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 - Ongoing

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 seeks to explore 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 will measure adults’ (N = 90) judgments about personal data shared with an app before and after the police access it. A two-way repeated measures ANOVA will be used to determine the interaction effect of judgment type and time on ratings of psychological ownership. This study will be the first to investigate psychological ownership as a factor influencing people’s judgments about personal data over time and has implications for legal cases.