School Contact Details such as below
School Name
University of New England
Armidale NSW 2351
Australia
Phone 02 6773
Fax
02 6773
@une.edu.au
www.une.edu.au/
INFORMATION SHEET
for
CHILDREN and YOUNG
PEOPLE (AGED 12-16)
“Name of Project entered here”
Dear Students,
We wish to invite you to participate in my research on above topic. Dr Sandra Smale
[insert name] and Dr Percy Marks [insert name] have been teachers in schools and
now teach pre-service teachers at the University of New England. Ms Molly Banks
[insert name] has been a primary school teacher, high school English teacher and is
now also teaching people who want to be classroom teachers at university. Ms Banks
is a research assistant working with Sandra and Percy on this study. We are currently
doing a research study that is trying to find out more about how young people read.
We are hoping that young people, who read well, will help us by taking part in this
study.
This Information Sheet has the answers to many of the questions that you and your
parent(s) may have about the study. There is a lot of information in here so don’t
worry if it is too much for one read. Just read through a bit at a time if you want.
1)
What is the study for and why is it being done
We hope that by doing this study, we will learn more about how children
learn to read very well. There is a lot of research about learning to read
and about children who have difficulty reading, but not very much on
how and why children develop good reading skills. This information will
help us to make teaching programs for teachers so that they can do the best job in
helping children to read better even when they are already reading well. This will be
one of the first studies in Australia and the world to do this for young readers.
2)
What would I be asked to do if I took part in the study?
We want to you to read three (3) different texts over three (3) different days. These
texts will be very easy to read and include a short story, a picture book and a poem
that you may have already read in school before. You will be asked to read these
texts out loud and to then answer some easy questions when you have finished
reading. These questions are a bit different to the questions you might be use to in
class, as there are no right or wrong answers, we want to know what you think about
the texts.
What will be different is that we want to film you as you read and answer the
questions. Filming your answers is very important for this study, as it will help us
understand how you read and how you answer the questions.
You will be asked at the beginning of each session if you are happy to be filmed. If
you are not feeling well, or do not feel comfortable to be filmed, that’s OK, and you
won’t have to read that day.
These films will NOT be seen by anyone except Sandra, Percy and Molly. They will only
be kept for a short time to allow us to gather all the information we need and then will
be destroyed. Until they are destroyed they will be kept in a locked program on a
private computer. This is something we will be very careful about, as we must follow
special rules set down by the university to protect you.
3)
Final Interview
At the third and final reading session Ms Banks will come into the room and
ask you some questions about what you think about reading, the types of
books you like to read and how you learnt to read. This interview will also
be filmed so we don’t miss any important information you have.
It will be very relaxed and informal and you don’t have to talk about
anything that you don’t want to.
4)
Will my parents have to do anything?
Apart from making sure you are happy to participate in this research project, your
parents will be asked to complete a questionnaire about how you learnt to read and
what you were like as a young reader.
5)
When and where would the reading sessions and interview
take place?
Each reading session will be filmed in an office or room at school that you will be
familiar with. The reading sessions will take place once a week over 3 weeks during this
term.
6)
What information will the researchers want me to tell them?
We want you to tell us all about your thoughts and feelings about reading. We want
you to tell us about things that YOU think are important. We want you to tell us what
you think teachers should know about young readers in your position.
7)
Why do you need to video what I tell you?
We video these sessions because when you read, sometimes your body
language will tell us things that your words don’t tell us. If we taped your
voice only, we would miss this important information.
When we have filmed young people reading in the past, we found that
they were more comfortable, and gave much more information when
they were alone in the room with the camera, than when someone was asking them
questions. Sometimes being with someone you do not know makes you worry about
your answers. We do not want you to feel uncomfortable, or to worry at all. If you do
feel worried at all, Ms Banks will be just outside the room and we will stop filming at any
time you want.
8)
What will be done with this information that I give?
First, Ms Banks will take the film to her office and will type out every word that is on the
film so that we know we haven’t missed anything. This is called the ‘transcript’.
