Welcome to our study on mental models with Artificial Intelligence!
We would like to thank you for your interest in participating.

As part of our bachelor’s theses, we are investigating the spontaneous associations people have with Artificial Intelligence (AI). We are particularly interested in people’s perceptions and meaning attributions regarding chatbots, that is, AI systems that are primarily interacted with through written language. These include widely used systems such as ChatGPT, as well as so-called AI companions such as Replika, Candy, or similar applications.

Procedure of the Study
This study consists of a questionnaire and takes approximately 5–10 minutes to complete.

First, we will ask you to answer a few questions about your usage behavior regarding AI chatbots. Next, we will ask you to list several terms that you spontaneously associate with AI chatbots and to evaluate them.
After that, you will be asked to provide brief assessments of your personal understanding of and sense of control when interacting with AI chatbots.
Finally, you will be asked to answer some demographic questions.

For all questions, we are interested in your personal and honest assessments. There are no right or wrong answers. Please respond as spontaneously as possible and avoid thinking too long about your answers.
By participating, you are making an important contribution to a better understanding of how people interpret AI chatbots and how different mental models develop.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

Voluntary Participation and Anonymity
Participation in this study is voluntary. You may withdraw from the study at any time and without giving reasons, without any disadvantages to you.
All data collected in this study will be processed completely anonymously. Your responses will not allow any conclusions to be drawn about your identity. Project staff are bound by confidentiality. The results will be published exclusively in anonymized form.

Data Protection
Your information will be stored without collecting your name and will be used exclusively for research purposes. Your responses will be assigned to a personal code that does not allow any conclusions to be drawn about your identity. No later than one month after the completion of data collection, your code will be deleted. However, as long as the code exists, you may request the deletion of your data at any time. To do so, you only need to provide your code, not your name.
The anonymized data will be stored for at least 10 years. According to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you have the following rights: access to information about the processing of personal data (Art. 15), withdrawal of consent (Art. 7), rectification (Art. 16), erasure (Art. 17), and restriction of processing (Art. 18). In addition, you may contact the Data Protection Officer of Ruhr University Bochum or a data protection supervisory authority at any time with questions. For Ruhr University Bochum, the responsible authority is the State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information of North Rhine-Westphalia (ldi.nrw.de).

Retention Period and Open Access to Anonymized Data
We reserve the right to make the fully anonymized data publicly accessible via the online databases Open Science Framework (OSF) and DataWiz. This procedure serves to ensure good scientific practice. For example, other researchers may review the analyses or test alternative methods of analysis.

Contact Information
If you have any questions or other concerns, please contact:

Responsible researchers: Johanna Helf (Johanna.Helf@edu.ruhr-uni-bochum.de) and Ricarda-Joy Naffin (Ricarda-Joy.Naffin@rub.de)

Project supervisor: Dr. Lisa Thomaschewski (Lisa.Thomaschewski@rub.de)

Data Protection Officer (RUB): Dr. Kai-Uwe Loser, Ruhr University Bochum, Building NB 1 / 68, Universitätsstraße 150, 44801 Bochum, Email: dsb@rub.de

Consent Form

I have been informed about the study and the experimental procedure. I consent to my provided data being used for research purposes. If I had any questions about this study, they were fully answered to my satisfaction by the responsible persons Johanna Helf and Ricarda-Joy Naffin and the project lead Dr. Lisa Thomaschewski. The legal basis for processing the personal data concerning you in studies is your voluntary written consent in accordance with the GDPR (Art. 6 para. 1 letter a).

I agree to the described collection and processing of the data from the questionnaire used.

The evaluation of this data will be carried out pseudonymously at the Chair of Work, Organizational, and Economic Psychology without mentioning my name, using a personal code. This means that no one except me will be able to link my data to my name.  I can revoke my consent to the storage or retention of my data at any time with effect for the future, without any disadvantage to me. After the data collection is completed, but no later than 01.08.2026, my code will be deleted. As long as the code exists, I can request the deletion of all my data. 

I agree that my fully anonymized data can be used for research purposes. For this purpose, they will be kept for at least 10 years after data analysis or at least 10 years after the publication of a report on this study and may be made publicly accessible via an internet database in accordance with good scientific practice. 

I had sufficient time to make a decision and am willing to participate in the above-mentioned study. I understand that participation in the study is voluntary and that I can withdraw at any time without giving a reason.