SONA Studies

We are conducting research studies using the SONA participant pool at the University of Manitoba. These studies sample students in Introduction to Psychology (PSYC 1200), rewarding them with research participation credits.

Data Ownership Study

Dates: January 2025 - February 2025

Overview:

Many of the online apps people use collect minimally identifying information. Interestingly, the way people think about this personal data varies over time. Prior work has explained this phenomenon using privacy theories, but there are likely other contributing factors. The present study explored how psychological ownership may explain the variability in people’s judgments about personal data by manipulating a threat to the self, as the self and control are central to ownership. Using an experimental design, we measured adults’ (N = 90) judgments about personal data shared with an app before and after the police accessed it. A two-way repeated measures ANOVA was used to measure the interaction of judgment type and time on ratings of psychological ownership, the importance of privacy, and helpfulness judgments. This study was the first to investigate psychological ownership as a factor that influences people’s judgments about personal data over time and has implications for legal cases about data ownership rights.

Results:

We found that feelings of ownership, as well as feelings of the importance of privacy, increased after the threat manipulation. Check out this paper for more findings from this study!

Beliefs About Internet Access

Overview:

As societies become more dependent on digital infrastructure, many people still lack reliable internet access, raising concerns about equity in access to education, employment, healthcare, and civic participation. Differing perceptions of the internet as a necessity versus a luxury may shape how individuals evaluate government responsibility for ensuring equitable access. Using a between-subjects experimental design, 82 adult participants completed a short writing prompt framing internet access as either a necessity or a luxury. Survey versions were distributed in an alternating order to ensure balanced exposure. Participants then completed a survey measuring support for government-funded internet equity policies, followed by a measure of political orientation.

Results:

An ANCOVA revealed that political orientation significantly predicted policy endorsement, whereas framing did not influence support for equitable internet policies. Exploratory analyses also revealed that the effect of political orientation on policy endorsement was consistent across framing conditions. Check out the full paper here!