IRB Approved: 09/03/2009
Do Not Use After: 09/02/2010
Title “Faith and Place: An Ethnography of Vox Veniae in East Austin”
IRB PROTOCOL # 2009-06-0057
Conducted By: Nadine Romig of The University of Texas at Austin: American Studies
Telephone: (512)797-2653 Email: nadine.r@mail.utexas.edu
Faculty Sponsors: Dr. Robert Abzug and Dr. Steven Hoelscher
Telephone: phone: (512) 471-7277
Vox Veniae: Participant Observation
You are being asked to participate in a research study. This form provides you with information about the study.
The person in charge of this research will also describe this study to you and answer all of your questions. Please
read the information below and ask any questions you might have before deciding whether or not to take part.
Your participation is entirely voluntary. You can refuse to participate without penalty or loss of benefits to which
you are otherwise entitled. You can stop your participation at any time and your refusal will not impact current or
future relationships with UT Austin or participating sites. To do so simply tell the researcher you wish to stop
participation. Upon request, the researcher will provide you with a copy of this consent for your records.
The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between places and people’s religious beliefs and
practices. Places can refer to a variety of environments including sites, buildings, neighborhoods, cities, and
nations, as well as the social relations that occur in places. To examine this relationship, this study will consider
how people within a specific religious community – Vox Veniae -- think about places, experience places, and
physically shape places on a local and global scale. This study will investigate the development of religious
beliefs and practices of Vox members. In addition, this study will ask East Austin community members their
perceptions of and experiences in East Austin, including the activities of religious communities within East
Austin. The study will also consider social relationships between Vox and the Eastside community.
If you agree to be in this study, we will ask you to do any or all the following things:
• This research involves the observation and interaction of Nadine Romig with adult participants in
ordinary daily life.
• This research involves interviews and focus groups. You may be asked to answer questions about
any or all of the following:
your religious beliefs and practices;
your life experiences related to religion and places you have lived or visited;
your life experiences related to your ethnic / racial heritage;
the places where you live, work, visit, and practice your religion;
your civic activities;
your interactions with non-Vox members who live and work in Austin’s Eastside;
your interpretation photographs of various Eastside places.
Study Term: The study will be conducted from September 1, 2009-August 31, 2010. Some members will
participate in interviews / focus groups that are 60-90 minutes each in length.
Confidentiality and Privacy Protections:
Nadine Romig will make every effort not to reveal personally identifiable information in publications based
on this research.
• Pseudonyms will be used to protect individual and group identities.
• Non-relevant details about individuals or settings will be altered.
• Your actions or things you say may be presented without specific reference to you, reference only by
pseudonym, or combined anonymously with the actions and words of other.
• Neither the residential locations of the members nor the neighborhoods in which they live will be
identified or displayed in publication.
IRB Approved: 09/03/2009
Do Not Use After: 09/02/2010
IRB # 2009-06-0057 Page 1 of 2
• Participation is strictly voluntary. Participants are not obligated to answer any questions.
Participants may decline to have their activities or interactions documented. You may decline
participation at any time by notifying the researcher or the Vox Navigation team.
• If there is anything that you do not wish to have quoted, you may say at any point what you wish
to have kept “off the record,” and it will not be quoted.
Risks of being in the study
• The risk associated with this study is no greater than participating in everyday life.
• Loss of privacy and confidentiality as anonymity cannot be absolutely guaranteed. People within the
community and without may be able to identify the Vox Veniae community and individual members.
• Stress or embarrassment.
• This study and interview may involve risks that are currently unforeseeable. If you wish to discuss the
information above or any other risks you may experience, you may ask questions at any time by
contacting Nadine Romig.
• If the researcher should observe or otherwise learn of child or elder abuse while visiting your home,
confidentiality will be broken; state law requires the reporting of abuse to relevant agencies (Child
Protective Services or the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services).
Benefits of being in the study
• There are no direct benefits for the research population.
• Potential benefits to be gained by the participants are the production of documents that may aid them in
assessing their community culture, as well as a record of their history.
• Benefits that accrue to society include the production and dissemination of new research knowledge and
an increase in understanding the phenomenon under consideration.
Compensation:
• None
The records of this study will be stored securely and kept confidential. Authorized persons from The University
of Texas at Austin, members of the Institutional Review Board, and (study sponsors, if any) have the legal right to
review the research records and will protect the confidentiality of those records to the extent permitted by law.
Throughout the study, the researcher will notify you of new information that may become available and that
might affect your decision to remain in the study.
Contacts and Questions:
If you have any questions about the study please ask now. If you have questions later, want additional
information, or wish to withdraw your participation call Nadine Romig. Her phone number and e-mail address
are at the top of the first page. If you have questions about your rights as a research participant, complaints,
concerns, or questions about the research please contact Jody Jensen, Ph.D., Chair, The University of Texas at
Austin Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects at (512) 232-2685 or the Office of
Research Support at (512) 471-8871 or email: orsc@uts.cc.utexas.edu.
Upon Request, you will be given a copy of this information to keep for your records.
IRB # 2009-06-0057 Page 2 of 2