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Article History

Received: 6 November 2025

Accepted: 18 March 2026

First Online: 29 March 2026

Declarations

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: Survey 2020: At the Osnabrück University, it is not mandatory to obtain an ethics vote for empirical surveys. The Ethics Committee only becomes active upon request (§ 3(1) Code of procedure of the Ethics Committee of the Osnabrück University). In this study, an online survey was conducted on topics that, in the authors’ view, do not require an ethics committee approval. No disadvantages or harms could be identified in the questions asked; this was also confirmed by the cognitive interviews conducted. Only a few, already extensively tested or validated questions on health (SOEP, WHO) are included in the online questionnaire. The online survey does not deal with medical questions and is non-experimental and non-invasive. Standards, such as the Declaration of Helsinki, the Principles and Review Procedures of Research Ethics in the Social and Economic Sciences (RatSWD Output 9), were taken into consideration. The survey was conducted by an online survey institute (respondi AG). Before registering in the panel, the participants of the studies are informed about the data collection at respondi, the forwarding of the data in anonymized form and the evaluation of the data by the commissioning party (the study organizers) as well as data protection. Respondi declares that all answers will be evaluated anonymously, which means the answers cannot be matched to the panel member. Personal data will never be forwarded on to a third party. Furthermore, panel members will be informed about the remuneration for participating in studies. The panel members agree to participate in market and social research surveys via the panel. By registering, the TOC and data protection guidelines are actively clicked on and accepted. After registration, the panel members will be invited to participate in the survey. The survey takes place via the website . Whether you want to take part in a survey or not is entirely up to panel member. Participants are informed that participation is voluntary, that the study can be cancelled at any time and that membership of the panel can be terminated at any time without incurring any disadvantages. Survey 2022: Approval of the Ethics Committee of the Osnabrück University (Reference: Ethik-61/2021). The study participants declared their consent for participation in the survey. A written informed consent was obtained from all study participants by Bilendi Respondi.

: The authors acknowledge their consent for publishing this article.

: The authors declare no competing interests.