Before participating in the Your Story research project, it is important for each participant to give their free and informed consent. If participants are under the age of 18, a parent or guardian must also provide their consent.
What Does participation involve?
Participating in the Your Story research project involves completing an online survey that asks a series of questions about your experiences and perspectives of faith, spirituality, and religion. We estimate that the survey will take around 30-45 minutes to complete depending on the level of detail you provide. Beyond the survey, some participants might be approached to participate in one-to-one interviews to dive deeper into their perspectives.
Anyone who participates in this project can be assured that any information provided would be treated in the strictest confidence and you will not be identified in any way by the resulting report or any other publications.
You can change your mind, decline to answer particular questions, or entirely discontinue your participation at any time. Non-participation will not disadvantage you in any way.
When Parental or Guardian consent is required
For participants who are under 18 years of age, additional consent from a Parent or Guardian is required.
There are two ways to do this:
- The parent or guardian is present when commencing the survey: This option is for individuals completing the survey at home.
- The parent or guardian provides consent in advance: This option is for occasions where schools, organisations and groups organise for individuals to complete the survey away from home.
Option 1) Parent Guardian is Present
Typically, participants complete the survey at home and therefore can simply ask their parent or guardian to complete the relevant sections of the survey to give their consent.
The parent or guardian must give their consent before that participant can proceed to the remainder of survey.
Simply click on the ‘Take the Survey’ button below and you will be guided through the process. The first few questions of the survey direct both parties through the consent process, and then the young person is free to complete the remainder of the survey.
Option 2) Parent Guardian provides consent in advance
We have also made provision for parents or guardians to provide consent in advance of the young person completing the survey. It’s a bit like signing a permission slip for a school excursion or youth group outing. This option can be used by groups who want to organise a gathering for young people to complete the survey together.
Parents or guardians simple click the ‘Parent/Guardian Consent’ button below and complete the form. A confirmation email is sent to the Parent/Guardian.
Please Note: The confirmation email must be shown to the group organiser who then confirms the parent/guardian’s consent on the participant’s survey.
Group Organisers
Follow these steps if you are hosting an event where the parent/guardian will NOT be present:
- Group organisers send parents the consent form by using the following link:
https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/6866544/Your-Story-Consent - Direct parent/guardians to complete the form BEFORE the group is planned to take the survey, and ensure they have received the confirmation of consent email.
- Parents/Guardians and/or the young person must bring a copy of the email confirmation to be sighted by group organisers.
- Participants commence the survey in the usual manner by clicking the “Take the Survey” button on this website.
- After the participant has given their own consent, the survey asks how additional consent will be provided. Participants choose the option ‘A witness will confirm that my parent or guardian has given consent’ (see screen shot below)
- A group organiser who is over 18 completes the information on the next page, and the participant is good to go.
This is the page that asks for how additional consent will be provided:
