OFFICIAL USE ONLY
SURNAME:
URNAME:
REF. NO.:
ARCHIVE:
7
25 
MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY
ETHICS REVIEW COMMITTEE (HUMAN RESEARCH)
INITIAL APPLICATION FORM (Version 1 November 2005)
APPLICATIONS MUST BE TYPED OR WORD PROCESSED. HAND WRITTEN
APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
ALL RESEARCHERS MUST COMPLETE SECTIONS 1–13
DO NOT COMPLETE OR ATTACH APPENDICES UNLESS RELEVANT TO
YOUR APPLICATION
Double Click the Yes, No, or N/A check box to indicate your answer.
For further information on how to complete this form, view the Guidelines for Application
Form Version 1 – 01/11/05
SECTION 1: PROJECT SUMMARY AND ADMINISTRATION DETAILS
1.1
Project Summary
(a)
Full project title
AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF THE SOCIAL MEANINGS AND USE OF MOBILE PHONES IN
SYDNEY.
(b)
If this research is being conducted as a teaching project, provide the unit
code and name
ANTH801, Methodology in Local and Community Studies
(c)
Short name by which the project will be known (if appropriate)
The social meaning and use of mobile phones
(d)
Name of Chief Investigator
Dr Lisa Wynn
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1.2
Previous Ethics Clearance/ Clearance from other Institutional Ethics
Committees (IECs)
(a)
Has this project been previously approved by Macquarie University’s Ethics
Review Committee?
NO
(b)
YES
Are you applying for a new clearance because the previous ethical clearance
for this work has expired? (ie: it has been 5 years or more since the original
clearance was issued)
NO
(c)
YES
Will this project be submitted for approval to any other institution or
ethics committee?
NO
(go to Q1.3)
1.3
YES
Type of Research (please tick the most appropriate):
i. This application is being submitted for staff research
purposes
ii. This application is being submitted by staff and/or
students for teaching purposes
iii. This application is being submitted by a student enrolled
in a degree program
Type of degree undertaken (please tick one)





Doctorate
Masters
Post Graduate Diploma
Honours
Other – please specify
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1.4
Duration of study
(a)
Indicate the proposed date of commencement of the project (Researchers
are reminded that projects may not commence without the written approval
of the Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC)).
Date
(b)
21 August 2008
Proposed completion date of the project:.
Date
15 December 2008
(Note that approval is given only for a 12-month period which may be renewed upon
application for up to 5 years (using the Progress Report Form). After 5 years from the
original approval date you will need to submit a Final Report for the work and a new
application for approval if you wish the project to continue. The 5 year time limit enables
the Committee to fully review research in an environment where legislation, guidelines
and codes are always changing.)
1.5
Indicate where the research will be undertaken. Please specify all location(s)
and venues (including the URL for Web based studies).
Interviews will take place either in an open, public space on Macquarie University
campus (e.g. the Atrium, the courtyard, etc) or, if it is preferable for privacy
and for the sound quality of the recordings, they may choose to conduct the
interview in the Anthropology Meeting Room in C3A 6th floor (this is a public
classroom and meeting room where seminars and colloquia are held).
1.6
Investigator Details
List the details of the Chief Investigator, and any Co-Investigators, Associate
Investigators, Supervisors, Research Assistants or Research Co-ordinator
Chief Investigator
Name:
Title:
Staff:
Staff/student
no.
Qualifications
Positions held:
(if student,
specify degree
and course in
which enrolled)
Full mailing
address:
Tel No. (W):
Tel No: (H):
Mobile No:
Fax number:
E-mail address:
Lisa L Wynn
Dr
Student:
20072935
PhD
Associate Lecturer, Department of Anthropology
Lisa Wynn
Department of Anthropology
Macquarie University
NSW 2109
02 9850 8095
02 9868 4896
0424 852 816
02 9850 9391
lisa.wynn@mq.edu.au
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Co-Investigator , Associate Investigator , Supervisor ,
Research Assistant , Research Coordinator
(please tick one)
Name:
Title:
Staff:
Staff/student
no.
Qualifications:
Positions held:
(if student,
specify degree
and course in
which enrolled)
Full mailing
address:
students in ANTH 801 (not yet named)
Student:
**Please note: This is one of 4 optional research projects for
students of ANTH 801, and students will self-select the
research topic they wish to investigate by the second week of
the course (Semester II, mid-August 2008). After students
have selected the project they wish to work on, Dr Wynn will
provide their full contact info to the Ethics Secretariat, along
with specific information about which project each student has
chosen to work on.
Students enrolled in ANTH801, the core methods course of the
Masters of Applied Anthropology program (but some students
in other programs may be taking the course as an elective)
Tel No. (W):
Tel No: (H):
Mobile No:
Fax number:
E-mail address:
1.7
Nominated Contact Person (nominate one person from Q1.6 above who will
be the first point of contact for the ERC (HR) regarding this protocol)
Name:
Dr Lisa Wynn
1.8
Funding Details
(a)
Is this a funded project or do you intend to apply for funding?
NO
(go to SECTION 2)
YES
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SECTION 2: NATURE OF RESEARCH
2.1
The nature of this project is most appropriately described as involving: (please
tick the relevant box or boxes - more than one may apply)
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
action research
observation
documentary (film, audio and/or video)
questionnaire(s)
on-line data collection (please ensure you have read the guidelines for on-line
research available at:
http://www.research.mq.edu.au/researchers/ethics/human_ethics/onlineresea
rch)
f. focus groups or interviews
g. experiments
h. physiological investigations(s)
i. clinical studies
j. biomechanical devices(s) or invasive devices or procedures
k. blood, tissue, recombinant DNA, gene therapy, or biohazardous material
(APPENDIX E must be completed if you tick this item)
l.
behavioural genetics, genetic screening and/or genetic related
epidemiological studies
(If you tick this item please refer to Section 16 of the National Statement On
Ethical Conduct In Research Involving Humans before proceeding with the
completion of the application or call the Research Ethics Officer on (02) 9850
7854).
m. exposure to ionizing radiation
(APPENDIX F must be completed if you tick this item)
n. the administration of illegal drugs, legal drugs (eg, alcohol, nicotine) and/or
medication that is NOT part of a clinical trial
(APPENDIX G must be completed if you tick this item)
o. a clinical trial of drug(s) or device(s)
(APPENDIX H must be completed if you tick this item)
p. other (please provide details)
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SECTION 3: RISKS AND BENEFITS
3.1
Could the research induce any psychological or physical stress in the
participant, or in any other way adversely affect participants?
