This is the English version of the original German consent form. It is provided for participants who prefer English, but is intended for use exclusively within the context of a research project based in Germany. In any legal interpretation, the original German version prevails.

Consent Form for Participation in the "Talk to That One" Project

Dear Participant,

Thank you for your interest in the "Talk to That One" project. Before you take part in the questionnaires, we would like to inform you about the purpose of the study and how your data will be processed as part of this research project. Please read the following points carefully. At the end, you will be asked to give your explicit consent before proceeding to the questionnaires.

Purpose of the Study and Data Collected

The Talk to That One project aims to bring people into contact with each other. The primary goal is to suggest a suitable conversation partner for you based on the information you provide and to enable contact. The project currently pursues no commercial interests. Secondly, your participation is also intended to contribute to the scientific evaluation of this intervention. We would like to later use the pseudonymized data in fully anonymized form for research purposes and open-science publications. This is to better understand how such facilitated conversations affect certain psychological variables and the conversation experience, and to enable transparent research. Your data will only be used for scientific analyses and publications with your explicit consent.

As part of four successive online questionnaires, we collect various types of data to implement the study design. These include in particular:

• Profile Data: Information about you and your interests, values, communication styles, as well as similar characteristics (e.g., collected in Questionnaire 1 for profile creation).

• Matching Preferences and Availability: Information about your preferences regarding a conversation partner (e.g., preferred age, gender) as well as your availability for a facilitated conversation. In this context, you can optionally provide a contact handle (e.g., your Telegram username) through which your assigned person can reach you (Questionnaire 2). Providing such contact details is optional and serves exclusively to enable direct contact between the matched conversation partners.

• Measurement of Effects: Information about your personal experience and possible effects of the conversation, collected using psychological scales (e.g., after the conversation in Questionnaire 3).

• Feedback: Your feedback on the quality of the match and the conversation experience (e.g., in Questionnaire 4).

Purpose of Use: These data are needed to identify suitable conversation partners, evaluate the course and impact of the conversation, and ultimately answer the research questions of the project. Your data will not be used for any other non-scientific purposes. No commercial use will be made of the data; the project does not pursue any economic interests, but serves exclusively scientific and non-profit aims.

Legal Basis for Data Processing

The processing of your data is voluntary and will only take place after you have given your consent. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR (consent of the data subject). Since this is a scientific research project, processing is also carried out in accordance with Art. 89 GDPR, which provides special safeguards for processing data for research purposes. According to Art. 89(1) GDPR, pseudonymized research data may, in principle, be stored long-term or for an indefinite period, provided that appropriate safeguards (such as pseudonymization) are in place.

Of course, you are free to decide whether to participate in the study and whether or not to agree to the further scientific use of your data.

Handling of Your Data and Data Protection

Your data security and confidentiality are of utmost priority. Data collection and analysis are carried out in a pseudonymized manner. This means that your responses are stored only under a randomly generated identification code – your Public ID – and are not recorded together with your name or other directly identifying data. Additionally, when you fill out the first questionnaire (profile creation), you will receive a second individual code, the Authcode. This Authcode is shown to you only once and is required to authorize the deletion of your data at a later time. Without this code, we cannot carry out a requested data deletion, as we do not store any other person-specific information by which we could identify your dataset. Please record and store your Authcode carefully.

We do not collect or store any directly identifying personal data such as your name, email address, or telephone/address. If you voluntarily provide one or more contact handles (e.g., a messenger ID), it will be stored separately from your survey data and shared exclusively with your assigned conversation partner to enable direct contact. No link will be made between your survey responses and these contact details. The provided handle will not be included in the research dataset and will not be available to any third parties (aside from the person with whom you are matched).

Pseudonymization: Through the use of the Public ID, no one – aside from yourself – can recognize which responses come from you. All linking information that could be used to establish a connection to your person (e.g., the link between your Authcode and your dataset) is stored separately and managed only by the study leadership. This linking data will be deleted after the data collection is completed. Thus, after the project is concluded, your individual dataset can no longer be identified by the researchers. When analyzing the data, your survey responses will only be referenced by the pseudonymous participant code (Public ID).

Data Storage and Security: The pseudonymized data are stored on secure servers and are accessible only to the authorized research team. We take all appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your data from unauthorized access. The raw data will not be shared with any third parties outside the research team.

