Planning for Effective and Ethical Research (PEER) Workbook
Before starting your research, it is important to have a plan in place. The purpose of this
workbook is to help your team develop a plan for effective and ethical research.
This workbook was created by drawing in elements from the Research-to-Change Foundational
Tools and Training and the ethical requirements outlined in the Youth Excel Research Ethics
Policy. The foundational tools and training will help support effective research planning, while
the research ethics policy will support ethical research planning.
Research Ethics Requirements include:




An assessment of harms and benefits
Protection of privacy and confidentiality
Justifications for compensation
Ensuring informed consent
This workbook will help you:


Create a plan to conduct research that will achieve your learning goals. (Effective
research)
Ensure that participants of your research are protected and respected. (Ethical research)
Review and approval process: This workbook should be completed and approved prior to any
data collection efforts. Once you complete this workbook, the Youth Excel will review your plan
and help you to ensure that your plan will lead to effective and ethical research. The Youth Excel
review team will be composed of several consortium members who are well versed in research
methods, research ethics, and working with vulnerable populations. The Youth Excel review
team might propose strategies to help your research methods reach your learning goals (i.e.
revising survey questions and analysis plan) and to ensure that your research plan is ethical (i.e.
revising informed consent forms and suggesting different approaches to recruiting vulnerable
populations).
We suggest working through this workbook with your team and getting help from your technical
point of contact or facilitator if needed. Please have your PEER Workbook approved by Youth
Excel before beginning your research-to-change workplan.
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PEER Workbook
Organization Name: LAMP for Technical Education and Entrepreneurship Reproducibility
Name of Team Leader: Narin Ahmad Tajaddin & Shaima Nawzad Bakir
Section 1: Learning Updates
Instructions: Please take some time to document what you learned from your data collection
and how you will use what you learned to change your program. We have included some
questions in the table below that will guide you through this process.
Questions
What was your learning goal?
What Implementation Signals inspired this
Learning Goal? (see table below)
Answers
1-Mitigate Risk-Averse tendency among
people.
2-Develop practical skills to combat RiskAverse via training.
3-Investigation of the implementation of EDP
to fight Risk-Averse spirit.
Feasibility: The extent to which a program is
practical to implement in a particular setting.
Stakeholder relevance: The extent to which
implementation stakeholders (e.g. people who
may influence your program) feel positively
toward a program and its goals.
What type of data did you collect to achieve
this Learning Goal? [select all that apply]
What data collection methods did you use?
[select all that apply]
For each data collection method you selected,
please provide the number of observations you
made or number of people you engaged?
What key findings did you share with your
fellow ICON members? Please provide
specific findings from the data you collected.
 Qualitative
 Quantitative
Other (please explain):_____________
 Survey
 Focus Group Discussion
 Interview
 150 participants from survey forms.
 6 experts and trainers from FGD.
Gender :(41% females, 59% males).
Address in koya: (71 in koya, 6 Taqtaq, 7
Ashty,1 Sktan, 4 Segrdkan, 3 Shorsh, 25 From
other places).
Education level: (80% Bachelor degree, 15%
Diploma degree,7% Preparatory, 7%
Master/Higher Degree, 6% Other)
 Employment status:( 32% employed, 68%
2
What were some key recommendations for
decisions you heard from the data showcase?
What did you learn from the data that you
collected and the data showcase?
How will you use what you learned to change
your program?
not employed).
 Experience in the EDP: (46% Have
experience, 54% Have no experience)
 Business Phase: (60% Idea, 20% Prerevenue, 20% Post revenue)
 Industry of the Startups:(30% Health, 14%
Education, 11% Oil and Enery,10%
Technology & Internet, 7% Food &
Beverage, 7% Services & Finance Bank,
2% Agriculture, 31% Others)
 Willingness to Participate in the EDP:
(74% Very likely, 22% Not sure, 4%
Unlikely)
 Reasons for Joining EDP:(22% To be fund,
10% To learn more about the
Entrepreneurship landscape, 8% To be
Trained, 10% Others)
 Prevention Measure to the Startups: (65%
Financial, 16% Geographical, 15%
Cultural, 4% others)
 Indication towards Business
Ownership:(67% Somewhat well, 26%
Extremely not well , 7% Extremely not