NO
(go to Q3.3)
3.2
YES
What procedures/facilities/trained personnel are available to deal with such
problems?
n/a
3.3
Will the true purpose of the research be concealed from the participant(s)?
NO
(go to Q3.4)
3.4
Does the research require any physically invasive, or potentially harmful
procedures (e.g. drug administration, needle insertion, rectal probe,
pharyngeal foreign body, electromagnetic stimulation, chiropractic
manipulation)?
NO
(go to Q3.5)
3.5
YES
YES
If you are doing research on patients, list the procedures/techniques which
would not form part of routine clinical management.
NA
3.6
Please list any drugs/devices to be used, and their approval status both
overseas and in Australia.
NA
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3.7
What are the expected benefits of this research, including any direct or
indirect benefits to participants? (This does not refer to financial or other
remuneration for participation in the study).
This research project is being used as a student exercise to teach them about
anthropological research methods. The goal is to give graduate students
hands-on experience doing research “in the field” i.e. out of the classroom
environment. It will help develop their interview, observational, and
analytical skills and bring the study topic alive in very concrete ways.
Beyond the goals of pedagogy, this research project will contribute to
anthropological understanding of how people incorporate global
communication technologies into their social lives.
There are no direct or indirect benefits to participants of this research project, but
as it is an innocuous street survey that will take no more than 10 minutes
and individuals will easily be able to refuse participation, I believe that the
benefits to pedagogy outweigh the burden of participating and the negligible
risk involved.
3.8
Does this research involve the direct investigation of any illegal behaviour or
have the potential to elicit information about illegal behaviour?
NO
(go to SECTION 4)
YES
If you answered YES, please provide the following details:
(a)
Has this illegal behaviour already been dealt with by the criminal
justice system
YES
(go to Section 4)
UNSURE
(b)
Describe the types of illegal behaviour that are the subject of this
research or might be identified in this project.
(c)
Is it possible to link the identity of participants and information about
illegal activity?
NO
YES
If you answered NO, what steps have been taken to ensure that participants
cannot be identified?
If you answered YES, please assess the risk to participants and provide a
justification for exposing participants to this risk.
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(d)
Are any of the participants in this study likely to be perpetrators, victims
and/or witnesses of the illegal activity?
NO
YES
If you answered YES, please provide further details.
(e)
Do any of the illegal activities involve minors?
NO
YES
If you answered YES, please provide further details.
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SECTION 4: DESCRIPTION OF PARTICIPANTS
4.1
What is the age range of participants involved in this study?
18 years and older
NOTE: IF YOUR STUDY INVOLVES YOUNG PEOPLE UNDER THE AGE OF 18
(excluding university students) YOU MUST COMPLETE APPENDIX C.
4.2
Are the participants who are the focus of this research/teaching project:
(Please tick the boxes that apply to the participants involved in your research.
More than one category may be applicable)
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.
l.
m.
n.
o.
p.
q.
in a teacher–student relationship with the
researchers or their associates ?
in an employer–employee relationship with the
researchers or their associates ?
in any other dependent relationship with the
researchers or their associates ?
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander?
(if you tick this box APPENDIX A must be
completed)
Residing in countries outside Australia
(if you tick this box APPENDIX B must be
completed)
wards of state ?
prisoners or detainees ?
refugees or asylum seekers?
members of the armed services ?
mentally ill ?
intellectually impaired?
physically disabled?
unconscious or critically ill patients ?
in a carer-client relationship with the researcher
(e.g., medical practitioners, social workers,
psychologists, legal practitioners, etc)?
in a carer-client relationship with other
professional workers(e.g., medical practitioners,
social workers, psychologists, legal practitioners,
etc)?
If you ticked any of the above, please give details.
HEC Application From Version 1 November 2005
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SECTION 5: RECRUITMENT OF PARTICIPANTS
5.1
How many participants will be involved in this study?
Each student of ANTH 801 who selects this topic for their research project (I
estimate that between 3 and 5 students will choose any given topic) will aim
to interview 50 people on the street. Thus, a maximum of 250 participants
will be recruited. Additionally, the researchers will use participant
observation to study cell phone use in their own lives and those of their
peers. However, participant observation this will not involve any obvious
research intervention (in the form of interviews, for example).
5.2
Recruitment of participants
(a)
Specify how potential participants will be identified.
Students will select a public space on Macquarie University campus or elsewhere
in the city on a public street or park space. They will station themselves in
this place and approach passersby. In other words, a convenience sample
will be used based on location. Students will be instructed to approach
passersby without regard for personal appearance, except to avoid
approaching anyone who appears to be under the age of 18.
After students who choose this research project select the place where they want
to undertake their interviewing, I will forward to the ethics committee a
precise list of locations where the interviews will take place. However, in
general students will be advised that they may only choose a public space
not owned by any individual or corporation (unless they seek the permission
of that individual or corporation and file evidence of their consent to use that
space with the ethics committee). They will also draw on their own life
experiences as cell phone users, and they may recruit friends from their
social networks for informal conversations about cell phone use.
(b)
How will contact with participants be made?
Student researchers will make a direct, personal approach to strangers in public
spaces, inviting them to be interviewed as part of this research project. A
script for how this approach will be made is included at the end of this
application.
For any observational study, no contact will be made. Students will observe in
public spaces to see how people use their cell phones in such space (e.g. do
they lower their voices when talking on a cell phone in a bus, or speak loudly
without regard for whether strangers might overhear their conversation?)
and will be guided on how to do so in an unobtrusive manner.
For students who decide to informally interview friends and peers about cell
phone use, the students will make a direct, personal approach to those
friends, seeking their consent to talk to them about the topic. The script
provided with this application guides students on how to avoid pressuring
friends into participating in the research.
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(c)
Who will be involved in the recruitment of participants?
Students in ANTH 801
(d)
If recruiting will be done through an organisation, specify how
consent from the organisation will be obtained. Please provide
copies of relevant correspondence with the organisation.
n/a
(e)
Will participants be involved in any related studies?
NO
5.3
YES
Does recruitment involve a direct personal approach from the researchers to
the potential participants?
NO
YES
If you answered YES, what precautions will be taken to minimise any
pressure (real or perceived) on individuals to enrol?
- Students will be supplied with a script to guide their approach to potential study
participants and an information and consent form that makes clear
participants’ right to refuse to participate and/or withdraw from the study at
any time.
- Students will be instructed during an in-class discussion of research ethics that
they must not exert any pressure on participants to enrol in the study and in
the provided script, are given special guidance on the importance of
approaching recruitment with particular deference when inviting friends to
participate in the study, since friends may feel more obliged to participate
than strangers would.
5.4
Does recruitment involve the circulation/publication of an advertisement?
NO
YES
If you answered YES, provide a copy of the advertisement. (Please refer to
Section 7 of the Guidelines for information on advertisement content.)
5.5
Will participants receive any financial or other benefits as a result of
participation?
NO
5.6
YES
Is the research targeting any particular ethnic or community group?
NO
YES
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(go to SECTION 6)
If you answered YES, which group is being targeted?
5.7
Will recruitment be conducted in consultation with a representative of this
group?
NO
(go to (a))
YES
(go to (b))
(a)
If you have not consulted a representative of this group, please
provide your reasons for not undertaking any consultation.
(b)
If you have consulted a representative, with whom have you
consulted? How do they represent this group?
SECTION 6: PRIVACY AND PUBLICATION OF RESULTS
6.1
Is there a requirement for the researchers to obtain information of a personal
nature (either identifiable or potentially identifiable) about individuals:
YES
NO
a. from Commonwealth departments or agencies?
b. from State departments or agencies?
c. from other third parties, such as universities,
hospitals, schools, private practices, business etc?
IF YOU ANSWERED “YES” TO ANY OF THE ABOVE ITEMS YOU MUST
COMPLETE APPENDIX D. THIS IS A REQUIREMENT OF STATE AND
COMMONWEALTH PRIVACY LEGISLATION.
6.2
Will you be recording any part of your study on audio tape, film/video, or
other electronic medium?
NO
YES
If you answered YES, what is the medium, what will be recorded and what are
the circumstances under which this recording will be undertaken? For what
purposes is the recording required? Does the proposed research activity
involve the secretive use of any photography, video recording, audio
recording or other recording method?
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Students may choose to audio record their short interviews in order to accurately
represent the word-for-word responses of participants in class presentations
and/or final papers resulting from this research project. Students will be
instructed that quotes must be used anonymously and with pseudonyms.
No personal identifying information will be sought in the street interviews
other than the general questions about cell phone use.
No secretive recording, either visual or audio, will occur.
6.3
How will the results of the study be disseminated (publication and presentation
of the research results)?
Students will use the results in their final papers for ANTH 801 and will submit the
results for publication to an academic journal or magazine of their choice.
Dr Lisa Wynn will describe the general results of this class exercise and the other
class research projects on Culture Matters, the Anthropology Department
blog, and in a paper to be submitted for publication to a journal on
pedagogy.
6.4
Do you intend to present data relating to specific individuals (eg. Quotes, video
clips, audio excerpts) in presentations or publications?
NO
YES
If you answered YES, please provide details below.
If students use quotes from specific individuals in their research papers, they will
be used in de-identified form and with no identifying details included.
When Dr Wynn describes the project on Culture Matters or in a publication, the
project will be described as a whole and without identifying individual
students, unless they choose and consent to be identified (and consent will
be sought at that time from students).
6.5
How will the confidentiality of data collected/disseminated, including the
identity of participants, be ensured (this includes data referred to in 6.2
above)?
Students will assign pseudonyms to participants when they record responses to
their street interviews, and with each student aiming to recruit 50
participants on the street, it will be impossible to correlate names provided
on I/C forms with pseudonyms. In interviews with friends and field notes
based on participant observation, students will also be instructed to use
pseudonyms and avoid potentially identifying personal details when
collecting data, transcribing interviews, and presenting results.
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6.6
Give details of how feedback or results will be made available to individual
participants or, if relevant, to other groups. If no feedback is planned, a
justification for this must be provided.
Results of the class exercise will be described on Culture Matters and this will be
noted in the I/C forms for participants.
6.7 Are you planning to retain the data for the minimum period of 5 years from
the most recent publication of the research?
NO
YES
If you answered NO please explain why not.
6.8
Provide details about where the data will be securely stored while the project
is ongoing and after it is completed (eg. will it be stored in a locked filing
cabinet in the researcher's University office, in a locked cabinet in the
researcher's home office?).
I will instruct students to retain all digital data on password-protected computers
or computer disks/drives and that any hard copy materials should be stored
in a locked file cabinet in my University office.
6.9
Who will have access to the data (eg. Researcher, supervisor, other
researchers not stated on the application, any other third party)?
Students who are conducting this research project (their names will be submitted
to the Ethics Secretariat by August 15th, after they have decided which
research project they want to do for this class). Supervisor Dr Lisa Wynn
may access the data on request.
6.10 Is there any possibility that information of a personal nature could be revealed
to persons not directly connected with this project?
NO
YES
If you answered YES, please provide details.
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SECTION 7: PARTICIPANT INFORMATION AND CONSENT
7.1
Will written consent be obtained?
NO
YES
If you answered YES, attach a copy of the Information and Consent Form.
(Note that two copies of the consent form must be signed, with the
participant and the investigator each retaining one of the copies.)
7.2
Will the consent of minors participating in the research be obtained?
Note: In projects involving children, parents should be asked to discuss the study
with their children/child before signing the consent form, and researchers should
obtain verbal consent from the child at the time the research is undertaken. For
studies involving adolescents, written consent should normally be obtained from a
parent/guardian and children. Researchers should also ensure they have read the
guidelines, “Guidelines For Obtaining Consent In Research Involving Child Or
Adolescent Participants” located at:
(http://www.research.mq.edu.au/researchers/ethics/human_ethics/consentadolesc
entschild).
NO
7.3
YES
NA
(go to Q7.3)
In the case of participants for whom competence in English is not adequate for
informed consent, what arrangements have been made to ensure
comprehension of the Participant Information & Consent Form?
Interviews will be conducted in English, as it is assumed that most if not all
research participants will be students and staff of Macquarie University.
7.4
(a)
Please indicate whether the following details have been provided in your
Information Statement and Consent Form.
YES NO
N/A
i. A short title for the project
ii. A brief statement of the aims of the research
iii. The names of the researchers, their Department affiliations
and contact telephone numbers. If you intend to provide
participants with your home phone number, please indicate
why this is necessary in the space provided in 7.4 (b) below.
iv. Acknowledgment that the research is “being conducted to
meet the requirements for the degree of (name of degree)
under the supervision of (Supervisor’s name, contact
telephone number and Department affiliation)”
v. An explanation of what each participant is expected to do
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and an estimate of the time commitment involved
vi. An acknowledgment of any recording using audio-tapes,
videotapes, or photographs and explanation of how this
material will be used
vii. An objective statement of any risks or discomforts
viii. Any payment of money or other remuneration, e.g. course
credits
ix. Information about how confidentiality of the data will be
maintained, i.e. how privacy will be maintained, who, if
anyone, will have access to the data other than the
researchers/supervisor and for what purpose, the form in
which the data will be published.
x. Any plans to make the data available in de-identified form to
other researchers (other than those listed on this application
form) in the future.
xi. Information about how participants can obtain feedback
regarding the results of the research.
xii. An acknowledgement of any sources of funding for the
research, including commercial or other sponsors.
