Ireland/Northern Ireland Survey: Public Opinion and Conflict/Peace Processes

June 2014

Dear Participant:

We are a professor and graduate student in the Department of International Affairs at The University of Georgia (in the United States of America). We would like to invite you to participate in a research study entitled “The Process of Border Settlement in the Northern Ireland Dispute.” The purpose of this study is to understand the role that public opinion did or did not play in the Northern Ireland dispute – including the formation of political positions on issues under dispute; the use of violence; and the timing, pace, and success of the peace process. We expect that the findings of this study will inform those that study peace processes throughout the world, particularly those that involve contested territory.

Your participation will involve answering a number of questions about your experience with, perspective on, and opinion of the Northern Ireland conflict. For example, we may ask you your opinions about the 1998 Agreement or your perception of public opinion leading up to or following it. Answering these questions will take about 30-40 minutes (depending on the length of your responses and the time you devote to the survey).

Your involvement in the study is voluntary, and you may choose not to participate or to stop at any time without penalty (or loss of benefits to which you are otherwise entitled). If you decide to withdraw from the study (that is, terminate the survey before it is completed), the information that can be identified as yours will be kept as part of the study and may continue to be analyzed, unless you make a written request to remove or destroy the information.

The results of the research study may be published, but your name or any identifying information will not be used. In order to protect your privacy/confidentiality, we will:

• Not record your name, address, or other information that might identify you as a participant;
• Not record your computer’s internet protocol (IP) address;
• Refer in print only to the zone in which you live, rather than your town (for example, Keady) or county (for example, Armagh). (Note that a zone is comprised of multiple counties.);
• Use aggregate statistics where we can. For example, we might say: “40% of the women we interviewed….”;
• Refer to your statements only at the broad demographic and/or geographic level. For example, we might say: “According to a middle-aged, Protestant man in Northern Ireland….”; and
• Ask you for direct guidance on how you would like us to reference political affiliations (for example, connections to political parties or groups).

In order to accurately capture your opinions and statements, we ask you to be as detailed as you can in your responses. This information will best help our research.

There are two minimal risks or discomforts associated with this research. First, during the course of the questioning, you may recall events that negatively affected you, your family, or your community. If these recollections cause you too much discomfort, please pause or end your involvement in the survey. If you wish, you can also decline to answer questions that are too uncomfortable for you. Second, although very unlikely and unexpected, it is possible that someone may associate your identity with your statements and that this could have unforeseen risks for you. We have taken every precaution in conducting and recording this interview to ensure that this does not happen (as we discussed earlier), and we will continue taking similar precautions during the analysis and reporting of our findings. Nonetheless, there is a limit to the confidentiality that can be guaranteed due to the technology itself.

(Letter continued on next page. To continue, select "Agree, continue with consent letter" below. To abort the survey, select "Decline, end involvement" below.)