well)
From the FGD and interviews, many people
recommended supporting small businesses as
the best way to improve the economy of Koya
city, also some people complained about the
tax system in Kurdistan.
We learned to Identify a real-life situation to
gather data, make a hypothesis as to the
outcomes, design and implement a method to
collect, organize the results to make a
conclusion. Evaluate the validity of the
hypothesis based upon collected data.
What we learned was helpful to improve our
program in future.
Section 2: New Learning Goals
Now that you have finished presenting your findings and using feedback to adapt your program,
it is time to create a new learning goal. The feedback you received during the data showcase in
addition to your own information needs should guide this process. Using the table below,
consider what you might want to learn about to strengthen your work. As the implementer, you
know best about your learning needs.
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Learning goals should not state what your program seeks to achieve in the long-term. Learning
goals should detail the information you need to make a specific decision in the near future. These
learning goals will help you to identify your information needs which will guide your research
plan. The learning will also help you to connect your learning needs and the data that you collect
to help you make good decisions to strengthen your program.
Instructions: Please create your new learning goal using the table below.
Questions
What were some key questions you received
from the data showcase?
What implementation signals feel most
relevant at this time (see table below)?
What do you want to learn about related to
your work?
What decisions do you want to make using
what you learn?
Let’s make this into a learning goal:
“We need to know [information you want to
learn] so that we can [decision you would like
to make using this information]”
Here are some learning goal examples from
StudentPact
Notes
Gender, Age, Education level, Community
type, Address in Koya District.
Feasibility, Stakeholder relevance, Adoption,
and Reach.
Effect of compound social and economic
conditions on the Risk-Averse among youth.
Developing a universal/local approach to
combat Risk-Averse systematically via training
and entrepreneur development.
We need to know the Effect of Risk-Averse
Spirit on the Business Startups in Koya
District, so we can implement
Entrepreneurship Development Program to
fight Risk-Averse spirit.
We need to know whether school
administrators see this program as a way to
decrease bullying, so that we can invest
programming efforts in schools that might be
more open to implementing the program.
Implementation Signals
Feasibility: The extent to which a program is practical to implement in a particular setting.
Stakeholder relevance: The extent to which implementation stakeholders (e.g. people who may
influence your program) feel positively toward a program and its goals.
Participant relevance: The extent to which potential or actual program participants feel
positively toward a program and its goals.
Adoption: The willingness or decision of implementation stakeholders to initiate a new program
and their reasoning.
Fidelity: The extent to which a program was implemented as it was originally planned.
Reach: The extent to which the people that are eligible to benefit from a program actually
receive it and the equity of this benefit across social groups.
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Effectiveness: The extent to which a program has reached its goals.
Implementation cost: The cost of delivering the program.
Sustainability: The extent to which a program is maintained after your organization has finished
implementing.
Section 3: Data Collection Method Selection
Using your learning goals as a starting point, you will need to identify people to engage or things
to observe, identify the specific details you would like to observe or the questions you would like
to ask, and select the appropriate data collection method to do so in a reasonable time for
decision making. Again, there is no perfect way to collect data and it is up to you as the
implementer to decide which data collection methods will help you achieve your learning goal.
Instructions: Please spend some time connecting your learning goals to a data collection
method using the table below. We provided an example from Student Pact to aid in the
process.
Learning Goal
Who might we need to
engage to achieve this
learning goal?
We need to know
School administrators
whether school
administrators see
this program as a way
to decrease bullying,
so that we can invest
programming efforts
in schools that might
be more open to
implementing the
program
What might we ask
this person?
Data collection
method(s)