YES
xiii. A statement indicating that participation is voluntary
and guaranteeing participants the right to withdraw
from further participation at any time without having
to give a reason and without adverse consequence
NOTE 1. The statement about withdrawal is N/A for
studies using anonymous questionnaires.
NOTE 2. Macquarie University students who receive
course credits for their participation must be assured in
writing in the consent form that they will not forfeit their
course credits if they choose to withdraw from the
research
xiv. A signed statement of agreement to participate in the
research, e.g., “I agree to participate in this research,"
with the consent form signed and dated by the
participant and signed and dated by the investigator
or other witness.
xv. A statement indicating that the participant has been
given a signed copy of the consent form to keep.
xvi. A footnote regarding complaint procedures as
follows:
The ethical aspects of this study have been approved by
the Macquarie University Ethics Review Committee
(Human Research). If you have any complaints or
reservations about any ethical aspect of your participation
in this research, you may contact the Committee through
the Research Ethics Officer (telephone [02] 9850 7854,
fax [02] 9850 8799, email: ethics@mq.edu.au). Any
complaint you make will be treated in confidence and
investigated, and you will be informed of the outcome
(b)
NO
N/A
If you answered NO to any of the above please provide details below:
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SECTION 8: POSSIBLE CONFLICT OF INTEREST
8.1
In undertaking this research do any “conflict of interest” issues arise? (For
instance, is the researcher in a dual role such as researcher/teacher,
researcher/carer, researcher/employer? Does the researcher have access to
personal files/databases as a condition of employment rather than as a
researcher?).
NO
YES
If you answered YES, please provide details of the conflict of interest and
considerations or mechanisms in place to address these issues.
8.2
Will this research be undertaken on behalf of (or at the request of) a
commercial entity, or any other sponsor?
NO
8.3
Do the researchers have any affiliation with or financial involvement in any
organisation or entity with direct or indirect interests in the subject matter or
materials of this research?
NO
8.4
YES
Do the researchers expect to obtain any direct or indirect financial or other
benefits from conducting this project? (Note that such benefits should be
included in the Information Statement and Consent Form).
NO
8.5
YES
YES
Have conditions been imposed upon the use, publication or ownership of the
results including the review of data, manuscript draft or scientific
presentation by any other party than the listed researchers?
(Note: The Committee is unlikely to approve arrangements that involve the
censorship of research findings in publications.)
NO
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YES
17
SECTION 9: OTHER ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
9.1 Are there any further ethical considerations that you wish to raise?
NO
YES
If you answered YES, detail what these considerations are.
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SECTION 10: DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT
10.1 Describe the aims and objectives of the project and the methods to be used.
Include a description of the participant sample, and tasks, measures, and
procedures. Write in plain English using no more than two pages (font size not
less than 12 point).
This application seeks conditional approval from the ethics committee for graduate
research project to be completed as a requirement for ANTH 801, Methodology in Local
and Community Studies, convened by Dr Lisa Wynn. The purpose of the assignment is
to ground the theoretical texts we will be reading in class with a hands-on project that
will help students to concretely understand anthropological methodologies by
implementing them in their own research.
Attached to this application are the relevant pages from the course outline, the entirety of
which is available online at http://www.anth.mq.edu.au/maa/unit_pages/801/ANTH801syllabus-revised-06-08.pdf. We will spend the first two weeks in class extensively
discussing the ethics of human subjects research with an in-class presentation by Dr
Wynn of some of the complicated issues pertaining to informed consent, followed by
class discussion based on the readings and the presentation.
As soon as students select a research project from the four suggested research projects,
which they will be required to do by Week 2 of the course (14 August), I will submit to
the Ethics Secretariat a list of student names and which project each will be undertaking.
All students who opt to undertake one of these research projects will be required to write
their own ethics application form which I will review. This is to give them experience in
the process of ethics applications for human research, and it will also give me something
to assess their comprehension of the ethical issues involved in their particular research
project.
If, in their mock ethics application that they submit to me, students propose any
modifications to the research project as it has been described here (such as a different list
of proposed interview questions or any different strategy for recruiting participants), then
I will submit an amended ethics application form reflecting these changes, and no
research will be undertaken until approval has been received from the ethics committee
for the modifications.
Below is a short description of the proposed research project. More details, including
references, can be found in the course outline.
AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF THE SOCIAL MEANINGS AND USE OF MOBILE PHONES IN
SYDNEY
Anthropologists have always been interested in the relationship between technology and
culture. Contemporary anthropologists have recently been particularly interested in
the spread of global communication technologies and how they are taken up in
local social and cultural contexts (Axel 2006). Cell phones, in particular, have been
revealed as devices which extend social networks in unique ways and which have
been incorporated into local cultural norms about sharing, gift giving and exchange,
and economic strategies (Smith 2007, Horst and Miller 2006, Wong 2007).
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Corporate anthropologists have also researched the materiality of cell phones –
where they are carried, how they are held, when they are turned off and on – to
inform product design (Chipchase 2007). Sociologists and psychologists have also
examined the uptake of cell phone and messaging technologies amongst subcultural
groups (e.g. Sylvia and Hady 2004).
Globally, some 3 billion people are expected to have cell phones by the end of this year,
so it is clearly a technology that has a powerful global reach across cultures and
socioeconomic class, and Jan Chipchase has argued that this is because of a
universal appreciation of its ability to transcend space and time, its privacy and
convenience, its accessibility to illiterate populations, and its potential to be used
for innovative street banking and other economic transactions (Chipchase 2007).
Methodology: This research project is designed as a study of the cultural context of
mobile phone use, which will be studied specifically through a targeted
questionnaire to be administered on public streets and other public spaces through
convenience sampling, with a carefully scripted approach to potential research
participants (provided as an addendum to this application along with a list of
sample questions to ask). This quantitative study will be supplemented by
participant observation, with students paying close attention to the use of mobile
phones in their own lives and those of their friends, relatives, and colleagues. They
may also supplement participant observation with targeted interviews of friends
within a social network.
