Thank you for your interest in our study “A-Eye-[in]sight: AI in ophthalmology”. The study is aimed at ophthalmologists and ophthalmic medical personnel (e.g., ophthalmic nurses / technicians / assistants, optometrists) practicing in North America.

Goal
The aim of this study is to develop a deeper understanding of ophthalmology professionals’ perception of ophthalmic artificial intelligence (AI) and to shed light on factors relevant to the adoption and implementation of ophthalmic AI tools in clinical practice.

Voluntariness of participation & compensation
Your participation is voluntary and can be terminated at any time without providing any reasons. This will not result in any disadvantages for you. Furthermore, the study data will be analyzed using pseudonyms and published study data will be anonymized, so that it is not possible for third parties to draw any conclusions about you personally. 
You will receive a $20 Amazon gift card for your participation. You will receive the gift card by e-mail after your interview appointment. An additional $50 Amazon gift card will be raffled off once data collection is complete and the winner will be contacted via e-mail. This study is funded by the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts.

Procedure
1. This short online questionnaire contains a few demographic questions about you and your work in ophthalmology / eye care. At the beginning of the questionnaire, you will receive information on data protection and your consent to participate in this study will be obtained. We will then contact you via email to invite you to schedule the appointment for the online interview using the online calendar tool Doodle.

2. The interview (~ 20-25 min) will take place online via the video conferencing tool Zoom. You will receive the Zoom link together with the calendar invitation once you have scheduled an appointment. It will be a one-on-one interview conducted by the project lead or a member of the research team. The interview will focus on your perception of AI tools in ophthalmology. The interview will be recorded using a recording device, and, if you agree, using Zoom’s recording feature. When the interview is recorded using Zoom, a video recording and an audio recording are automatically created. The video recording will be deleted immediately after the interview, as only the audio file is relevant for the purposes of this study. At the beginning of the interview, the researcher will ask you whether you agree to the interview being recorded additionally via Zoom.

On behalf of the entire research team, I would like to thank you for your participation and your important contribution to this research. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the project lead:

Insa Schaffernak, M.Sc.
Project lead „A-Eye-[in]sight: AI in ophthalmology“
insa.schaffernak@psy.lmu.de
+49 821 5586 4012