Interview script and informed consent form

TREASURE TREASURE Workspace
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Here is the informed consent template I have (I tweaked it to make it more applicable; obviously it can be shortened or expanded as appropriate to us) – the “fill in the blanks” parts are in italics @alberto @nadia @ivan

INFORMED CONSENT FOR:

Study Title

Principal Investigator’s Name, Phone, and E-mail address:

You are being asked to be a participant in a research study.

What is the purpose of this study?

The purpose of this study is [describe in lay terms the reason why the research is being conducted; what is the purpose of the study].

What will you have to do, if you agree to be in the study?

If you agree to be in this study, your part will involve [provide full detail regarding all research procedures the participant will undergo if consent is provided]

Are there any possible risks to being in this study?

If you agree to be in this study, there are no foreseeable risks to you, above those that you experience in your daily life.

Are there any possible benefits to being in this study?

There is no direct benefit to you by participating in this study OR You may benefit by being in this study by [explain how the participant may benefit if applicable]. AND/OR The results of this study will indirectly benefit the scientific field by adding new information about the topic being studied.

(include only if applicable) Will you be paid as a research participant? [NICA NOTE: NOT RELEVANT FOR US HERE IF THERE ARE NO INCENTIVES – BEER DOES NOT COUNT J ]

Yes, you will be paid [identify the amount of payment, and how it will be prorated over the course of the subject’s participation, if longer than a single session]

How will your anonymity be protected?

Use this statement if the subject’s information is not connected to their identity at all, including via use of a code, other label, or IP address: Your name will not be linked in any way to the information you provide. Your consent form will be kept separate from your study information.

OR , If data will be connected in any way to the subject’s identity:

We will make every effort to protect the confidentiality of study information that identifies you [add specific details and any security measures for electronic data-password protection, encryption etc].

Your information will be viewed by the study team and other people within [name of institution/commissioning client/publicly posted online – @matthias ] who help administer and oversee research. If information from this study is published or presented at scientific meetings, your name and other identifiable information will not be used. [Modify as applicable to the study]:

Important Contact Information

Please contact the [Principal Investigator Name] via e-mail at [E-mail address] if you have any questions about the study, or if you believe you have experienced harm or injury as a result of being in this study.

Your participation is voluntary!

Your participation in this study is voluntary. You may decide not to participate at all or, if you start the study, you may withdraw at any time without any penalty.

Signing your name below indicates that you (a) have read this consent form, (b) you agree to be a participant in this study, and (c) you are over [X] years old.

Participant’s Signature Person Obtaining Consent

Printed Name Printed Name

Date Date

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Once people weigh in on what they think about this format in principle, we can fill in the draft.

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hi @Nica - I this the questions in your form are good and more specific/ easier to parse than what we had so far. Just in case we miss something, I dug up the questions we have for the uploading of interviews onto the platform - there has been extensive discussion around it in the different channels where we also discuss any issues that pop up: 📗 Ethics and Consent Process Manual . Perhaps some of it makes a good addition?

Why we are interviewing you and what we do with the data

Before you participate in this interview we want to be sure you understand that this is for academic research and how we will use your data.
In Edgeryders, participants meet and share “cutting edge” knowledge around various topics. We encourage researchers to treat information as a window into societal, economic, technological, and political trends and transformations that affect all of us. Participants in online discussions in video form and text form might reveal where they stand with respect to important societal, economic and political issues.

To be able to make sense of the different points of view and present them as relevant and valuable knowledge to our community and to the outside world, we treat data with integrity.

We record the video and text conversations that are then coded by ethnographers to reveal the meaning and important points of the conversations and to identify topic and relationship patterns.

We publish all research results under a Creative Commons license that is readily available to the community on http://edgeryders.eu.

Consent Form to participate in Edgeryders research activities (events, interviews)

By registering to this event, I acknowledge that:

  • I do not fear bad consequences when sharing with others my views and alignment on societal, economic, technological and political issues.
  • I do worry about the risks involved in sharing my views and alignment online, where others (such as the government or my employer) could access them. Therefore, I protect my identity to a degree I think is adequate, for example by using a pseudonym for this interview.

This platform where we publish the results of the interview is moderated, to avoid harassment and exploitative behaviour, but to allow unconstrained conversation between the researchers and people interested in this topic. Knowing this, I would:

  • Engage in a conversation about importantrelevant issues in my country, and how it should be reflected by the government’s policies.

Our EdgerydersConsent Manual

@Nica here is a general manual for ethical consent in

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Thanks @nadia! I think the first part of what you posed ("why are we interviewing you?) aligns with the “project description” and can be integrated into that or used in lieu of that. @matthias sent me the same excerpt that you posted here for “by registering for this event I acknowledge that…” and that seems like it’s perfectly tailored for online discussions people register for. It may be confusing for a more “classic” in-person interview approach, which is what will be happening on Wednesday at the car event, right? They are not registering for anything, they will just be approached by the journalist, as I understand it; they will presumably sign the informed consent forms with their real names, so the onus will be on us to assign pseudonyms when transcribing and uploading the interviews to the platform, etc. So I don’t know how applicable that format is specifically for the Treasure context of in-person interviewing. Thoughts?

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Hello everyone – here is the link to a draft of interview questions for Wednesday that I wrote. Please let me know your thoughts/feedback, what else might need to be included, etc.

@alberto @ivan @nadia

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Thank you @ivan for going through and formatting the interview script document! Does anyone have feedback on the content? I left as “optional” a photo prompt on the second page – when I do my own research, I like to include questions like that, as ethnographic provocations, but I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, methodologically. @alberto do you have any thoughts about that?

