LETTER OF INFORMATION & CONSENT PAGE
Please read the following letter of information. At the bottom of this page, you can make the decision on whether or not to proceed with participating in the study.
Principal Investigator:
Dr. Phillipa K Chong
Department of Sociology
McMaster University
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
E-mail: chong@mcmaster.ca
What am I trying to discover?
I’m gathering stories of authors’ experiences of getting their books published. Being a writer is challenging work. And it doesn’t follow a straight-forward career path. The goals of this study are (1) to document the challenges faced by different authors, and (2) to provide insights on how the publishing industry can better support Canada’s literary talents.
But first, we have to diagnose some of the problems!
That’s why you are being invited to take part in this study. As an author who has published a work of fiction with a Canadian publisher, I am hoping to learn about your experience as an author. More specifically, I hope to learn how being a writing writer fits in some of your other identities and professional activities.
This is a pilot project. I hope to use your data for this project as well as for a larger study in the future that will include the stories of approximately one hundred authors (or more).
What will happen during the study?
After consenting to the research, the study will ask you for some basic demographic/background information like your age and gender. Then you will proceed to the main set of research questions that will appear in a list. You can answer these questions in any order you like by clicking on a question. After which, you will be asked to type in your response into the text box provided. There is no minimum or maximum length of response required. And it is anticipated the survey will take 90 minutes. And you can stop and save your progress at any time. This means you can close the survey and return to it later. I will ask you questions related to how you decided to become a writer, and your experience of every stage of the publishing process including writing the book, finding a publisher, working with editors, marketing, and book reviews.
Are there any risks to doing this study?
The risks involved in participating in this study are minimal. You may feel uncomfortable with sharing some personal stories or reflecting on instances where you feel your publishing journey has been unpleasant. Or you may worry about others learning about the stories you share.
Please rest assured that:
(1) You do not need to answer questions that you do not want to answer or that make you feel uncomfortable. You can also stop and return to the survey at any time.
(2) Your participation is anonymous: this means that your identity is not tied to your answers. And any potentially identifying information regarding yourself or third-parties (e.g., book content, names of third parties, publishers, etc) that may be shared in your answers will be kept private and anonymized. I outline additional steps I am taking to protect your privacy below.
Are there any benefits to doing this study?
I’ve invited you to share your experiences with me because you are an author. Your story combined with others will create an empirical portrait of Canadian publishing from the perspective of its most important resource: its writers. You may not feel you derive any direct benefit from this study. But my hope is that the research will benefit you and your fellow authors by systematically documenting the challenges and opportunities facing the publishing industry – with a hopeful eye towards problem-solving.
Payment
You will be compensated $50 for your participation as a token of respect for your time. Incentives will be e-transferred to participants from the PI. Upon completion of the survey, you will see a screen asking for where to send the etransfer. But please remember, again, that this information is not linked to the substance of your actual responses.
Confidentiality: Who will know what I said or did in the study?
You are participating in this study confidentially. And your responses are anonymized by this online platform. No one but me will know whether you were in the study. But I will not know which answers were given by you. I will know you participated. But not what you wrote.
Every effort will be made to guarantee your confidentiality and privacy. I will not use your name or any information that would allow you to be identified. However, we are sometimes identifiable through the stories we tell. Please keep this in mind in deciding what to share.
The information you provide will be de-identified and kept on an encrypted internal server at McMaster University. Only I will have access to it. And all data will be destroyed after 3 years.
What if I change my mind about being in the study?
It is your choice to be part of the study or not. You can withdraw from the study for whatever reason even part-way through the study. You can also skip some of the questions and still be in the study.
If you decide to withdraw, there will be no consequences to you. You can simply delete any of your responses and submit a blank survey. You will still receive compensation. However, any information that is submitted cannot be deleted because all data is anonymized at point of collection.
How do I find out what was learned in this study?
I expect to have this study completed by approximately July 2022. If you would like a brief summary of the results, please let me know how you would like it sent to you.
Questions about the Study
If you have questions or need more information about the study itself, please contact me at:
Dr. Phillipa K Chong
Department of Sociology
McMaster University
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
chong@mcmaster.ca
This study has been reviewed by the McMaster University Research Ethics Board (MREB#5053) and received ethics clearance. If you have concerns or questions about your rights as a participant or about the way the study is conducted, please contact:
McMaster Research Ethics Secretariat
Telephone: (905) 525-9140 ext. 23142
C/o Research Office for Administrative Development and Support
E-mail: ethicsoffice@mcmaster.ca