Storage, Retention Period, and Open-Science Publication

Your data will be retained only as long as is necessary for conducting the study, performing the scientific analysis, and archiving the project. In accordance with good scientific practice and legal requirements, research data are stored for at least 10 years in pseudonymized or anonymized form. Personal contact data (such as any provided handles) and purely matching information (e.g., availability details) are deleted periodically and at the latest 90 days after collection, since they are only needed short-term for the matching process.

After completion of the project (i.e., once all surveys and analyses are finished), all remaining data will be permanently anonymized. In doing so, any still-existing links between dataset and person (in particular the linkage via Public ID/Authcode) will be removed so that individual persons can no longer be identified. The results of the study will then be published in scientific form. This can also mean that we make anonymized datasets publicly available in the spirit of open science (for example, by providing them in a research data repository). We will, of course, ensure that no conclusions about your identity can be drawn from the published data. In scientific publications, only aggregated or pseudonymized overall results are presented, never identifiable personal information.

Please note: Once your data are fully anonymized and (if applicable) published, it is no longer possible to delete your individual dataset, since anonymized data can no longer be associated with any person. Until that point (see below “Voluntary Participation and Right of Withdrawal”), however, you can request deletion at any time.

Voluntary Participation and Right of Withdrawal

Your participation in this study is voluntary. You can stop the survey at any time without giving a reason, or refuse to participate, without any disadvantage to you. If you do not consent, simply close the browser window or discontinue the survey.

You also have the right to withdraw any consent already given at any time. This means you can, even after submitting the questionnaires, request that your personal data no longer be used and – insofar as possible – be deleted.

For this purpose, after completing the first questionnaire (profile creation), you will be provided with your individual codes (Public ID and Authcode). By providing your Authcode, you can contact us at any time via email and request the deletion of your stored data. We will then promptly comply with your request and remove all of your identifiable data from our systems. Please note that deletion is only possible as long as your data remain pseudonymized (i.e., still assignable to you via a code).

Once all linking information is deleted and the data are anonymized, these anonymous data are no longer subject to the right of withdrawal under Art. 7 GDPR, because it will no longer be possible to associate the data with you. Anonymous data can therefore continue to be used for scientific purposes, and retroactive individual deletion is not possible. By giving your consent, you agree that your anonymized data may also be stored and used for research purposes beyond the duration of the study.

Your Rights under the GDPR

As a data subject, you also have the following rights, provided the respective legal requirements are met:

• Right of Access: You can request confirmation of whether and which personal data about you are stored, and obtain information about the details of the data processing.

• Right to Rectification: You have the right to have inaccurate or incomplete personal data corrected.

• Right to Erasure: You can request the deletion of your personal data, provided the legal requirements for this are fulfilled (see above regarding the right of withdrawal).

• Right to Restriction of Processing: Under certain conditions, you may request that your data be processed only in a restricted manner.

• Right to Object: You can, at any time and for reasons arising from your particular situation, object to the processing of your data.

• Right to Data Portability: You have the right to receive the personal data you provided in a commonly used, structured, and machine-readable format, or to have those data transmitted to a recipient of your choice.

To exercise these rights, you can contact us at any time using the contact information provided below. You also have the right to approach the competent data protection supervisory authority with any privacy concerns.

Contact for Questions

If you have any questions about the "Talk to That One" project or about the processing of your data, please feel free to contact us. The party responsible for data processing in this study is:

Study Lead/Project Lead: Christian Langkamp
Institution/Organization: Initiative GemEinsamkeit
Contact Email: talktothatone@initiative-gemeinsamkeit.de

Please do not hesitate to contact us if anything is unclear or if you need further information. We will be happy to answer your questions.

Declaration of Consent

Please now confirm that you have read and understood the above information and that you voluntarily consent to the processing of your data as described for the matching process. If you do not consent, you can abort your participation at this point. Otherwise, by selecting the following option, you agree to participate:

Yes, I agree that my personal data collected as part of the "Talk to That One" project – as described above – may be processed and used for the purpose of matching me with a conversation partner. (Consent for the additional use of my data in pseudonymized or anonymized form for scientific analyses will be obtained at the end of the questionnaire in a separate question.)
I am aware that I can revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future; for this, providing my personal Authcode is required. (Consent pursuant to Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR.)