Ethics, Privacy & Participation in Research

Our Commitment to Ethical Research

The "Dark Pattern Validation" project is committed to upholding the highest ethical standards in research. Our work is guided by principles of respect for persons, beneficence, and justice. We strive to ensure that all participants are treated with dignity and that their rights and welfare are protected throughout their involvement in this study. While this study may not have formal IRB (Institutional Review Board) approval at this stage [Adjust if you have IRB], it is designed in accordance with ethical guidelines for human subject research.

What Participation Involves

• Task: You will be presented with instructions and pairs of text responses generated by AI. Your primary task is to choose the response you prefer and rate your confidence or preference. You may also provide optional comments.
• Time Commitment: Participation typically takes between 10 to 45 minutes, depending on the number of entries you evaluate.
• Voluntary Nature: Your participation is completely voluntary. You can choose to stop at any time without giving a reason and without any penalty. Closing the browser window will end your session.
• Withdrawal: You can withdraw your participation at any point. Data collected up to the point of withdrawal may be retained and used anonymously.

Data Collection & Usage

We collect the following types of data:

• Evaluation Data: Your choices, ratings, and comments on the AI-generated text.
• Demographic Data (Optional & Anonymized): If you provide it, information such as age group, gender, education level, field of expertise, and familiarity with AI. This helps us understand if different groups perceive AI responses differently.
• Session Data: A unique, randomly generated session ID to link your responses within a single session. We also collect timestamps and data related to your interaction with the survey (e.g., time spent on an entry).
• Email Address (Optional): If you choose to provide your email, it will be used solely to send you updates about the research, including a summary of findings or the final paper. It will be stored separately from your evaluation data.

The anonymized data collected (excluding emails) will be used for research analysis, to create academic publications, and to develop a public dataset aimed at helping researchers and developers build safer and more ethical AI systems. This public dataset will not contain any directly identifiable information.

Data Privacy & Confidentiality

• Protection of Email (if provided): If you provide an email address, it will be kept confidential and will not be shared with third parties. It will be stored separately from your evaluation responses and will not be part of any publicly released dataset.
• Anonymity of Responses: Your evaluation responses and any demographic data you provide will be anonymized. We will not attempt to link anonymous responses back to individuals.
• Data Security: We will use secure data storage practices to protect the information collected.
• Data Retention: Anonymized research data may be kept indefinitely for research purposes and as part of public datasets. Email addresses provided for updates will be kept until the final research updates are sent, or until you request removal.

Potential Risks & Benefits

Risks: There are no anticipated direct physical or psychological risks greater than those encountered in daily life when using a computer. Some AI-generated text might be perceived as unhelpful, biased, or nonsensical. If you feel uncomfortable at any point, you are free to discontinue your participation.

Benefits: While there are no direct monetary benefits for participation, you will be contributing to important research that aims to make AI systems more ethical and safer for everyone. If you provide your email, you'll receive early access to the research findings as a preprint. The final paper will be publicly available in the updates section of this website. You may also gain a better understanding of how AI language models generate text and some of the current challenges in AI alignment.

Contact for Questions or Concerns

If you have any questions about your rights as a research participant, or if you have concerns about the ethical conduct of this study, please contact the principal investigator, Israel A. Rosales L., at ai.darkpatterns.research@gmail.com. For general inquiries, please use our Contact Us page.

Consent Information

By proceeding to participate in the survey on this platform, you acknowledge that:

• You are 18 years of age or older.
• You have read and understood the information on this page regarding the study's purpose, procedures, data handling, risks, and benefits.
• You understand that your participation is voluntary and that you can withdraw at any time.
• You consent to the collection and use of your data as described herein for research purposes.