I won't check a box that pre-agrees to being in "studies" I'm not aware of...but...
I won't check a box that opts me into observational and INTERVENTIONAL studies that I won't even be aware that I'm in since I don't look every 5 minutes at the settings and may do things like the evil sort of one fb ? did that changed your emotions.
That's a great example of why I moved to Firefox from Chrome and am wary of Facebook.
I'd be more than happy to check a box that says: "Please offer me any/all studies I may be eligible for including add'l questions to see if I'm eligible, with a reasonable stab at assent (not even informed consent). And of course whether data is anonymous (truly, as in after the study even if you wanted to you couldn't figure out which person was which), or not. Not anonymous may be fine....depending on the study. My very best, really, you're great....AND I'd be happy to discuss, advise (see below)...my 'toolbox' isn't simply biomedical. Darren
(Just me being pedantic now ignore this as you wish: And you say "study" ... I'm a researcher (sometimes)...IRB, grants, peer review, publications. Research is the "creation of generalizable knowledge." Is that what you're doing? I suspect you're doing more "quality improvement" where you figure out what works better for you...and SOMETIMES that is generalizeable knowledge (i.e., certain colors make people happy in every browser not Firefox specific), but do you publish it as peer reviewed research? Now, it's TOTALLY FINE if you don't and it's QI....but would specify that and not call it studies...call it...evaluating improvements or whatever. The use of the word 'study' and 'research' drive me nuts since when we talk to people about actual 'studies' and 'research' they conflate that with marketing evaluations of what makes us by more or which candidate we're interested in or how to sell things to us.)
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Hi Bikelink, it is somewhat unpredictable what you will receive if you keep studies enabled. When I check the about:studies page, I see mostly "hotfix" patches intended to address a problem in advance of the next formal update. I've attached a screenshot of the top half of the page for potential interest.
Hi thanks to both of you.
So, no. My issue is more pedantic and snobby...with a little bit of substance.
1) I WANT to help. I don't wan to have to remember to check and make sure they don't move from checking patches to checking my emotions. They only give me a "write us a blank check that you'll forget about" vs "give us nothing." I'm asking for a "hey I'd be fine getting alerts/badges for studies and opting in (most likely), but not just check and forget about it."
2) The snobby pedantic part: "run studies" so do some kind of evaluation. Is it research? If so where's the elements that meet standards we set since some bad stuff went down in ww2. If it's not research and it's alpha-beta-testing new patches...well jeez I'd want to know not be stymied by something then thing "oh maybe it's a study?" and then go look. If it's not research (creation of generalizable knowledge) it's more like "how can we tweak our product to be "better" but we aren't publishing the results....then ... again let me know what is it? Researchers used to be able to randomly sample people by phone or other means for actual research studies but the words have lost most meaning to the general public and it sort of irks me every time I see it as someone who has jumped through a whole lot of hoops in IRBs to do something with anonymized database stuff about people.
I'm looking more now and seeing it's a non profit org, and all good. So really I'm saying...how many people are checking no? No problem getting enough yes's? If not I'm pointing out that people who migrated here for some semblance of security as a non-programmer in this crazy internet world that most of us don't understand much at all, may not want to check go ahead and f--k with me without telling me though I can check if i think of it.
Again, right now all good no problem so just give a 3rd option if you wish: "let me know about opportunities to participate in studies so I can opt in (probably always)." Saying you want to study me and not actively alert me to it is a non-starter. I know it's happening all the time...again why I'm here since safer.
Thanks to all you do everyone...seriously this was feedback I won't trust anyone into the future...I'm saying give an opt in option. If that's a problem them maybe there's a problem.