La capa de red

a. Freshman participants in this study will be the entering first-year class (n=480) from a small, private, liberal-arts college located in upstate New York. Participants will be recruited in person, by the researcher, on the first day of their wilderness pre- orientation program (August 14, 2009) and on the first day of on-campus orientation (August 22, 2009). As compensation for participation, students will be offered the chance to win prizes (Hamilton sweatshirts, gift cards, etc.) via random drawing, if they complete all four rounds of the survey. Leader participants will be the student, alumni, and staff leaders of the Outdoor Orientation program at Hamilton College. They will be recruited in person, by the researcher, during the program debrief at the end of the outdoor orientation program. They will not be compensated for their participation.

b. Incoming students who choose to participate will be asked to complete a 14-questions survey a total of 4 times during the

course of their first semester of college (August 14,h, August 22ni1, August 26'\ and early December). The first three surveys

will be paper and pencil surveys, administered in person, by the researcher. The final survey will be an online version hosted by Psychdata.com (see attached information regarding the security policies for psychdata.com). Leader participants will be asked to complete a brief survey assessing whether alcohol was discussed on their trip, and if so, to describe the length and nature of those discussions (see attached sample questions). In addition, the researcher will follow up with the leaders in a group setting to collect additional qualitative information about how alcohol was discussed during their trips (see attached

sample questions).

c. The researcher will stress during the recruitment period (for incoming students) that participation is voluntary and that non- participation will not affect their status at the college in any way. Students who choose to participate in this study will be given a consent form (see attached) that describes the study in more detail and reinforces the voluntary nature of their participation, and their right to discontinue their participation at any time.

It is estimated that between 20-100 incoming freshman will be under 18 years of age at the start of the study. Due to the nature of the study (minimal physical risk) and the very narrow age difference (typically a few months) between 'minors' and 'adults' in this study, a parental notification letter and passive consent form (see attached) will be used to obtain consent from the parents/guardians of the minors participating in this study. The letter will explain the study and ask parents/guardians to reply only if they DO NOT WISH their child to participate in this study. Students whose parents/guardians opt them out of the study will be identified by the researcher and will not complete the survey. Minors who do participate will complete the same

consent form at the start of the study as the adult students.

For leader participants, the researcher will inform all participants that their participation is voluntary and that they may end their participation at any time. The researcher will also set clear boundaries for when data can be collected (i.e. only during program time, and always after clear indication has been given by the researcher that a discussion is "on the record"). All leader participants will be asked to complete a consent form that documents the details of their participation, and explains their

rights as a participant (see attached).

d. Benjamin (Moore) Oliver is the primary investigator for this study. Ben is a graduate student in the Department of Kinesiology with a focus in Outdoor Education. He has been involved with outdoor orientation programs since 1999, and has been preparing for this study on social norms and alcohol use for the last 1 8 months.

Ben will be supervised by Professors Michael Gass and Brent Bell from the Department of Kinesiology, and Professor Anita

Tucker from the Department of Social Work.

4. DATA

All data analyses will be performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 16 (SPSS) statistics software. After all data is coded and entered into SPSS responses will be matched using the identification information provided by students (day of the month of birth and last four digits of student ID). Any responses that are not complete across all four sets will not be

included for analysis.

The primary unit of analysis in this study is pluralistic ignorance (PI). Pluralistic ignorance will be calculated for three of the four constructs measured in this study: quantity of alcohol consumed (question 8), frequency of alcohol use (question 9), and social approval (questions 5-7). PI is calculated by subtracting self-reported averages from the averages for the "your friends" and "students in general" referent groups. Once PI scores are calculated, a repeated measures ANOVA will be used to test for

changes in pluralistic ignorance between groups and across time.

Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) scores will be calculated by finding the product of each of the five questions pairs (questions 1 -2), and then taking the average of those five products. Mean TRA scores will then be analyzed using repeated

measures ANOVA to look for changes in TRA scores across time.

Alcohol use will be self-reported by students in terms of both how often students drink, as well as what quantity of alcohol

students drink in a week. At A simple ANOVA will be used to look for differences in alcohol use between the three groups at

the end of their first semester.

The use of ANOVA to analyze the results will allow a comparison of differences between students who participated in the outdoor orientation program (with and without social norms training for leaders), and those who did not. Results will be

reported in aggregate for each of the three study groups.

Data collected from the leaders will be analyzed using descriptive statistics and t-tcsts to look for differences between groups

in terms of the quantity and frequency with which alcohol was discussed. Data from the group interviews will be used by the researcher to assess what impact training had on the leaders, and whether leaders found their training to be useful. All data will

be reported anonymously or in aggregate.

All surveys and interview tapes/transcripts will be kept in locked storage and then transferred onto a password-protected computer. Only the researcher and members of his thesis committee will have access to the data.

5. RISKS

This study presents no physical risks to participants. There may be psychological risks associated with students' reflection on their alcohol use habits. In addition, there is the risk that students may be stigmatized based on their alcohol use and attitudes. This risk will be minimized by ensuring that participant' identities and responses remain confidential. Confidentiality is a primary concern in so much as the data collected could be used for disciplinary action by the college. The Dean of Students at Hamilton College has written a letter in support of this research guaranteeing that no representative from Hamilton will request

6. BENEFITS

While there are no direct benefits for the participants in this study, the results of this study may have significant benefits for subsequent participants in this, and other, outdoor orientation programs. It is hoped that the results of this study will enhance the effectiveness of the college's outdoor orientation and traditional orientation programs., especially in regard to addressing issues of alcohol use. The possibility exists that similar techniques could be used to reduce discrepancies in other areas, e.g.