Talk:2019/Grants/Reading together: Reliability and Multilingual Global Communities

Hi Amber and Melissa, thanks for the submission. Could you say more about your interview/focus group protocol, especially any information you might gather related to the profile of the interviewees/participants, as well as how the data and results will be stored and made available? Thanks much, --Connieatwork (talk) 17:49, 22 June 2020 (UTC)

Hi Connieatwork, great question. We plan to provide potential participants with a Letter of Information prior to their consenting to participate in the focus group. This letter will inform them of the following:

"If you choose to participate, you will be asked several questions (please see attached sample list) via an online focus group hosted on an end-to-end encrypted platform such as Zoom. We will conduct these interviews between DATES. This focus group meeting will last a maximum of two hours. There are no direct benefits to you as a participant. There are limited risks associated with participation in the research. However, there are social risks, as the Wikimedia/Wikipedia community is small, and some participants may prefer to speak confidentially. In order to maintain confidentiality, all participants can be identified by a pseudonym. Data collected will be encrypted and password protected on an external hard drive. Your name and contact information will be collected. Only we, Amber Berson, and Melissa Tamani, and possibly a transcriptionist who has signed a Confidentiality Agreement will have access to this information.

Your participation is voluntary, and you are free to withdraw at any time before the publication of the research. You can withdraw by sending a written notice by email to OUR EMAIL. You are not obliged to answer any questions that you find objectionable or that make you feel uncomfortable. With your permission, an audio recording device will be used. We will take notes on a computer and record the interviews. The data will be encoded on Amber Berson's computer so as not to identify the participants in case of theft. However, participants will be identified in the final paper if they so choose. We will retain all research data securely for a minimum of five years before it can be destroyed. This will be done using a password-protected hard drive. Following this, the research data will be destroyed. Before the research is made public, we will send you (the participant) the sections where your views are being described. At this point, you will be given the opportunity to modify or delete your quotes/paraphrases within a two-week time frame before the publication is finalized. The publication material may be distributed via a variety of platforms (including but not limited to the Art+Feminism website and Meta.)"

Further, participants will be asked to sign a waiver of participation, acknowledging the reception of the Letter of Information.

I hope this answers the question thoroughly, I'm sorry we weren't more forthcoming earlier about the research ethics of the project. Amber Berson --13ab37 (talk) 22:36, 23 June 2020 (UTC)