I have deliberately kept the parameters of this research project as open as possible within
certain constraints meant to guide ethical research practice. This is so that students
can take the research project in their own direction, depending on their research
interests. What may therefore appear to be a very broad research design in this
application will subsequently be narrowed down considerably by individual student
researchers. The constraints designed to guide ethical research practice include
sample information and consent forms, and scripts for approaching potential
participants. These scripts carefully lay out the students’ approach, how and when
to get the I/C form signed, and how to obtain consent for audio recording to be used
in interviews.
I have here provided a list of questions and a general script to guide students in
approaching potential participants as a model I/C form, but I will submit an
amendment to this application if students wish to deviate from this script, the I/C
form, or the list of questions, and research will not proceed until approval is
obtained from the ethics committee for such amended procedures.
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SECTION 11: SUPPORT DOCUMENTATION
11.1 Have you included the following support documents with your application?
YES
NO
NA
a. copies of any correspondence with other institutions
or ethics committees
b. a copy of the contract if this is contracted research
(refer Q1.2 (d)
c. copies of relevant pages of your grant application
(refer Q1.8 (e)
d. copies of Information and Consent Forms (Note that
the consent form is to be printed on Macquarie
University (or other appropriate) letterhead only
AFTER it has been approved
e. copies of any interviews, questionnaires, or surveys to
be used
f. copies of any participant recruitment advertisements
g. APPENDIX A
h. APPENDIX B
i. APPENDIX C
j. APPENDIX D
k. APPENDIX E
l. APPENDIX F
m. APPENDIX G
n. APPENDIX H
PLEASE ONLY SUBMIT THE APPENDICES THAT ARE RELEVANT TO YOUR
RESEARCH. IF THEY ARE NOT RELEVANT TO YOUR RESEARCH DO NOT
COMPLETE THEM AND DO NOT INCLUDE THOSE PAGES IN YOUR APPLICATION.
REMOVE THOSE PAGES BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR APPLICATION. IF IN DOUBT
CONTACT THE RESEARCH ETHICS OFFICER, on ethics.secretariat@vc.mq.edu.au
or phone (02) 9850 6848.
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SECTION 12: CERTIFICATION
12.1 To the best of my belief the proposed project conforms in all respects with the
National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Research Involving Humans.
Information about and links to legislation, guidelines and codes governing
research with humans is available at:
http://www.research.mq.edu.au/researchers/ethics/human_ethics/forms
Signed:
Name (block letters):
Date:
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Relevant sections from ANTH 801 course outline
(outline in its entirety is available online at
http://www.anth.mq.edu.au/maa/unit_pages/801/ANTH801-syllabus-revised-06-08.pdf :
WEEK 1 – INTRODUCTION
7 August 2008
Introductions and talking about course projects. One of the major goals I have as a
teacher is to see my students publish. There are countless journals out there (Sage alone
publishes 470 journals!), and a requirement of this course is that you do an original
research project and submit your final paper for publication somewhere. You can write a
paper as an individual or a group. You don’t have to get it published, but you do have to
submit to get full credit on your paper! We’ll talk about journals, about social science
writing and publishing, and make concrete plans to work toward that goal. See the end of
this course outline for suggested research projects.
Human Research Ethics
To do a research project involving human subjects, you will need to get approval from
the university’s human ethics review panel. If you are doing a project that does not
involve protected subjects (including but not limited to children, the mentally
incapacitated, the incarcerated, and Aboriginal Australians) or investigation into any
illegal activity, then this is typically a quick review and can take as little as a month to
receive approval. Otherwise it can take somewhat longer.
If you choose your own research project, you’ll need to work quickly to get human ethics
review board approval for your research project in this class. One way around this is to
make your research project for this class connect with your thesis project. If you’ve
already gotten ethics approval for your thesis, then you can use it for this research as long
as you’re not doing anything substantially different than what you outlined in your
original application for ethics approval. Even if you are planning on doing something
different, as long as it still ties in with your thesis project, you can simply file an
amended application. Otherwise, you will need to submit your ethics application to me
by the SECOND WEEK OF CLASS.
If you decide to do one of the pre-approved, suggested research topics, then there will be
less lag time waiting for ethics approval before you can start your research. We’ll discuss
research topics and the human research ethics approval process in class.
JOURNAL: Write a description, 1-2 pages long, of your research topic. In it, you should:
1) briefly describe the project and some broad theoretical questions that relate to it. (For
example, you could ask: What is the interface between “real life” and virtual social
worlds in online social games? How do new technologies such as cell phones extend
or modify existing cultural norms and social networks?) See the list of suggested
research project topics at the end of this course outline for some ideas.
2) Specifically, you should identify: What is the value of this research? What will it tell
us that is new?
3) What are the specific methods that you anticipate using to study this research project?
If doing interviews, how will you approach research participants? 1 and 2 should
basically be a draft of section 10.1 from the ethics review application form – see
http://www.research.mq.edu.au/researchers/ethics/human_ethics
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4) Are there any risks to your informants? How will you ensure the confidentiality and
safety of yourself and your research informants? This relates to concrete practices:
how will you protect their identities as you do your research (in terms of how you
store the data and using pseudonyms for transcribing interviews or writing fieldnotes)
and when you write up the final results in a paper (in terms of not just pseudonyms
but changing any identifying feature)? Where will you interact with your informants?
(e.g. will you keep interactions in public spaces and a cell phone with you at all
times?)
5) How will you ensure informed consent of your informants? In particular, think about
how you can do this if one of your methodologies is participant observation of your
own every day life (for example, if you’re researching the social implications of cell
phone use) – at what point do you bring up your research topic with your friendsinformants, how do you minimize pressure on them to feel like they have to cooperate
with you in pursuing your research agenda, and what will you do if they don’t want
you to write about them? Will you used signed informed consent sheets? Or is there
some compelling reason why it would be preferable to obtain oral, rather than written,
consent?
6) Finally, you should draft a list of sample questions that you plan to ask your
informants, either informally as you interact with them in everyday life, or in a formal
interview context. Come up with a list of at least 10 questions.
Be concise and think through the ethical research implications of your research project.
What you should aim for is a research project that poses no risks to your research
participants/ informants beyond slight annoyance. If you think that your project carries
greater risk than this, you should come talk to me about it and we can write a separate
ethics application that takes these special circumstances into account.
Next week: a draft of your human subjects ethics application is due (electronic
format!)
WEEK 2 – DISCIPLINARY BOUNDARIES AND ETHICS: WHAT DISTINGUISHES
ANTHROPOLOGY FROM...?