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Hello, I have worked a bit through the texts to adapt them to Treasure.
This is the informed consent one, and this is the interview script.
Let me know if they work, please.

I think the journalist can manage with these, but would it be useful for you, @nica to have a quick chat with the journalist today/tomorrow?

Here is the informed consent in German.

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Not really, I have little experience in ethno interviewing. Anyway, I made a pass on both the consent form and the interview script.

@ivan: why is this thread in a protected cat?

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It started following the tasks and deliverables of the project and we just kept going.
Please break it up in an interview/consent thread if necessary.

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These are also not confidential.

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Do we know how the interviews went this past weekend with this script?

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We have the recordings now (here).
We need to transcribe them and send them back to him for the consistency check.
@nadia - are we using Descript for this?

@jos talked to 21 people, he is not sure of the quality of the content and is asking for some feedback.

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REPORT Technorama Ulm 2022

I was from Friday to Sunday in Ulm. During this weekend, I got talks to 21 people from Technorama. The talks are from both sides, from Sellers and Buyers. Please check the videos which I uploaded to you. Maybe you have some suggestions for me to improve it.
b

Technorama is purely a market for the sale of used parts. There were about 60% used parts for old motorcycles, about 20% for oldtimer cars and the remaining 20% all sorts of things, like at a flea market.
f
peg)

I came to Ulm already on Friday on my own to get myself prepared. The exhibitors were busy for setting up their stands on Friday, so I got only 3 people for talks and signatures.
c

On Saturday the exhibitors tried to sell their goods and the visitors were looking around for specific parts for their old motorcycles or cars. I got contact with many people, but I got at the same time a lot of refusals for recording. Most of them told me that they don’t have time for recording. However, I got on Saturday in total 13 talks recorded and undersigned.
g

h

Sunday was the last day ended at 4:00 p.m. Exhibitors tried to sell as much as possible and visitors were in a hurry to find certain car or motorcycle parts.This made it very difficult to start a talk. So I got on this day 5 talks recorded and undersigned.

Unfortunately, 11 people would like to have a talk with me, but when they were informed that they have to give their signatures in the consent form, they refused and they didn’t want to talk anymore. Some people seem to be suspicious when they were asked to sign. One of them told me that it would be easier, if he gave his consent into the micro. I pass this question to you.

The recorded people always expected questions. That’s why it became more an interview than a talk.

From my point of view, such pure sales markets are not the ideal place for recording discussions. For example, it would be easier to visit meetings of car owners from various forums - in Germany there are a lot of forums for all car brands and almost all models. At their meetings they

have much time for communication and exchange of opinions. Such meetings are now slowly starting again after Corona.

I hope my recordings are OK for you. I didn’t expect that the upload time took me so long.

I look forward to your feedback.

Best, Jos

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Hello,

Clip-transcription with Roberto and Peter is corrected and uploaded.

But following links I can’t open.

Alex and Silvester Descript

Josef Descript

Jos

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Thank you @jos – I look forward to looking at the transcriptions. I don’t see where the initial transcriptions (Robert and Peter) are uploaded, they don’t appear to be in the same folder as the video clips. Even though it’s not translated yet, I can already take an initial look using Google Translate.

In terms of people expecting questions, and the result being interviews, rather than conversations – were all the interviews done one on one? What were the challenges, if any, in creating groups of several people to answer the prompt questions?

Re informed consent and signatures, some organizations accept oral consent as adequate, but I don’t know whether that is the case here – @alberto do you know? In general, it is an unfortunate reality of ethnographic research that in many cases we are limited by people’s willingness to participate in the written informed consent process.

Thank you for that insight about sales markets not being optimal for discussions in the way that car owners’ meetings may be – that makes sense.

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Hi @Nica,

I did corrections at Roberto/Peter and Josef transcriptions. Now I’m on Alex/Silvester transcription. I didn’t know, that you can’t see them in the doc-folder I uploaded them.
I try to upload this 2 at the same folder as the video clips are.

Just a minute. Please tell me, if they appear.

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Thank you @jos – yes, I can see the Roberto/Peter one now. I ran it through Google Translate, and I can see it has interesting insights. I am looking forward to seeing all of them – and then based on that I should be able to refine questions/instructions, if necessary, for future interviews and conversations.

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Thank @Nica

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@alberto – what do you think of @jos 's question about flexibility on the consent format?

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From the EU’s excellent paper:

Research ethics committees often seek proof of consent having been properly sought and given by requiring the completion of a written, possibly signed and, in some cases, independently witnessed form. Such a highly formalised requirement seems sensible when a risk of harm to the participants may be anticipated. But it is also clear that such formality could alienate some potential participants who might fear the researcher is a representative of ‘officialdom’ and who might be wary of such engagements. Indeed some anthropologists complain that they are aware that asking for a signature would be seen as offensive in the communities they study. In such communities it implies that the respondent is not trusted.

Re-reading that sub-section (“Formal consent”), the emphasis is in consent not as an event, but as a process. In general, I would see no issue replacing the written consent form with an audio one.

The interviewer would say: I am Jane Doe, I am working on research such and such, and I would like to know your point of view. If you accept, I am going to record our conversation, transcribe it, and put the transcription (associated to a pseudonym, not your real name) in a repository of text documents that will be used for the research. If we do this and you change your mind and no longer want to participate, get in touch with us and we will immediately remove your interview from the repository. I am leaving you an information sheet with contact information.

And the interviewee would reply: OK, I am Jack Citizen. I understand what you said, and happy to go ahead for now.

I think this makes sense. What does @markomanka think?

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