Informed Consent - Survey
1. You are invited to participate in the following research project.
2. This research project is looking at the faith questions of Christian students in Canadian universities and colleges. This research is being conducted by Stephen Bedard as a part of the Doctor of Ministry program at Acadia Divinity College. My supervisors are Dr. Anna Robbins and Dr. Jody Linkletter. The participant is asked only to respond to the survey and there will be no further expectations. The survey will not take more than 30 minutes.
3. There are no risks to participants as no personal information will be recorded and your answers will not be identifiable. You will benefit both in furthering research in an important area and also be receiving a free e-book for participating. If you are employed and completing the survey on a computer from your place of employment, your employer may be legally allowed to view your responses.
4. You are under no obligation to participate and are free to withdraw at any time before completion of the survey without penalty. Once the survey is complete and submitted, you will not be able to withdraw your data.
5. There is no conflict of interest on behalf of the researcher and there is no intention of commercializing the research findings.
6. All of the research results will be gathered by an online survey program. The participants will not be identified either directly or indirectly. All of the data will be anonymous.
7. Questions about the survey can be addressed to: Stephen Bedard at stephenbedard@hotmail.com or at 289-362-6012.
8. Any ethical concerns regarding this research can be addressed to: Dr. Stephen Maitzen at smaitzen@acadiau.ca or 902.585.1407.
9. The type of information that will be collected will be on the types of faith questions that Christian university students are asking. No one, including the researcher, will have access to the identity of the participants. Names or other identifying markers will not be collected. The research data collected will be used to identify the concerns of Christian university students and to create a curriculum that addresses those concerns.
10. Participants in this research will receive a free e-book as compensation. A link to the location of the e-book will be provided within the survey so that no email addresses are required to receive the incentive.
11. By consenting, participants have not waived any rights to legal recourse in the event of research-related harm.