14 August
Readings:




Rena Lederman, “Introduction: Anxious borders between work and life in a time
of bureaucratic ethics regulation,” and
Rena Lederman, “The perils of working at home: IRB ‘mission creep’ as context
and content for an ethnography of disciplinary knowledges.” American
Ethnologist 33(4): 477-491 (November 2006).
Daniel Bradburd, “Fuzzy Boundaries and Hard Rules: Unfunded Research and the
IRB.” American Ethnologist 33(4): 492-498 (November 2006).
American Anthropological Association Code of Ethics
Class discussion: led by ______________________&___________________________
JOURNAL: By this week, you should have formulated your research project or site and
submitted a draft of your ethics application to me (for those of you who have picked an
independent research project). This should be in electronic, NOT paper, format. During
HEC Application From Version 1 November 2005
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the week, I will read these and return with edits, comments, and suggestions for revision.
A finalized version must be submitted by Week 3 (again in electronic format).
Class discussion:
1) Research topics – from broad rubrics to an actionable research project
2) PowerPoint presentation: Two ways of looking at “informed consent” (ppt
presentation and background readings, by Brooke Ronald Johnson and Francine
van den Borne, will be available on Blackboard)
Section of course outline that discusses research project:
2. AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF THE SOCIAL MEANINGS AND USE OF MOBILE
PHONES IN SYDNEY.
Anthropologists have always been interested in the relationship between technology
and culture. Contemporary anthropologists have recently been particularly interested
in the spread of global communication technologies and how they are taken up in
local social and cultural contexts (Axel 2006). Cell phones, in particular, have been
revealed as devices which extend social networks in unique ways and which have
been incorporated into local cultural norms about sharing, gift giving and exchange,
and economic strategies (Smith 2007, Horst and Miller 2006, Wong 2007).
Corporate anthropologists have also researched the materiality of cell phones – where
they are carried, how they are held, when they are turned off and on – to inform
product design (Chipchase 2007). Sociologists and psychologists have also examined
the uptake of cell phone and messaging technologies amongst subcultural groups (e.g.
Sylvia and Hady 2004).
Globally, some 3 billion people are expected to have cell phones by the end of this
year, so it is clearly a technology that has a powerful global reach across cultures and
socioeconomic class, and Jan Chipchase has argued that this is because of a universal
appreciation of its ability to transcend space and time, its privacy and convenience, its
accessibility for even illiterate populations, and its potential to be used for innovative
street banking and other economic transactions (Chipchase 2007).
How do new technologies such as cell phones extend or modify existing cultural
norms and social networks? What are the explicit and implicit cultural rules that
shape how people use these technologies? There’s a lot that’s been written on this
subject, so think: what can you do that is unique and will add to the literature? You
might decide to focus on the cultural meanings of cell phone use amongst a particular
subculture that you know well, for example, or you might try to think of a clever way
to study people’s interpretation of the strategy of Australian cell phone providers to
market minutes of talk time in terms of dollar equivalents (i.e. “pay $29 and get $200
of talk time!” – but how is it $200 if you paid $29 for it, and nobody ever pays $200
for that amount of talk time?)
Method: This research project is designed as a study of material culture, which will
be studied specifically through a targeted questionnaire to be administered on public
streets and other public spaces through convenience sampling. You may either use
the suggested questions below, or develop your own set of interview questions:
HEC Application From Version 1 November 2005
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Sample interview questions:
- What things do you do with your cell phone? (e.g. talk, take pictures, send SMS, read
and send e-mail, access the Internet, keep track of appointments, etc)
- When do you use your cell phone?
- When do you avoid using your cell phone?
- When do you turn on your cell phone, and when do you turn it off?
- Who do you call on your cell phone?
- How did you decide to buy the particular cell phone that you use?
- How do you decide on a calling / minutes plan for your cell phone?
- What does it mean when a mobile service provider says that $29 = $200 of talk time?
You should aim to recruit at least 50 people for this study, which may involve
multiple sessions of interviewing. (See what Bernard 2006 has to say about the
numbers needed to produce robust and reliable results when undertaking quantitative
research.) If more than one person decides to undertake this research project, you
may wish to ask the same questions and pool your results together (once the data is
deidentified and pseudonyms assigned) so that you have more data to analyze.
In addition to a quantitative survey, you may also want to ground this project in
participant observation of your own life and that of your friends, relatives, and
colleagues. Watch and listen: how do you use your cell phone to communicate with
people? How do your friends use their cell phones? Think about the materiality of
cell phones: where do you put them during the day? Where and when do you buy
them, how do you pay for talk time? Do you text or call more? Do you speak openly
in public places or do you retreat to private spaces to talk on the phone? Is any aspect
of cell phone use part of a gift economy (see Marcel Mauss’s classic “The Gift” and
Daniel Jordan Smith’s study of cell phone use in Nigeria), is it “just” a commodity, or
does it straddle both economies? You may wish to supplement participant
observation with targeted interviews of friends within a social network.
Some recommended readings:







Daniel Jordan Smith, 1983. “Cell Phones, Sharing, and Social Status in an African
Society.” In Applying Anthropology: An Introductory Reader, 8th edition. A
Podolefsky and P Brown, eds. New York: McGraw Hill, pp.305-312 (chapter
46).
Heather A. Horst and Daniel Miller, 2006. The Cell Phone: An Anthropology of
Communication. Berg.
John Lycette and Robin Dunbar, 2000. “Mobile Phones are Lekking Devices
among Human Males.” Human Nature 11(1): 93-104.
K.N. Sylvia and S.W. Hady, 2004. “Communication Pattern with SMS: Short
Message Service and MMS: Multimedia Message Service as a Trend of Conduct
of Modern Teenagers.” International Journal of Psychology 39(5-6): 289.
Andrew Wong, 2007. “The Local Ingenuity: Maximizing Livelihood through
Improvising Current Communication Access Technology.” Ethnographic Praxis
in Industry Conference Proceedings. Oct 2007, Vol. 2007, No. 1: 104-114.
Brian Keith Axel, 2006. “Anthropology and the New Technologies of
Communication.” Cultural Anthropology. 21(3): 354-384.
