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Warwick Institute for Employment Research

ONLINE FOCUS GROUP

This page provides information about the study that you will need to read before accepting the consent statements and providing your contact details at the bottom of the page.

You can download the Participant Information Sheet for your own records using the link below.

Download Participant Information Sheet

PARTICIPANT INFORMATION SHEET: ONLINE FOCUS GROUPS

August 2018

Study Title: Research into the Educational Psychology Workforce in England

Investigator(s): Professor Clare Lyonette, Gaby Atfield, Beate Baldauf and Dr David Owen (IER)

Introduction

You are invited to take part in an online focus group as part of a research study commissioned by the Department for Education. Before you decide whether to take part, you need to understand why the research is being done and what it would involve for you. Please take the time to read the following information carefully. Talk to others about the study if you wish. Please ask us or the Department for Education (using the contact information below) if there is anything that is not clear or if you would like more information.

What is the study about?

The Department for Education (DfE) has commissioned this piece of research to gather evidence on the distribution and demographic characteristics of the current educational psychologist (EP) workforce in England, with a particular focus on the Local Authority EP workforce.

The aim of the project is to map any existing and projected EP shortages and allow the Department for Education to make robust, evidence-based decisions regarding any future reforms to the EP training provider commissioning model. The data is being collected on behalf of the DfE.

Do I have to take part?

It is entirely up to you to decide. If you choose to participate in an online focus group, we will ask you to complete an online consent form to confirm that you have agreed to take part. You will only be able to take part if you have completed this consent form.

What will happen to me if I take part?

If you are happy to take part after reading this information sheet, please fill in the consent form, answer the questions on the webpage and then indicate your availability for a focus group.

Your email address will be held for the purposes of communication before and during the focus group but this will not be passed on to any third parties: it will be encrypted (see below) and kept securely in a password-protected folder at the University of Warwick for the purposes of the research and will only be accessible to the researchers. We will then contact you to let you know the date and time of the focus group and the information you will need to join the group. The online focus group should last around 90 minutes and will be fully transcribed (we will ask you to use a pseudonym during the focus group which operates by submitting written answers only).

Once you have agreed to take part, we will send you full details of how the online focus group works (the focus group involves typing your answers on your computer or other device and will not be audio or video recorded). If you have any concerns about what to do, please just ask. We will then enter your email address into VisionsLive which is the software we will be using for the focus group (at this point we will encrypt your name and email address) and assign you to a group. VisionsLive will then send you an email invitation that looks like this:

Dear X,

I am pleased to invite you to take part in our online focus group.

The focus group will be starting at September X, X AM and is scheduled to run for 90 minutes.

Please use the button below to join the focus group:

Join the session

Thanks
Your moderator

When you join, you will be entered into a ‘waiting room’ until everyone has joined and we will again give you full details of how to take part.

The focus group acts just like a face-to-face focus group, i.e. it promotes a written discussion based on the written responses each participant provides. All participants can see all written responses to a question at any one time (everyone writes at the same time, unlike in a face-to-face focus group where people wait for each other to speak). However, individuals can refer to another individual and respond, e.g. ‘I was thinking the same as you, Q’ (or whatever pseudonym is used); or 'I tend to disagree with R on this, because...'. In other words, it both promotes discussion on a topic and it collects data in real time, all the same as a face-to-face focus group, but allows participants to take part in a place that they are comfortable in.

What are the possible disadvantages, side effects, risks, and/or discomforts of taking part in this study?

There are no anticipated disadvantages, side effects, risks, and/or discomforts of taking part in this study as the focus group will only ask you about your own experiences and assessments.

We will ask you and others in the group not to talk to people outside the group about what was said during the discussion. However, we need you to be aware that we cannot stop or prevent participants who were in the group from sharing information that should be confidential.

What are the possible benefits of taking part in this study?

Your views and assessments will contribute to the evidence the DfE is collecting as part of this study and will help to inform how the DfE commissions future Educational Psychologist trainees.

Expenses and payments

There will be no expenses or payments available for participating in the focus groups.

Will my taking part be kept confidential?

We will not report your name or anything that would make you personally identifiable in any outputs from the research and all best endeavours will be made to ensure that data in any publications is anonymised. All participants will be given a pseudonym for the purposes of reporting, and any identifying information will be removed to ensure confidentiality. For example, the report may describe focus group participants in the following way: ‘Jane P (pseudonym), stakeholder in a Local Authority with no local EP training provider’. The focus group data will be fully transcribed and stored safely on a password-protected folder at the University of Warwick and will only be accessible by the research team. Contact details will be encrypted and will not be stored in the same file as your data from the focus group. The IER and its data storage procedures are fully compliant with GDPR. Please see the privacy notice below for more details about the personal data we will collect from you and how it will be used.

