Thesis: The Privacy Paradox in Academic Research

Privacy behavior is a complex and multifaceted behavior research shows it is influenced by many factors most importantly privacy concerns and demographics and trust. Despite these factors there exists a paradox, The “privacy paradox” refers to the disconnect between an individual's disposition toward privacy and their actual privacy behaviour. Most research on the privacy paradox focuses on marketing and ecommerce or social media.The research examines a phone or web based experience typically using qualitative approach and self repost data into how an user reads items of services or discoloses information. However not a single paper examined the paradox in an academic setting. Informed consent is the bedrock of ethical research. A conservative estimate puts the number of consent forms used in IADT each year at 4,500. Understanding how people read information sheets and consent forms and identify if this paradox is present is highly important.