Jan Chipchase, “Our Cellphones, Ourselves.” Talk for TED: Ideas Worth
Spreading, March 2007. http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/190
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Guidelines for observing and scripts for recruiting participants
For students undertaking research project “Social Space and Intellectual Climate at
Macquarie University”
1) Observing in public: If you are observing public behaviour in public spaces, but not
actually talking to people, then you do not need to ask each person for permission to
observe him or her, but it is essential that you observe in a non-obtrusive way and use no
recording devices. In other words, no filming or photographing in a way that would
make an individual recognizable, unless you obtain their consent. Also, you should try to
blend into the background. Don’t go around peering over people’s shoulders to see what
model of mobile phone they have or who they’re calling, or in any other way violating
the norms of regular social behaviour in that public space. If you want to interview
strangers, that’s okay, but you will need to follow the procedures laid out here for how to
do it in a way that will not make them feel pressured to participate in this study.
2) Script for approaching strangers in public spaces (and by public spaces, I mean that
it should not be a place owned by any individual or corporation, other than Macquarie
University – so, for example, you shouldn’t do this in a mall unless you have obtained
written consent from the manager of that mall and forwarded a copy of that consent to the
ethics committee):
Students should stand by a wall or at the edge of a walkway, outside of the main flow of
people walking, and stay in one place. Under no circumstances should they leave their
position to follow people around. As people pass them by, they should make eye contact,
and say,
“Hi, I’m a student at Macquarie University and I’m doing a study on the social uses of
cell phones.”
If person stops to listen, student continues, “Can I ask you a few questions about how you
use cell phone technology? I would take no more than 5-10 minutes of your time.”
If participant agrees, student must first give the participant a copy of the information and
consent form and briefly explain the study by reading or paraphrasing the description on
the I/C form.
After the participant has had time to read the I/C form, student should say, “Are you still
interested in participating in this study?”
If participant declines, student should smile and say, “Okay, no problem!”
If participant agrees, student should smile and say, “Great! I just have a few questions to
ask, and I want to remind you that you can end the interview at any time, for any reason.
Before we start, I need you to sign this information and consent form.” Both participant
and student must sign the I/C form. If student wishes to record the interview, the
participant will also need to initial the I/C form appropriately. Participant should receive
a copy of the I/C form.
Student may then ask the participant no more than 5 questions from the following list and
should take no more than 10 minutes to interview the person. If the person has been
HEC Application From Version 1 November 2005
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chatty and has filled up 10 minutes without answering all the questions, then you should
still terminate the interview in order to stick with the promised interview time. If
students wish to ask questions other than the suggested ones below, they will need to
submit them to Lisa and she will submit them to the Ethics Committee for approval.
Student may then ask the participant questions from the below list or from the list that
they have previously submitted for ethics approval.
Questions about cell phone use:
What things do you do with your cell phone? (e.g. talk, take pictures, send SMS, read and
send e-mail, access the Internet, keep track of appointments, etc)
When do you use your cell phone?
When do you turn on your cell phone, and when do you turn it off?
Who do you call on your cell phone?
How did you decide to buy the particular cell phone that you use?
How do you decide on a calling / minutes plan for your cell phone?
How do you make sense of cell phone plans in Australia?
What does it mean when a mobile service provider says that $29 = $200 of talk time?
At the end of the 5 questions or 10 minutes, whichever comes first, student should thank
the interviewee for her/his time.
3) Approaching or writing about friends, relatives, and peers: In addition to
interviews on the street, you may wish to do informal interviews with friends, relatives,
and peers about how they use mobile phones. You may wish to use the same questions
that you ask people on the street as a guide, but you may also want to expand upon these
questions according to the answers and interests of your interviewees. It is important
that you do not pressure anybody into participating in this research project. That
means that if someone expresses in any way, verbal or otherwise, that they are not
interested in participating in the project, then you must respect their wishes. Do not try to
persuade them to participate. This especially applies for friends and family members,
who may find it harder to say no to you than strangers.
If you wish to write about information gained during participant observation, i.e. insights
gained during your every day life but not in the context of formal or even informal
interview, then you may not need to have people sign consent forms – indeed, it may be
only after something is said that you realize that you have just learned something
important that you might want to write about. In this case, the burden of ethical research
practice shifts from obtaining informed consent to study someone (since you did not
know you were studying them until something just spontaneously came up) to the ethics
of representation. If you want to write about an experience from your every day life in
your research publication, then you should think carefully: even if I use a pseudonym, is
there any possible way that this person could be identified in any other way by anyone
reading the publication? If so, then you either need to do a better job of hiding any
identifying information, OR you need to explicitly seek the person’s permission to write
about her/him in the publication. This probably will entail showing him/her a draft of
what you have written, and obtaining approval to use it. It also entails respecting the
person’s wish that the anecdote or description be modified or even not used altogether.
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Sample Information and Consent Forms for Students doing the Social Use and Meaning of
Mobile Phones project for street interviews (to be personalized with student contact information,
but otherwise not changed).
Information & Consent Form: Participant Copy
Name of Project: The Social Use and Meaning of Mobile Phones
You are invited to participate in a project to understand the social use and meaning of
mobile phones.
This study is being conducted by ________[name]_______ [here insert e-mail address]
as part of the requirements for ANTH 801, Methodology in Local and Community
Studies, an anthropology unit at Macquarie University. The convenor for this class is Dr
Lisa Wynn, Department of Anthropology (contact number 02 9850 8095, e-mail
lisa.wynn@mq.edu.au). My findings will be used for a research paper to be submitted for
publication. Dr Wynn will post the general results of the class projects on the website
Culture Matters (http://culturematters.wordpress.com) where you can read about it.
If you decide to participate, I will ask you no more than 5 short questions about how you
use mobile phones. The interview will not last longer than 10 minutes.
[If student wishes to tape record the conversation]: If you agree, I would like to use a
tape recorder to record our conversation so that I can remember exactly what you say.
Any information or personal details gathered in the course of the study are confidential.
No individual will be identified in any presentation of the results. If I use any of your
comments in the written description of my research, I would use a pseudonym. The only
people who will have access to the data are myself and the course convenor.
I,
have read and understand the information above and any questions I
have asked have been answered to my satisfaction. I agree to participate in this research,
knowing that I can withdraw from further participation in the research at any time
without consequence. I have been given a copy of this form to keep.
Participant’s Name:
Participant’s Signature:
Date:
I agree / do not agree to letting this interview be tape recorded. (Circle one.)
__________ Participant to initial here.
The ethical aspects of this study have been approved by the Macquarie University Ethics Review
Committee (Human Research). If you have any complaints or reservations about any ethical aspect of your
participation in this research, you may contact the Ethics Review Committee through its Secretary
(telephone 9850 7854; email ethics@mq.edu.au). Any complaint you make will be treated in confidence
and investigated, and you will be informed of the outcome.
