WHAT ARE THE POTENTIAL RISKS TO YOU
Potential risks of this research are quite low. The survey results are anonymous; therefore the researchers will not know any personal information about you. However, by communicating through the internet, there is an increased risk of potential compromise of anonymity due to less security. Participation in this research project is voluntary with no repercussions if you choose not to be involved. Some of the survey questions may make you uncomfortable or upset, or you may simply wish not to answer some questions. You are free to decline to answer any questions you do not wish to answer, or to stop participating at any time by closing your browser. If you close your browser before getting to the end of the survey, and do not confirm your consent to participate at the end of the survey by clicking the ‘submit survey’ button, your information collected up to that point will not be used.
YOUR IDENTITY WILL BE ANONYMOUS
The survey is anonymous and as such we will not be collecting information that will easily identify you, such as your name or other unique identifiers. We will give you the option to identify which country you are working in currently. This is to give us a sense of where the majority of the survey participants are located. Although your Internet Protocol (IP) address can be tracked through the survey platform, I, or any member of the research team, will not be collecting this information. Your IP address may be observed only to ensure that one individual is not completing the survey multiple times.
You will be asked if you are willing to provide your contact details to discuss further your survey responses. It is voluntary to share this information with us. If you decide to do this, at the end of the online survey, there is a separate external link to do so that your survey responses will be kept separate from identifying information. Participants will also be given the option to contact the researchers for more information. In either case, contacting the researchers will mean that your anonymity will cease but researchers will protect your confidentiality.
HOW YOUR INFORMATION WILL BE PROTECTED AND STORED
This survey uses SurveyMonkeyTM which is an American (USA) company. Consequently, US authorities under the provisions of the USA Freedom Act (formerly known as the Patriot Act) may access the survey data. If you would rather participate through an email or paper-based survey, please contact the researchers. Please note: email or paper-based surveys may allow your identity to be known to the researcher/s, but if you select this option, your information will be kept confidential.
To further protect your information, data stored by the researchers will be password-protected and encrypted. Data will be shared between the two other researchers Dr. Kay Tisdall, Dr. Christina McMellon, and me over Google Drive, which uses two-factor authentication. Only these researchers and I and our research assistant will have access to the data collected. Any future publications will include collective information (i.e., aggregate data) and possibly refer to some individual participant survey responses.
When the research is completed, the researchers will keep the data for up to five years after the study is over. At the end of these five years, all research documents and research findings will be deleted.
