Welcome to the LINGOS Research Study Enrollment Website!

We are currently recruiting native speakers of German for a language-related research study. Participation in the study is voluntary, and involves completion of two tasks: first, you will engage in a 10-minute recorded phone call with your recruiter on a topic of your choosing; and second, you will record a 3-5 minute video of yourself speaking on any topic. You should We ask that you do not choose a topic for the recorded phone call or for the video recording that includes personal or disclosure of any sensitive data such as your race and ethnicity, political, religious or philosophical beliefs, union membership, health, sex life or sexual orientation.

You will be asked to provide certain demographic information, specifically, year of birth, sex assigned to you at birth, your native primary language and any secondary languages you speak. You will be asked to provide your name, email address, telephone number and mailing address for compensation and contact purposes.

To participate in this study, you must be at least 18 years old and a native speaker of German.

This data is being collected by the Linguistic Data Consortium (LDC) at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA and ELDA to support language-related research, education and technology development. The data you contribute will be collected, processed and transferred to the United States for the legitimate interest of research.

The recordings, demographic information and non-identifying recording metadata including date, time and duration will be stored indefinitely on limited access secure servers at LDC. Your name, email address, telephone number and mailing address are collected for compensation and contact purposes only.

This information is stored separately from the collected linguistic data samples for up to 7 years after the research study is completed in a password-protected database that can be accessed by authorized study personnel only.

The recordings, demographic information and non-identifying recording metadata including date, time and duration will be included in a database that will be shared by LDC with individuals and organizations engaged in language-related research, education and technology development. Individuals and organizations that receive this material will first agree to use these resources only for language-related research, education and technology development purposes. Names, emails, phone numbers and mailing addresses collected for compensation and contact purposes are not distributed to individuals or organizations receiving the data. While unlikely, it is possible that participants could be re-identified because recordings will include full-face images and voiceprints.

This research is unlikely to cause participants to object or complain.

You have the right to request access, rectification, erasure or restriction of data processing, to object to data processing, and to exercise the right to data portability. You can leave the study or ask us to remove your data from our database at any time. Contact us regarding these matters at lingos.speech@gmail.com.

What exactly will I have to do?

  1. Enroll in the study

    Participants can enroll for the study using our secure website. Enrollment involves these steps:

    • - Provide your name, email, phone number and address so that we can contact you about the study and compensate you for your time
    • - Provide demographic information including language, year of birth and sex assigned at birth
    • - Schedule your phone call
    • - Provide consent for the data you contribute to be used in our research database Upon enrollment you will be assigned a Personal Identification Number (PIN) which you will use during the phone call and video recordings.

    You will also be sent a confirmation email with information about the study.

  2. Complete your phone call

    Your recruiter will call you at the scheduled time. When you answer the phone you will hear a series of pre-recorded instructions from the robot operator telling you how to enter your PIN and provide consent for the call to be recorded. After you provide consent, the call will begin and you will hear your recruiter on the other line. Call requirements are summarized below:

    • ✓ Calls must last between 8-10 minutes
    • ✓ Speak only in the designated language, without switching to another language or dialect
    • ✓ Calls should feature natural, spontaneous, interactive conversation where you do at least half of the talking
    • ✓ You can discuss any topic you like
    • ✓ You can be in any location during the call, as long as your voice can be heard throughout the whole call. Some background noise like a quiet TV, kitchen noises or traffic noise is acceptable as long as your voice can be heard easily.
    • ✘ Do not have any other people join the call or pass the phone to someone else – you should be the only person speaking with your recruiter
    • ✘ Avoid lengthy pauses or long periods of silence, music or other noise that is not conversation between you and your recruiter
    • ✘ Avoid discussion of any topic or personal information that you do not wish to have recorded

    After 10 minutes the recording will end and the call will be automatically terminated.

  3. Record and upload your video

    You will record and upload a short video of yourself talking spontaneously on any topic you like. Alternatively, if you have an existing video recording that meets the study requirements, you can use that video instead of making a new recording. Video requirements are summarized below:

    • ✓ Speak only in the designated language, without switching to another language or dialect
    • ✓ Video recordings should last between 3-5 minutes
    • ✓ Use any device you like to make the recording, such as a phone, computer or camera
    • ✓ Video recordings should involve only you - no other people should be seen or heard in the video recording
    • ✓ You can be in any location during the video recording, as long as your voice can be heard throughout the video. Some background noise like a quiet TV, kitchen noises or traffic noise is acceptable as long as your voice can be heard easily.
    • ✓ You can move around or stay in one place during the recording, as long as your face is visible throughout much of the recording. Lighting should be adequate for you to be seen.
    • ✓ You can talk about any topic you like, but we ask that you not share any sensitive personal information, and you must speak spontaneously and naturally throughout the recording. For instance, you could share a memory, talk about your favorite foods, or describe what happened during your day.
    • ✘ Avoid lengthy pauses or long periods of silence
    • ✘ Do not read, recite, sing or engage in other types of speech that are not spontaneous and not extemporaneous
    • ✘ Do not record yourself speaking with your recruiter during the phone call – the video recording must be an entirely separate event
    • ✘ Do not wear clothing that obscures your face, like a mask, scarf or costume. Head scarves that are part of your daily attire are acceptable.
    • ✘ Do not apply any video special effects that change or obscure your voice or your appearance
    • ✘ Avoid discussion of any topic or personal information that you do not wish to have recorded

    After you have recorded your video, you will upload it to our secure website using a URL we provide after enrollment. You will be asked to confirm that the video meets the requirements outlined above, and you will be asked to provide consent for us to use the video in our research study. You will then follow the on-screen instructions to submit your video.

Compensation

Study personnel will conduct a number of automatic and manual checks on your recordings to ensure that they meet study requirements. You will receive compensation for successful recordings, as follows:

  • - complete only one call and no video - €16
  • - complete only one video and no call - €5
  • - complete one call AND one video - €21

The maximum amount you can earn is €21

Privacy

Protecting your privacy is very important to us! To date we have conducted more than 60 language-related studies all over the world.

Our research database will include your phone call and video recordings with automatically-generated metadata including the recording time, date and duration. Each recording will be linked to a pseudonymous subject ID along with the demographic information (sex, year of birth and language) you provided during enrollment.

The research database does not include your name, email, phone number or address or other personal data we collect in order to contact and compensate you during the study. This information is only accessible to study personnel and is stored in a secure, encrypted database.

The recordings, demographic information and non-identifying recording metadata including date, time and duration included in the research database will be shared by LDC with individuals and organizations engaged in language-related research, education and technology development. Individuals and organizations that receive this material will first agree to use these resources only for language-related research, education and technology development purposes. Names, emails, phone numbers and mailing addresses collected from participants for compensation and contact purposes are not distributed to individuals or organizations receiving the data.

You will not be identified by name, phone number, email address or other personal identifier in any data sets, publications or presentations that may result from this research.

The study website is subject to the University of Pennsylvania’s privacy policy, https://www.upenn.edu/about/privacy-policy.

You can leave the study or ask us to remove your data from our research database at any time by contacting us at lingos.speech@gmail.com.

For information regarding your rights as a research subject, you may contact the Director of Regulatory Affairs at the University of Pennsylvania by telephoning +1 215-898-2614. If you have any questions pertaining to your participation in this research study, you may contact the primary investigator by sending an email to lingos.speech@gmail.com.