Technological Talk Impact — Research Study

Thank you!

Join the Study See Details

Expected Start Date

  • Multiple start dates, with the first at the beginning of April 2026 (recruitment lasts up until August 2026)

Duration

  • 4 weeks

What to Expect

  • Daily conversation with a voice-based chatbot or recording a daily audio diary (we will assign which one), min. 5 minutes. You can do this at any time during the day.
  • Short survey and cognitive tasks (around 15 minutes) at the start and end of the study (week 1 and week 4), and three additional 5–10 minute surveys in between. You will have 2 days to do this for each survey (Sunday or Monday each week).
  • Every aspect of this research can be done fully online
    • .

Ethics & Consent

This research has been reviewed and approved by the Capilano University Research Ethics Board on March 2nd, 2026. Participation is voluntary and you may withdraw at any time up until the last survey.

Participant Information (PDF)

About the Study

  • Research Supervisor: Dr. Lesley Schimanski
  • Research Focus: impact of technological talk intervention
  • Study purpose: test how brief, daily audio diaries or voice chatbot interaction can impact a population of adults 65+
  • Time commitment: minimum of 5 minutes/day for 4 weeks and ~10-15 minutes each week (5×) for surveys and tasks
  • Eligibility: English speaking Canadian or US adults 65+ who live alone with access to a smartphone or tablet and internet
  • Compensation: Completion Certificate
  • Privacy: participation is voluntary; you can withdraw anytime up until completing the last survey (after which your survey data will be anonymized); talk data (voice-based chatbot or voice recorder data) stored on US servers, which means this data cannot be garantueed to be private; survey data stored on Canadian servers
  • Contact: nicolaskoch@my.capilanou.ca · (236)808-4099
Join the Study
Photo of researcher Nicolas M. Koch

The Researcher: Nicolas M. Koch

Honours B.A. Psychology student at Capilano University.

Photo of research supervisor Dr. Lesley Schimanski

Research Supervisor: Dr. Lesley Schimanski

Supervising the Technological Talk Impact study at CapU.

Regarding your data during this study

Here is an overview of what happens to your talk data during the study: