1. What is the study about?
You are invited to participate in a study of Zoological institution's attitudes toward infectious disease diagnostics and ideal implementation for maximum disease control. We hope to investigate the attitudes of zoological institutions towards the current state of diagnostics available for infectious diseases, and how new methods would be best implemented in order to improve control of infectious diseases.
2. Do I have to participate?
Being part of this study is voluntary. If you want to be part of the study, we ask that you read the information below carefully.
You can read the information below and decide at the end if you do not want to participate. If you decide not to participate this won’t affect your relationship with La Trobe University or any other listed organisation.
3. Who is being asked to participate?
· Participants must be at least 18 years of age
· Participants must be able to fluently read and write English in order to fill out the survey independently.
· Participants must also be under current employment by a zoological institution.
4. What will I be asked to do?
If you want to take part in this study, we will ask you to allocate 10 to 30 minutes (maximum) to fill out the survey. The questions will be fixed choice and open-ended questions which require you to detail descriptive factors about your personal experiences and opinions.
5. What are the benefits?
The benefit of you taking part in this study is that this research is part of a larger project investigating improved methods for the diagnosis of a variety of infections, by detecting the causative pathogen. We hope to determine from the survey the current attitudes of wildlife institutions and owners around the current diagnostics available, and the level of satisfaction with these techniques. We also wish to know what diagnostic techniques institutions would ideally like to have available, how they perceive any new diagnostic tools, and how these can be best implemented for the improved control of infectious diseases. This information will be used to inform the larger research scope to better serve the industry, and potentially help inform and changing policy around infectious diseases.
6. What are the risks?
With any study, there are (1) risks we know about, (2) risks we don’t know about, and (3) risks we don’t expect. If you experience something that you aren’t sure about, please contact us immediately so we can discuss the best way to manage your concerns.
Name: Danielle Wiles
Organisation: Department of Animal, Plant and Soil Science, La Trobe University
Position: Student researcher
Email: 18917457@students.latrobe.edu.au