Focus Group Discussion Information
Thank you for your interest in participating in the focus group discussion for a study titled “The Effectiveness of Cheat-sheets as a Learning Tool for Critical Thinking”. You are invited to participate in this focus group discussion because you have previously taken and/or are currently taking Dr. Lee-An’s lower-level sociology class and have experienced creating a handwritten cheat-sheet to prepare for your sit-in exams. The researcher would like to inquire about your personal experience of using handwritten cheat-sheets for exams as a learning tool, and a method to promote critical thinking in the process of creation.
What will the focus group consist of?
The session will last 60-75 minutes and will be audio recorded to ensure an accurate transcript of the focus group. You will have an opportunity to share your own experiences and thoughts with other small group discussion participants. The focus group facilitator (researcher) will ensure that all participants have an equal opportunity to contribute to the discussion, though any decision not to make any comments at any time will be equally respected. During the small group discussions, light refreshments will be provided and a raffle for a $20 Tim Hortons gift card.
Consent Overview
Participation is Voluntary
Whether you choose to participate or not is entirely voluntary. Participation in this study will in no way impact your relationship with Dr. Lee-An, your course work, or your grades. You are in no way obligated to join this study if you are currently taking/ previously taken a course with Dr. Lee-An — the choice is completely yours.
If you choose to join this study and later change your mind that is okay. If you wish to withdraw from this study or to leave, you can do so at any time before or during the focus group discussion and until seven days after the focus group discussion is completed. No reason or explanation is needed if you do decide to withdraw, and this can be done via verbal or written communication with either the researcher or the research assistant.
In the case of withdrawal, all individual remarks from you will be deleted from the transcript, and they will not be used in any future publication. However, given the nature of the group discussions, your ideas (which may have sparked the thoughts and ideas of other participants and may have shaped the collective discussions), would remain as a part of research data. In addition, your audio files would remain until all audio files are deleted with the completion of this research as it would not be feasible to single out individual voices from the audio files and delete them separately.
How are confidentiality and anonymity protected?
Given that all participants have taken Dr. Jiyoung Lee-An’s sociology courses, it is easy for participants to identify each other, and thus anonymity would not be feasible in this study. However, in focus group discussions, each participant will be given a color-coded name tag and their responses will be recorded based on color-coded pseudonym. To protect the privacy of participants, participants will be informed in their consent form and at the beginning of the focus group discussion that they are required to keep all comments made during the focus group confidential and not discuss what happened during the focus group outside the meeting. Once transcription is complete, only the researcher and research assistant will have access to the audio files that were made, and they will be destroyed at the conclusion of this project. With your permission, anonymous quotations may be used in online & paper publications and/or presentations. Given the group format of this session, I will ask you to keep in confidence any information that identifies or could potentially identify a participant and/or their comments.
Consent Form
Focus group ground rules:
- You do not need to agree with others, but please listen respectfully as others share their views.
- We would like to hear a wide range of opinions: please speak up on whether you agree or disagree.
- There are no right or wrong answers, every person’s experiences and opinions are important.
- The meeting is audio recorded, therefore, please allow one person at a time to speak.
- Please turn off your phones or put them on silent mode while the meeting is going on.
Contact if Interested!
If you are interested in participating in this discussion please feel free to send an email at Cheatsheet.research.project@gmail.com, and we will get back to you as soon as possible to arrange a meeting date!