What will happen when the study ends?

The collected pseudonymised data will be available in a published report. Your pseudonymised data will be stored securely and then destroyed. You will not be contacted again about this or other research unless you sign up to participate in a future research project.

What will happen to the results of the study?

A report will be published on Gov.uk. The pseudonymised data will be stored securely at the University of Warwick and then destroyed after 10 years. Your encrypted contact details will be destroyed securely after the end of the project. You will not be contacted again about this or other research unless you sign up to participate in a future research project.

What will happen if I don’t want to carry on being part of the study?

Participation in this study is entirely voluntary. Refusal to participate will not affect you in any way. If you agree to participate, you may nevertheless withdraw from the study at any time without affecting you in any way. You have the right to withdraw from the study completely and decline any further contact by study staff after you withdraw. However, if the focus group has already commenced, we will be unable to remove your pseudonymised responses from the transcription.

Who has reviewed the study?

This study has been reviewed and given favourable opinion by the University of Warwick’s Humanities and Social Science Research Ethics Committee (HSSREC). HSSREC approval was given on 11th July 2018, Reference number: 134/17-18.

Who is organising and funding the study?

The Department for Education (DfE) is organising and funding this study, which will be carried out by the Institute for Employment Research (IER) at the University of Warwick as the data processor. For the purpose of data protection legislation, DfE is the data controller for this project.

Who should I contact if I wish to make a complaint?

Any complaint about the way you have been dealt with during the study or any possible harm you might have suffered will be addressed. Please address your complaint to the person below, who is a senior University of Warwick official entirely independent of this study:

Head of Research Governance

Research & Impact Services

University House

University of Warwick

Coventry

CV4 8UW

Email: researchgovernance@warwick.ac.uk

Tel: 024 76 522746

Please see the privacy notice below for details of how to get in touch if you wish to discuss or make a complaint about our use of your personal data.

If you wish to make a complaint to the DfE about this project, please contact:

Kelly.WALKER@education.gov.uk

What if I want more information about the study?

If you have any questions about any aspect of the study, or your participation in it, not answered by this participant information sheet, please contact:

C.Lyonette@warwick.ac.uk.

If you wish to speak to the DfE about this project, please contact:

Kelly.WALKER@education.gov.uk

Thank you for taking the time to read this Participant Information Sheet.

PRIVACY NOTICE

How we will ensure that we are using your personal data fairly and transparently in accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for:

Study Title: RESEARCH INTO THE EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY WORKFORCE IN ENGLAND

Who we are

The Department for Education (DfE) is organising and funding this study, which will be carried out by the Institute for Employment Research (IER) at the University of Warwick as the data processor. For the purpose of data protection legislation, the DfE is the data controller for any personal data processed as part of this project.

How we will use your personal data

If you agree to participate, we will ask you to sign up to the focus group after reading the participant information sheet and signing the consent form. We will use data about your job title, employment sector and local authority (where relevant) to collate and analyse the research findings.

The nature of your personal data that we will be using

The categories of personal data that we will be using for this project are:

  • First name
  • Surname
  • Work email address
  • Work or personal telephone number
  • Job title
  • Sector of employment (e.g. public/private/third sector)
  • Local Authority (where relevant)

Why our use of your personal data is lawful

Under the GDPR, we are required to have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. For the purpose of this project, the lawful basis is that processing is necessary to perform a task in the public interest (i.e. providing unbiased research evidence for the DfE to make an informed decision regarding any future reforms to the EP training provider commissioning model).

Who will have access to your personal data

Access to your personal data will be restricted to members of the Warwick Institute for Employment Research project team for this research project. We will not report your name or anything that would make you personally identifiable in any outputs from the research and will use our best endeavours to ensure that data in the report is anonymised. We will ask you and others in the group not to talk to people outside the group about what was said during the discussion. However, we need you to be aware that we cannot stop or prevent participants who were in the group from sharing things that should be confidential.

