For Participants

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How do you protect participants’ data?

We take data security very seriously. Data are coded in a non-identifiable manner and subsequently analysed and reported in aggregate – i.e., so that responses cannot be linked to any individual. 

Confidentiality will be protected as far as the law allows, and in accordance with the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research. The project itself has been reviewed by the ANU Human Research Ethics Committee (Protocol Number: 2025/0405).

Q. What will you do with the data? Who can access it?

Only members of the research team have primary access to the data. In the future, some data from this research may be shared with other researchers for the purpose of facilitating open science and to ensure the best use is made of the data. In any case, all data will be non-identifiable and anonymous. 

Q. Why is it important for participants to complete each wave of the survey?

The IPS aims to investigate changes in who we are as Australians over time, whether that be through our attitudes, our day-to-day lives, and our mental health. The most reliable ways of measuring attitudes and feelings require multiple questions on the same topic. To help us provide the most insightful analysis, we’ll need to compare each person’s responses at different time points throughout the project, to track trends over time and what predicts these trends. 

Q. There are some questions I didn’t like. Why are you asking sensitive questions? 

In order to research people’s attitudes and wellbeing, we need to ask questions about a wide range of topics, like how you feel about other groups, whether you have mental health symptoms, and about demographic characteristics. We expect that most people will disagree with some of the questions, and most people will agree with others. Uncovering the details of these patterns over time is key to our research. 

You don’t have to answer any questions you don’t want to. If you have feedback about the questions, we welcome this! You can reach out to the team at the details below. 

Contact

For further questions and suggestions about the IPS, please contact the IPS project team via Tegan.Cruwys@anu.edu.au or Christienne.Javier@anu.edu.au