Interviews and focus
group discussions




We need to know
Youth

How would you
define bullying?
What do you
believe causes
bullying?
What would need
to change to see an
end to bullying?
What are the
characteristics and
skills of students
that can peacefully
resolve conflict?
What lessons do
you believe sports
programming could
give to students?
How often have
Survey1
1
Gaumer Erickson, A.S. & Noonan, P.M. (2018). Conflict management formative questionnaire. In The skills that
matter: Teaching interpersonal and intrapersonal competencies in any classroom (pp. 183-184). Thousand Oaks,
CA: Corwin.
5
whether all genders
are participating in
and benefiting from
the program, so that
we can identify
strategies to have
more inclusive
programming.


1.
2.
3.
4.
Learning Goal #1:
We need to know the
Effect of Risk-Averse
Spirit on the Business
Startups in Koya
District, so we can
implement
Entrepreneurship
Development
Program to fight
Risk-Averse spirit.
Youths, Minorities(
IDPs, Refuges, and
Persons with
disabilities)



Non-Governmental
Organizations



you attended sports
programming?
What is your
gender identity?
How much do you
agree or disagree
with the following
statements?
During a
disagreement I try
to find a
compromise.
If I’m angry with
someone, I try to
stay calm when
we’re talking.
When I disagree
with someone, I try
to talk it through
with them.
When I disagree
with someone, I
defend my position,
but I don’t put the
other person down
in the process.
Do you have an
experience/knowle
dge in
Entrepreneurship
Development?
If the
Entrepreneurship
Development Progr
am was available
now, how likely
would you to join?
If anything
prevents you from
starting your own
business what
would it be?
Provision of
financial support?
Provision of
FABLAB/Maker
spaces?
Provision of
Incubator/Business
accelerator?
Survey
Interview
6


Do you feel
optimistic to the
impact of
entrepreneurship
development
program in
generating income
of youth in Koya
city?
How does RiskAversion affect the
economy?
Section 4: Data Collection Tools
After identifying the appropriate data collection methods to achieve your learning goals, you will
decide which tool or tools to use for data collection and a plan in place for data collection. A data
collection tool is a document (i.e. interview guide, survey, focus group guide, observation
template) that a data collector can use to gather data consistently when making new observations
or engaging new participants.
When creating any data collection tool, please consider the following:

Be respectful of the time and privacy of the person participating in your research.

Be respectful for the data collector’s time.

Limit the collection of personally identifiable or sensitive information.

Place easier questions first and group questions together by topic.

Use language that is clear and easy to understand within the participant’s native language.

Ensure that tools are relevant to the participant’s perspective.

Only ask questions that you need to know for your learning goals.

Avoid words that make your participant feel like they have to provide a certain answer.

Ask one question at a time so that the participant understands what you are asking
clearly.
The Youth Excel team will help you create your tool and/or review drafts of your tool or tools
after you have created them.
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Instructions: Using the templates below, please create any data collection tools you intend to
use to address your learning goals. We have separate templates for tools that will engage
participants, and tools that will not engage participants. After practicing with your tool,
please provide an estimate for how long the data collection will take place and how you plan
to administer the tool (i.e. online, in-person).
Data Collection Template for Tools Engaging Participants
What data collection method is this?
Who is this data collection tool for?
Questions you will ask:
Age
Gender
Community type
Address in Koya District
Education level
Employed status
Do you have experience/knowledge about EDP
If yes, a brief description of your experience
An industry that your start-up will operate in.
How likely would you join EDP
Survey
Minors
Response Options (if applicable)
……..
(Female or Male)
(Local community, Internally displaced persons,
Refugees )
(Koya, Taqtaq, Segrdkan, Ashty, Sktan, Shorsh,
others)
(Primary, secondary, preparatory, diploma degree,
Bachelor, etc...)
Yes or NO
Open question
Open question
(Agriculture, Education, Construction, Business
service, etc….)
(Very likely, unlikely, not sure).
Data Collection Template for Tools that will not engage participants
What is this template being used to observe?
Details you want to record
N/A
National/International Organization
Notes
N/A
Here is an example of a data collection tool from StudentPact
What data collection method is this?
Who is this data collection tool for?
Questions you will ask:
How would you define bullying?
What do you believe causes bullying?
What would need to change to see an end to
bullying?
What are the characteristics and skills of students
Interview
School Administrators
Response Options (if applicable)
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that can peacefully resolve conflict?
What lessons do you believe sports programming
could give to students?
Section 5: Recruitment and Sampling2
How many people do you need to participate in your research? How many observations will you
need to make? This is called the ‘sample size’. You will also need to have a plan for how you
will reach these people. This is called a ‘sampling plan’. You will not be able to speak with
everyone who is involved in your work, but you will want to determine a sample size and
sampling plan that will allow for those who do participate to represent the perspectives of all
who are involved with your work.
Instructions: Using the table below, please provide your sample size goal and recruitment
plan for all data collection tools provided above. We provided an example from StudentPact
to aid in the process.
Data collection method
Interview
Sample size goal
6 school administrators
Survey
60 students
Focus Group Discussions
Nine focus groups
engaging a total of 42
participants (30 students;
12 teachers):
Three focus groups of
Female students (5 each).
Three focus groups of
Male students (5 each).
Three focus groups of
Teachers (4 each)
Sampling plan
StudentPact will reach out to
two school administrators
from each of the three schools
that they implement sports
programming.
StudentPact will select 20
students from each of the
three schools that implement
sports programming. They
will need to have an equal
representation of genders,
participants, and nonparticipants.
StudentPact will ask school
administrators for each school
to recruit teachers to
participate in the focus group
discussions. StudentPact will
recruit student participants
from those already
participating in sports
programs across the three
schools.
Add your data collection method, sample size goal and recruitment plan here.
2
For additional guidance on sample size and sampling plans we recommend the TDR Toolkit.
9
Interview
6 Non-Governmental
Organizations
Survey
20 Refugees, 20 IDPs and
15 Persons with disabilities
We are planning to conduct
two sessions of meetings with
RWANGA Foundation and
51-Labs, and other
organizations in Erbil soon
The samples have been
presented in the workshop that
was conducted on 15. Jan.
2022.
Careful attention and consideration should be given when planning for the focused and
intentional recruitment and participation of vulnerable groups. Vulnerable groups may be at
higher risk of having negative experiences associated with participating in research (i.e.
retaliation, social exclusion). We encourage the recruitment and participation of these groups,
but need to plan carefully to ensure ethical research. We understand that these groups may be
participating in your research without your focused and intentional recruitment. If you envision
these groups being participants, please check the relevant boxes and explain that the engagement
will not be targeted.
Instructions: Using the table below, please select all vulnerable groups of individuals that
your research will recruit and engage through data collection (i.e. recruited into sample),
explain how they will be engaged, and why it is essential to your program.


