behavioural Research Ethics Committee at Flinders University, or the Southern Adelaide Clinical Human Research Ethics Committee.
Seeking volunteers?
Please fill in the form below to request your call for study volunteers be added to this webpage.
Sturt Rd, Bedford Park
South Australia 5042
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