You are being invited to take part in a research project conducted by an MSc student at The University of Sheffield, in the United Kingdom. Before you decide to participate it is important for you to understand why the research is being done and what it will involve. Please take time to read the following information carefully and discuss it with others if you wish. Take time to decide whether or not you wish to participate. Thank you for reading this.
Whilst there are many science related events held across Australia each year, it is not so well known how much science participants are in fact learning from them. The aim of this project is to fill that gap as part of a student’s Science Communication Masters degree. This survey aims to determine what style of events organised by Inspiring Australia are the most effective in educating people about science. Data will be collected from events organised across Australia during National Science Week, this year being held from the 11th – 19th August. The completion date of this project is the 24th of August 2018.
You are being invited to participate in this data collection as you have attended an event organised by Inspiring Australia or held in National Science Week. Other people attending National Science Week events are also being invited to participate. The survey is completely anonymous and should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete. All the information that we collect from you will be kept strictly confidential and will only be accessible to Inspiring Australia Managers and event holders, for the purpose of improving events into the future. You will not be able to be identified in any reports or publications.
It is up to you to decide whether to take part. You can withdraw without any negative consequences. You do not have to give a reason. If you wish to withdraw from the research, please contact Miss Milly Gigg at mgigg1@sheffield.ac.uk. Please note that after the 20th of August 2018, it will not be possible to withdraw your data from this project, however will still be possible for any future projects.
The data collected will be included in a report for Inspiring Australia, demonstrating survey findings. As well as Inspiring Australia, certain researchers at The University of Sheffield will have access to the data. Due to the nature of this research it is likely that other researchers may find the data collected to be useful in answering future research questions. We will ask for your explicit consent for your data to be shared in this way.
This project has been ethically approved via The University of Sheffield Animal & Plant Sciences department’s ethics review procedure. A copy of the approval can be provided on request.
For further information on this project, please contact the project organiser Miss Milly Gigg at mgigg1@sheffield.ac.uk, or my supervisor Dr Tom Webb at t.j.webb@sheffield.ac.uk.
Thank-you for taking the time to read this information.