Vulnerable Group
Minors (under the legal age
limit for adulthood)
Women and girls
Persons with disabilities
Explain
People who possess very limited chance of getting
involved in private business
Christians who reside in Koya
Religious and ethnic
minorities
Sexual minorities (LGBT+)
Low-income persons

Refugees and internally
Syrian Refugees and IDPs
displaced persons
Houseless or homeless
people
Incarcerated people
Other
Section 6: Harms and Benefits
Ethical research should maximize potential benefits and minimize potential harms to
participants. Having a strategy ensure this is key to ethical research. In this section, we have
outlined some common harms and benefits that should be considered. We understand that harms
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and benefits may differ from context to context, so we have also provided you with an
opportunity to add any additional items (using ‘other’) that you would like to include in your
PEER Workbook. We recommend looking at the Protection Assessment prior to completing this
section.
Instructions: Using the table provided below, please provide strategies to bring the potential
benefits of research to participants.
Benefits
Education and learning through sharing back
findings
Providing information that can help other
youth in the future
Connection and referral to therapeutic and
community resources
Direct social/economic betterment
Strategy
Addressing events (Conferences, Symposium,
Seminars).
Sharing with Government and MOP.
Media via Rwanga channels.
Sharing info with Career Center inside Koya
University.
Sharing info with MOLSA.
Bringing national/international donors to
support the solution.
Make authorities and international
organization avoid at the risk for social aware
and employment crisis.
Other:
Instructions: Using the table below, please provide mitigation strategies for the potential
risks of research stated.
Risks
Mitigation Strategy
Breach of confidentiality
Consent form from Rwanga.
Invasion of privacy/ distress/ re-experience Avoid social harm and cultural marriage.
of trauma
Embarrassment/stigma
Avoid unnecessary personal questions.
Retaliation for participation
Unfair burden through participation
Tokenization and disregard
Harms to researchers
Raising unrealistic expectations
Other:
Free choice of feedback.
Free hours and pre-appointment.
Follow formal protocol.
Follow-up for safety.
Avoid of questions that are unrealistic.
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Instructions: Using the space below, please provide a detailed list of contacts for participant
support (including organization reporting chain) and your response plan for adverse events.
Potential support needs
Psychosocial support or counselling
Medical Care
Legal services and resources
Basic material assistance (food, clothing,
shelter, etc.)
Other:
Support resources
Section 7: Privacy and Confidentiality
Throughout the research process, researchers must ensure that rights to privacy and
confidentiality of youth are protected and respected. Careful attention should be given to
personally identifiable information and potentially sensitive information. Personally identifiable
information is data that can be used to identify a specific person (i.e. name, address, email, other
personal information). Potentially sensitive information is data that if collected could result in a
negative emotional response from participants (i.e. past traumatic experiences, deeply private
information).
Instructions: Using the table below, please detail your approach to protecting participant
privacy and confidentiality.
Consideration
What personally identifiable information
will you be collecting? For each piece of
information, please explain why it matters
for your program.
What potentially sensitive information will
you be collecting? For each piece of
information, please explain why it matters
for your program.
How will you ensure privacy during data
collection?
Approach
None
What practices will you use to make sure
that any data collected is secured and
protected?
None
None
None
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Section 8: Compensation
Compensation is a financial incentive given to participants for participating in research.
Financial exchanges are a great way to express gratitude, but may also have potential to intensify
already existing power dynamics. They even have potential to change the information provided
by the participants. There are different forms of compensation, all with their own ethical
challenges and opportunities. Using the compensation definitions outlined in the Youth Excel
Research Ethics Policy, please detail any compensation (if any) you plan to give to your
participants. Please discuss this with your Youth Excel research advisor if you have questions.
