1. Affiliations of Principal Researchers

The principal researchers and administrators of www.MarketingNetworkLab.com are Jeffery R. Parker and Andrew T. Stephen.  Both are doctoral students at the Graduate School of Business, Columbia University in the City of New York, in the marketing division.

The research conducted and/or initiated through this website is not necessarily endorsed by, affiliated with, or sanctioned by the faculty and officers of Columbia University or Columbia Business School.  However, the intention of this website is to facilitate the administration of faculty-sponsored academic research, and this can be assumed unless stated otherwise on the introduction page of a specific study.

2. Membership

Membership of the www.MarketingNetworkLab.com online panel requires the member providing the administrators with a valid email address and name.  The granting and denial of membership remains the sole responsibility of the aforementioned administrators.  Existing members' membership can be revoked at any time by an administrator, and a notification stating the reason will be sent to the member's provided email address.  Membership can be suspended (with the possibility of later reinstatement) by an administrator when a member is suspected to have broken one or more of "Member Responsibilities" (see section 3).  Notice of suspension will be provided via email.  A "qualified" member is a member who is not suspended and who has a current valid email address.

3. Member Responsibilities

Every member of www.MarketingNetworkLab.com is required to comply with the following:

(a) Provide honest, accurate, and good-faith responses to all question items in each study that s/he participates in;

(b) Notify the administrators via email to admin@marketingnetworklab.com of any change in email address;

(c) Not engage in any behavior or provide any information in response to question items in studies that is deceptive, dishonest, misleading, offensive or otherwise inappropriate;

(d) Not complete a particular study associated with a single invitation email more than once and once only, unless instructed otherwise by an administrator via email;

(e) Agree to be subject to the full terms and conditions contained in this statement;

(f) Realize that participation in any particular study associated with a single invitation email constitutes acceptance of the full terms and conditions contained in this statement, and constitutes acceptance of any study-specific terms that are made known in either the study's invitation email or on the introduction webpage for that study;

(g) For participation in studies that provide money as compensation for a member's time, the member is required to have a valid operating account with PayPal.com and must provide the appropriate PayPal identifier for their account to the administrators in order to receive payment;

(h) By being a member of www.MarketingNetworkLab.com each member consents to the administrators of www.MarketingNetworkLab.com sending email to the member's valid email address.  Emails with be sent from one of the following domains: marketingnetworklab.com, gsb.columbia.edu, columbia.edu.

4. www.MarketingNetworkLab.com Responsibilities

The administrators of www.MarketingNetworkLab.com and any affiliated researchers are required to comply with the following:

(a) Provide good-faith information to members and potential members regarding the following aspects of any particular study associated with a single invitation email: approximate completion time, payment or compensation (if any), particular conditions of participation, and any study-specific details regarding potential risks or harm associated with participation.  The information provided should be sufficient for a reasonable person to be able to decide whether or not to participate in a particular study such that "informed consent" can be assumed;

(b) Where a qualified member is to be compensated in money for full completion of a particular study, the administrators (or appointed agent) will make electronic payment in United States Dollars to that qualified member of the specified amount within thirty (30) days of the completion of that phase of the particular study.  Note that this date is the later of the date of the member's completion of the particular study and the completion of that phase of the particular study.  Electronic payment will be made through PayPal.com unless stated otherwise prior to commencement of the particular study;

(c) Not send unsolicited email;

(d) Not disclose, sell or share members' personal contact details (which include, but are not limited to, the following: email address, name, PayPal.com account identifier, zip code, country of residence) to anyone other than the administrators, unless requested by law enforcement agencies via subpoena;

(e) Hold ALL data provided in all studies in which a member participates (either to completion or only partially) in strict confidence and not allow parties other than the administrators, principal researchers, and specific-study affiliated researchers access to the provided data;

(f) De-identify all data provided by a member in any study upon completion of that study;

(g) Use the www.MarketingNetworkLab.com website to facilitate the administration of research that is conducted only for bona fide academic purposes, and not for any commercial gain or profit;

(h) Upon written request via email, provide qualified members with summaries of results from studies that they have participated in, provided that meaningful results are available at the time of request.  If the request cannot be immediately fulfilled, the administrators must fulfill the request as soon as possible.

5. Privacy and Confidentiality

Each member has an undeniable right to their privacy when participating in studies administered through www.MarketingNetworkLab.com.  This means that all information provided by a member in the course of participating in a study will be treated as confidential.  As such, this information will never be given third parties and will only be accessible by the administrators, principal researchers and their study-specific affiliates.  Data will be de-identified prior to use for academic purposes.  This means that any personal identifiers (including, but not limited to, name, email address, age, address, country/state/city of residence, zip code, friends' names) will be either removed completely from the data or encrypted prior to further research use.  All data will be stored in a password-protected format to prevent unauthorized access.  Each member also reserves the right to withdraw from any study that they have commenced at any time.  Participation is voluntary.

6. Disclaimer

Participation in academic research studies administered through www.MarketingNetworkLab.com is a decision that rests solely upon each member or potential member.  The administrators, principal researchers, and affiliated researchers accept no responsibility for members and any consequences of participation in studies administered through www.MarketingNetworkLab.com.  The decision to participate in any study through to completion constitutes informed consent on the member's part.