When this is being done, Ms Banks makes sure that no-one’s real names are used in
the ‘transcript’ of the interview that is printed out. This makes sure that nobody
reading it can tell who has said what, and so what you say stays confidential.
Then, the researchers read through these typed-out ‘transcripts’ very carefully, making
notes and trying to pick out all of the most interesting and important things that the
participants have been telling us. We are looking for things that will help us and other
people understand more about how children and young people read.
The researchers will write a report at the end of the study so that we can share the
information from this study with other researchers and teachers who are interested
and involved in children and young people’s education.
We also try to write articles about the study and publish these and also talk about the
study at meetings and conferences so that what we have found out actually gets to
people who might be able to use the information to help. If we didn’t do this, then
the children and young people who helped us might feel that they had done this for
nothing.
Remember again though, that in any of the articles or reports, your name will not
appear as what you tell us is confidential and private. What we would do is perhaps
say that “A 10 year old girl who read a special story said that….” or write that “John
(not his real name), said that he likes to read stories that challenge his thinking.”
9)
Who will be told about any information that I give?
Each of the reading sessions and the interview are strictly confidential. What you tell
us will stay within the research team, apart from when we report the study as we
explained above in point (8). None of what you tell us will become part of any school
records or notes. All information remains confidential.
10)
Do I have to take part in this study?
Not at all. You should only take part if you want to and are happy to
be filmed as you do it.
11)
What will happen if I don’t want to take part?
Nothing at all. You have every right to say that you would rather not take part.
12)
Can I change my mind if I decide to participate?
Yes. You can choose to leave the study at any time and nothing at
all will be said, apart from ‘Thank you very much for thinking about taking part’. You
can also choose to discuss or not discuss any aspect of your experience - whatever
you feel most comfy with.
13)
Will the study benefit me in any way?
We can’t promise that you will get any benefit from taking part. However, you might
feel that by describing your reading experiences and thoughts, you may be helping
other young readers and teachers to get a better understanding of what good
readers need in their learning programs.
14)
Have you got permission to do this study?
Yes. We have permission from the Ethics Committee at the Human Research Ethics
Committee of the University of New England. They have looked carefully at this study
and have ‘passed’ it. Other researchers and teachers, including [insert name] and
[insert name] have also looked carefully at the study and thought that it was a good
study to do.
15) What if I have other questions about the study?
Please contact the Principal Researcher, Dr Sandra Smale at any time.
Her office phone number is [insert number]. You can also call Dr Percy
Marks on [insert name] or Ms Molly Banks the Research Assistant by
phoning [insert name].
If you have any complaints about the way this research is conducted, please contact
the Research Ethics Officer at the following address:
Research Services
University of New England
Armidale, NSW 2351.
Telephone: (02) 6773 3449 Facsimile (02) 6773 3543
Email: ethics@une.edu.au
16)
What if I feel that I would like to talk to someone
after the interview about any thoughts, feelings or
problems that I have?
You may contact any member of the research team, or you may
prefer to speak with your classroom teacher or parents.
17)
The formal ‘stuff’:
This project has been approved by the Ethics Committee at the University of New
England (Approval No. HE??/???, valid to ??/??/????).
Please keep this information sheet as you might want to discuss it with friends, family or
relatives.
Thanks a lot for taking the time to read this and for any help that you are able to give
us with this study.
Sandra Smale, Percy Marks and Molly Banks
ASSENT FORM
for CHILDREN and
YOUNG PEOPLE
Research Project: Name of Project entered here
Please write your name after ‘I,’, and circle the yes/no answer you want.
I, ………………………………………., have read the Information Sheet for Students
and any questions I asked have been answered and I understand them.
Yes/No
I agree to take part in this work
Yes/No
I know that I can change my mind at any time.
Yes/No
I agree that any work taken and anything we talk about will be
written about using an invented name.
Yes/No
I agree that the interview being filmed and transcribed.
Yes/No
……………………………..
………………………….
Student
Date
……………………………..
Researcher
………………………….
Date