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Sample Information and Consent Forms for Students doing the Social Use and Meaning of
Mobile Phones project for street interviews (to be personalized with student contact information,
but otherwise not changed).
Information & Consent Form: Researcher Copy
Name of Project: The Social Use and Meaning of Mobile Phones
You are invited to participate in a project to understand the social use and meaning of
mobile phones.
This study is being conducted by ________[name]_______ [here insert e-mail address]
as part of the requirements for ANTH 801, Methodology in Local and Community
Studies, an anthropology unit at Macquarie University. The convenor for this class is Dr
Lisa Wynn, Department of Anthropology (contact number 02 9850 8095, e-mail
lisa.wynn@mq.edu.au). My findings will be used for a research paper to be submitted for
publication. Dr Wynn will post the general results of the class projects on the website
Culture Matters (http://culturematters.wordpress.com) where you can read about it.
If you decide to participate, I will ask you no more than 5 short questions about how you
use mobile phones. The interview will not last longer than 10 minutes.
[If student wishes to tape record the conversation]: If you agree, I would like to use a
tape recorder to record our conversation so that I can remember exactly what you say.
Any information or personal details gathered in the course of the study are confidential.
No individual will be identified in any presentation of the results. If I use any of your
comments in the written description of my research, I would use a pseudonym. The only
people who will have access to the data are myself and the course convenor.
I,
have read and understand the information above and any questions I
have asked have been answered to my satisfaction. I agree to participate in this research,
knowing that I can withdraw from further participation in the research at any time
without consequence. I have been given a copy of this form to keep.
Participant’s Name:
Participant’s Signature:
Date:
I agree / do not agree to letting this interview be tape recorded. (Circle one.)
__________ Participant to initial here.
The ethical aspects of this study have been approved by the Macquarie University Ethics Review
Committee (Human Research). If you have any complaints or reservations about any ethical aspect of your
participation in this research, you may contact the Ethics Review Committee through its Secretary
(telephone 9850 7854; email ethics@mq.edu.au). Any complaint you make will be treated in confidence
and investigated, and you will be informed of the outcome.
HEC Application From Version 1 November 2005
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Sample Information and Consent Forms for Students doing the Social Use and Meaning of
Mobile Phones project for friend/family interviews (to be personalized with student contact
information, but otherwise not changed).
Information & Consent Form: Participant Copy
Name of Project: The Social Use and Meaning of Mobile Phones
You are invited to participate in a project to understand the social use and meaning of
mobile phones.
This study is being conducted by ________[name]_______ [here insert e-mail address]
as part of the requirements for ANTH 801, Methodology in Local and Community
Studies, an anthropology unit at Macquarie University. The convenor for this class is Dr
Lisa Wynn, Department of Anthropology (contact number 02 9850 8095, e-mail
lisa.wynn@mq.edu.au). My findings will be used for a research paper to be submitted for
publication. Dr Wynn will post the general results of the class projects on the website
Culture Matters (http://culturematters.wordpress.com) where you can read about it.
If you decide to participate, I will ask you a few short questions about how you use
mobile phones. I estimate that the interview will not last longer than 30 minutes, but you
can request that it be shorter than that if you are pressed for time.
[If student wishes to tape record the conversation]: If you agree, I would like to use a
tape recorder to record our conversation so that I can remember exactly what you say.
Any information or personal details gathered in the course of the study are confidential.
No individual will be identified in any presentation of the results. If I use any of your
comments in the written description of my research, I would use a pseudonym. The only
people who will have access to the data are myself and the course convener.
I,
have read and understand the information above and any questions I
have asked have been answered to my satisfaction. I agree to participate in this research,
knowing that I can withdraw from further participation in the research at any time
without consequence. I have been given a copy of this form to keep.
Participant’s Name:
Participant’s Signature:
Date:
I agree / do not agree to letting this interview be tape recorded. (Circle one.)
__________ Participant to initial here.
I have not been pressured in any way to take part in this study.
__________ Participant to initial here.
The ethical aspects of this study have been approved by the Macquarie University Ethics Review
Committee (Human Research). If you have any complaints or reservations about any ethical aspect of your
participation in this research, you may contact the Ethics Review Committee through its Secretary
(telephone 9850 7854; email ethics@mq.edu.au). Any complaint you make will be treated in confidence
and investigated, and you will be informed of the outcome.
HEC Application From Version 1 November 2005
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Sample Information and Consent Forms for Students doing the Social Use and Meaning of
Mobile Phones project for friend/family interviews (to be personalized with student contact
information, but otherwise not changed).
Information & Consent Form: Researcher Copy
Name of Project: The Social Use and Meaning of Mobile Phones
You are invited to participate in a project to understand the social use and meaning of
mobile phones.
This study is being conducted by ________[name]_______ [here insert e-mail address]
as part of the requirements for ANTH 801, Methodology in Local and Community
Studies, an anthropology unit at Macquarie University. The convenor for this class is Dr
Lisa Wynn, Department of Anthropology (contact number 02 9850 8095, e-mail
lisa.wynn@mq.edu.au). My findings will be used for a research paper to be submitted for
publication. Dr Wynn will post the general results of the class projects on the website
Culture Matters (http://culturematters.wordpress.com) where you can read about it.
If you decide to participate, I will ask you a few short questions about how you use
mobile phones. I estimate that the interview will not last longer than 30 minutes, but you
can request that it be shorter than that if you are pressed for time.
[If student wishes to tape record the conversation]: If you agree, I would like to use a
tape recorder to record our conversation so that I can remember exactly what you say.
Any information or personal details gathered in the course of the study are confidential.
No individual will be identified in any presentation of the results. If I use any of your
comments in the written description of my research, I would use a pseudonym. The only
people who will have access to the data are myself and the course convener.
I,
have read and understand the information above and any questions I
have asked have been answered to my satisfaction. I agree to participate in this research,
knowing that I can withdraw from further participation in the research at any time
without consequence. I have been given a copy of this form to keep.
Participant’s Name:
Participant’s Signature:
Date:
I agree / do not agree to letting this interview be tape recorded. (Circle one.)
__________ Participant to initial here.
I have not been pressured in any way to take part in this study.
__________ Participant to initial here.
The ethical aspects of this study have been approved by the Macquarie University Ethics Review
Committee (Human Research). If you have any complaints or reservations about any ethical aspect of your
participation in this research, you may contact the Ethics Review Committee through its Secretary
(telephone 9850 7854; email ethics@mq.edu.au). Any complaint you make will be treated in confidence
and investigated, and you will be informed of the outcome.
HEC Application From Version 1 November 2005
32