The Leisure and Wellbeing Study (LEWiS) aims to advance the science around leisure activities, including gambling and drinking, and how they relate to wellbeing. Specifically, the aim of the study is to develop a deep understanding of leisure activities – not just behaviour, but also attitudes towards these activities and motivations for engaging in them – and which of these factors decrease wellbeing.

SIGN UP TO OUR RESEARCH PANEL

Help us with our research. By signing up to take part in our study via short online surveys you can help shape the wellbeing of everyday Australians just like you. For more information, please see the FAQ at the bottom of this page or email us at lewis@cqu.edu.au. You can also connect and engage with LEWiS on Twitter and Facebook for regular updates and ongoing results from the study - anyone can join.

The research team

This study is led by Dr Alex Russell of the CQUniversity Experimental Gambling Research Laboratory (EGRL), and is a collaboration with the entire team in the EGRL.

LEWIS logo

Frequently Asked Questions

No. Much of our research is focused on gambling, but we recognise that gambling is linked to other behaviours, like drinking and smoking.

Not at all. It is often particularly useful to compare people who gamble to people who do not, to understand differences.

Our surveys will include a mix of very short surveys and longer surveys, usually with a cap at about 20 minutes (although some people are slower or faster than others, so this may vary). Our aim is not to burden you with surveys, but also to keep you engaged.

A lot of our work is based on surveys, but we also strive to make surveys as interesting as possible. Our surveys may include videos, or fun tasks, rather than simply answering questions. It all depends on whether we can use fun techniques to answer the research question we’re interested in. But we may also ask you to take part in other types of research, such as coming into a lab to work more directly with us, or answering interviews via the telephone or Skype or similar. You can choose to take part if you like, but you are under no obligation to take part in all of our research.

No! We know your time is important. However, it helps our research if you take part in more surveys, and we appreciate each survey that you complete for us.

You may have been automatically enrolled in the panel because you had previously taken part in our research and agreed to be recontacted. Some of you have already taken part in multiple projects from us in the past. You were effectively already on a panel of research participants, but now we’re formalising this into a proper study. We even gave the study a name: LEWiS.

Of course! Our research is completely voluntary. All emails from the panel software should include an opt out link at the bottom. If you are having problems with that, please contact us at lewis@cqu.edu.au and we’ll sort it out.

Yes! When you take the first survey, there is an option to enter email addresses of your friends, family, whoever you feel would benefit from taking part. Alternatively, just send them to cqu.edu.au/lewis and they can join up themselves.