Investigator(s):

Dr Sally-Anne Barnes and Professor Jenny Bimrose, Institute for Employment Research, University of Warwick

Introduction 

You are invited to take part in a research study. Before you decide, 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 and take time to decide whether you wish to take part. Talk to others about the study if you wish. 

Please ask us if there is anything that is not clear or if you would like more information. 

A pdf version of this document is also available here: Participant Information Leaflet - LMI career guidance for young people

Who is organising and funding the study? 

The University of Warwick’s Institute for Employment Research is being supported by The Gatsby Foundation to undertake this study.  

What is the study about? 

The purpose of the study is to explore the current supply of labour market information (LMI) and labour market intelligence (LMI+) in England, to understand sources and identify gaps in both underlying data sources and the provision or dissemination of information. The study aims to: 

• review how LMI systems function to define role and provision of labour market data used to inform careers guidance; 
• collect data in order to elucidate the LMI landscape in England; 
• identify gaps in the supply and provision of data; and  
• advise on how gaps in the LMI and LMI+ could be addressed. 

The study will focus on LMI and LMI+ aimed at intermediaries (i.e., career education professionals, educators, parents/carers) and young people at secondary school and in further education. Evidence from the study will feed into the future research to be commissioned by the Gatsby Foundation. 

What would taking part involve? 

If you are happy to take part after reading this information sheet, please complete the consent form included with the information and return to the named researcher who contacted you. At this point, your name, telephone number and email address will be requested for the interview, but this will not be passed on to any third parties: it will be 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 named researchers. We will then contact you to arrange the interview to ask you about your own views on the research topic. The researcher will call you on the date and time agreed. The telephone interview should last around 45 minutes and will be recorded if you agree. Recordings will be stored securely and used by the researcher to write up a detailed summary of your interview and deleted at the end of the project. If you would prefer not to be recorded, the interviewer will take notes during the interview. You can tell us your preference on the consent form. 

Do I have to take part? 

No. Participation in this study is completely voluntary and choosing not to take part will not affect you in any way. You can also choose to withdraw your participation at the time of the interview or up to 2 weeks after your interview, without giving a reason, by contacting one of the research team. Further details about withdrawing from the study are provided later on in this document.  

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

Your views and expertise will contribute to the evidence we are collecting on behalf of The Gatsby Foundation. It will help to provide an evidence base to better understand and explain the LMI/LMI+ landscape in England.  

What are the possible disadvantages, side effects or risks, 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 interview focuses solely on your own experiences. 

Expenses and payments 

There are no expenses or payments available for participating in the interview. 

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 study and all best endeavours will be made to ensure that data in any publications is anonymised. All participants will be given an identifier for the purposes of reporting, and any identifying information will be removed to ensure confidentiality. For example, the outputs may describe interview participants in the following way: ‘Interviewee 1’ or ‘Interviewee 2’. Your interview data will be stored safely in a restricted access 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. 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 to the data collected about me? 

As a publicly-funded organisation, the University of Warwick has to ensure that it is in the public interest when we use personally-identifiable information from people who have agreed to take part in study. This means that when you agree to take part in a research study, such as this, we will use your data in the ways needed to conduct and analyse the research study. 

We will be using information from your interview to inform and build on evidence we are collecting whilst reviewing the LMI/LMI+ landscape in England. We will act as the data controller for this study and are committed to protecting the rights of individuals in line with data protection legislation. Interview recordings will be kept until the end of the project and then securely deleted. An anonymised summary of your interview will be kept for 10 years and reviewed to determine whether it needs to be retained or whether it should be deleted.  

Research data will be pseudonymised as quickly as possible after data collection. This means all direct and indirect identifiers will be removed from the research data and will be replaced with a participant number. The key to identification will be stored separately and securely to the research data to safeguard your identity. 

Your rights to access, change or move your information are limited, as we need to manage your information in specific ways in order for the research to be reliable and accurate. The University of Warwick has in place policies and procedures to keep your data safe.  

The research data may also be used for future research, including impact activities following review and approval by an independent Research Ethics Committee and subject to your consent at the outset of this research project.  

For further information, please refer to the University of Warwick Research Privacy Notice which is available here: https://warwick.ac.uk/services/idc/dataprotection/privacynotices/researchprivacynotice or by contacting the Legal and Compliance Team at GDPR at warwick dot ac dot uk.  

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 do agree to participate, you have the right to withdraw from the study and decline any further contact up to 2 weeks after your interview. If you withdraw from the study more than 2 weeks after your interview, it will not be possible to withdraw your data which has already been collected and anonymised. In order to withdraw, please contact on Sally-Anne dot Barnes at warwick dot ac dot uk, or telephone number +44(0)24 76574397. 

To safeguard your rights, we will use the minimum personally-identifiable information possible and keep the data secure in line with the University’s Information and Data Compliance policies. 

What will happen to the results of the study? 

The results of the study may be published in a final report to The Gatsby Foundation. Peer-reviewed articles may also be prepared for publication in an academic journal. If you do not wish for your data to be included in an academic publication, please indicate this while completing the consent statements or let us know at the time of the interview. 

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 29/04/21, Reference number: 149/20-21. 

Who should I contact if I want further information? 

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, Sally-Anne dot Barnes at warwick dot ac dot uk, Tel. +44(0)24 76574397 

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 at warwick dot ac dot uk

Tel: +44(0)2476 575733 

If you wish to raise a complaint on how we have handled your personal data, you can contact our Data Protection Officer who will investigate the matter: DPO at warwick dot ac dot uk.  

If you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are processing your personal data in a way that is not lawful you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). 

Thank you for taking the time to read this Participant Information Leaflet