Instructions: Using the space below, detail any compensation (if any) will be provided to
participants. Please include any justifications for your compensation approach.
Section 9: Informed Consent
Obtaining informed consent to participate in the research is central to the research relationship.
Consent signals respect for the research participant’s dignity, their capability to express their
views and their right to have these heard in matters that affect them. Written and signed consent
forms provide the best documentation of consent, but if this is not possible, IREX will work with
partners to ensure an ethical alternative. Every form of data collection will need its own unique
consent form. Additionally, every population you engage will need its own unique consent form.
Finally, if you will be engaging minors (under age 18), an additional informed consent form will
be needed for guardians of that minor.
How many informed consent forms will you need?_Maximum 50_____________________
Instructions: Using the template below, please create an informed consent form(s) that you
will share with participants of your research.
Informed Consent Form Template
1. Introduction
Hello. Our names are [Shayma & Narin] and we are working with [LAMP for Technical
Education and Entrepreneurship Reproducibility]. We are conducting research to better
understand of Risk-averse mentality among Koya’s people. If you agree to participate in this
research, you will be asked about the Risk-averse spirit among youth in a (Survey Form, Focus
Group Discussion and Interview). We hope that the information we learn from you will help us
to fight against risk-averse problem among youth, and make solutions to support people to start
their own businesses.
The questionnaire will take 15 minutes. We are going to record the information on a secured
database and file box. All personal details will be kept strictly confidential and will not be shared
outside of our team.
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There are minimal risks involved with this study. However, you may feel that some of the
questions are difficult for you. If you are uncomfortable with any questions or think they are
personal you can choose to not answer them. Your participation is voluntary and you can choose
not to answer any or all of the questions. You may also choose to stop participating at any time
without providing any reason. Your decision not to participate in the research will have no effect
on your access to the services that you are entitled to. We hope that the information we learn
from you will help us to find the reasons for the risk-averse spirit among Koya people, so we can
find solutions and support for young people in order to reduce the amount of unemployment in
Koya city.
Please ask me if there is anything that is not clear, or if you would like more information. When
all of your questions have been answered and you feel that you understand this research, you will
be asked if you wish to participate in the study and if yes to sign this form.
If you have any questions, concerns, complaints or think there is a Research-related problem,
please contact us:
Name
Contact Information
General availability
Shayma Nawzad
shayma.556217@gmail.com
09:00AM to 05:00PM
Narin Ahmed
narin.522627@gmail.com
09:00AM to 05:00PM
Do you know what you are being asked to do in this research? What is that?
_______________________
Yes
No
Do you want to participate in this research?
Yes
No
Participant’s statement
I have read all the information above or they have been read to me. I have had the opportunity to
ask questions about it and any questions that I have asked have been answered to my satisfaction.
I consent voluntarily to participate as a subject in this study and understand that I have the right
to withdraw from the study at any time.
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TO BE FILLED OUT BY PARTICIPANT ONLY
Please sign your name below by typing your name and the date if you agree to be in this research
study. By signing this consent and authorization form, you will not give up any of your legal
rights. We will give you a copy of the form to keep.
Name of Participant: Narin A. Tajaddin & Shayma Nawzad bakir
Signature of Participant
Date: 15. Jan. 2022
Time
Interviewer’s statement
I, the undersigned, have explained to the respondent in a language he/she understands the
procedures to be followed in the study and the risks and benefits involved. I gave him/her the
contact address, in case he/she has any questions. I confirm that the respondent agreed to
voluntarily participate in the interview.
TO BE FILLED OUT BY RESEARCH TEAM ONLY
_________________________________________________________
Name of Person Conducting Informed Consent Discussion
Signature of Person Conducting Informed Consent Discussion
Date
Time
15