All participants will be given a pseudonym for the purposes of reporting, and any identifying information will be removed to ensure confidentiality. For example, the report may describe interview participants in the following way: ‘Jane P (pseudonym), stakeholder in a Local Authority with no local EP training provider’. Your interview data will be stored safely on a password-protected folder at the University of Warwick and will only be accessible by the research team. Contact details will not be stored in the same file as your interview data. The IER and its data storage procedures are fully compliant with GDPR. The pseudonymised research data will be made available to the Department for Education (DfE) but they will not have access to any individual interview summaries, names, email addresses, telephone numbers and other identifying details of participants. The collated research findings will be published in a research report but none of your personal data will be included in the report.

Your right to withdraw consent

Participation in this study is entirely voluntary. Refusal to participate will not affect you in any way. If you do agree to participate, you may withdraw from the study at any time: there will not be any consequence of this. You have the right to withdraw from the study completely and decline any further contact by study staff after you withdraw. However, if the focus group has already commenced, we will be unable to remove your pseudonymised responses from the transcription.

How long we will keep your personal data

We will retain your pseudonymised data for ten years in accordance with the University of Warwick retention requirements for research data. Your contact data will be destroyed after the end of the project.

Your data protection rights

Under certain circumstances, you have the right:

  • to ask us for access to information about you that we hold
  • to have your personal data rectified, if it is inaccurate or incomplete
  • to request the deletion or removal of personal data where there is no compelling reason for its continued processing
  • to restrict our processing of your personal data (i.e. permitting its storage but no further processing)
  • to object to direct marketing (including profiling) and processing for the purposes of scientific/historical research and statistics
  • not to be subject to decisions based purely on automated decision-making.

If you need to contact us regarding any of the above, please email the University of Warwick’s Data Protection Officer at infocompliance@warwick.ac.uk. For further details see https://warwick.ac.uk/services/idc/dataprotection/datasubjectrights

Your right to complain

If you are unhappy with our use of your personal data, please let us know by contacting

Head of Research Governance

Research & Impact Services

University House

University of Warwick

Coventry

CV4 8UW

Email: researchgovernance@warwick.ac.uk

You can also contact the Department for Education’s Data Protection Officer via gov.uk by marking your correspondence as for the attention of the ‘DPO’.

Alternatively, you have the right to raise any concerns with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) via their website at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/.

CONSENT FORM FOR ONLINE FOCUS GROUPS


Version 2.0, 03 August 2018

Title of Project: Research into the Educational Psychology Workforce in England (COMISSIONED BY THE DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION)

Name of Researchers: Professor Clare Lyonette, Gaby Atfield, Beate Baldauf and Dr David Owen

1. I confirm that I have read and understood the participant information sheet dated August 2018 for the above study and the privacy notice at the end of the participant information sheet. I have had the opportunity to consider the information, ask questions and have had these answered satisfactorily. (required)
2. I understand that my participation is voluntary and that I am free to withdraw at any time without giving any reason. However, if the focus group has started, I understand that it will not be possible to remove my data from the transcript (required)
3. I understand that all the answers provided in the focus group are automatically captured and stored but that participants will not be audio or video-recorded (required)
4. The procedures regarding confidentiality and GDPR compliance (e.g. the pseudonymisation of data, etc.) have been clearly explained to me in the privacy notice (required)
5. I agree to selected pseudonymised text responses to be used in the final report on gov.uk, and understand that best endeavours will be made to ensure that data in the report is anonymised (required)
6. I agree to selected pseudonymised text responses to be used in any other reports arising from the research, and understand that best endeavours will be made to ensure that data in such publications is anonymised (required)
7. The archiving of data has been explained to me, e.g. I understand that my data will be securely stored for 10 years, in line with the University of Warwick’s Research Data Management Policy: https://warwick.ac.uk/services/ris/research_integrity/code_of_practice_and_policies/research_code_of_practice/datacollection_retention/research_data_mgt_policy/ (required)
8. I am aware that I need to be considerate of others and not repeat what other focus groups members have said outside of this focus group. I am also aware that IER cannot stop or prevent participants who were in the group from sharing information that should be confidential (required)
9. I agree to take part in the above study (required)
Dates of online focus groups I can attend
Privacy notice
The data on this form will be used to send you the information you have requested. We will store the fact that you have requested the information and your contact details to receive the information, but we will not send you any information beyond that which you have requested, nor will we use the data for any other purpose.

The University of Warwick is the Data Controller of any information you have entered on this form and is committed to protecting the rights of individuals in line with Data Protection Legislation. The University's Data Protection webpages provide further information on your rights and how the University processes personal data. If you wish to submit a data subjects rights request, make a complaint or report a suspected personal data breach, please contact the University’s Data Protection Officer by email at infocompliance@warwick.ac.uk.

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