Consent For Survey Participation
Title of Research Study: Illuminating Target Voices: Unmasking Workplace Bullying in Canadian Universities
You are invited to participate in a survey on experiences of workplace bullying in academia. This study has been reviewed by the Ontario Tech University Research Ethics Board [#17686] and originally approved on [March 1, 2024].
Name of Principal Investigator (PI): Dr. Hannah Scott (hannah.scott@ontariotechu.ca)
Doctoral Student: Amy Webster (amy.webster@ontariotechu.net)
Departmental and institutional affiliation(s): Faculty of Social Science and Humanities, Ontario Tech University
Contact number(s)/email: amy.webster@ontariotechu.net
Contact number(s)/email: hannah.scott@ontariotechu.ca
Introduction
You are invited to participate in a research study entitled Illuminating Target Voices: Unmasking Workplace Bullying in Canadian Universities. You are being asked to take part in a research study. Please read the information about the study presented in this form. The form includes details on study procedures, risks and benefits that you should know before you decide to participate. You should take as much time as you need to make your decision. You should ask doctoral student (Amy Webster, amy.webster@ontariotechu.net) or
Principal Investigator (PI) (Dr. Hannah Scott (hannah.scott@ontariotechu.ca) to explain anything that you do not understand and make sure that all of your questions have been answered before signing this consent form. Before you make your decision, feel free to talk about this study with anyone you wish including your friends and family. Participation in this study is voluntary.
Purpose and Procedure:
Purpose:
You have been invited to participate in this study because you are a faculty member employed at a Canadian university. This study will aim to examine (tenured, tenure-track, or untenured) professors’ experiences of workplace bullying in Canadian universities. Insight into bullying in Canadian universities may help to validate the existence of bullying in higher education and increase the understanding of bullying behaviours experienced by faculty. This survey is voluntary and confidential, and survey responses will be anonymized.
Procedures:
The survey will ask questions about your experience of workplace bullying in academia. The survey is separated into five parts (demographic questions, academic work questions, bully characteristics, workplace power control questions, reporting procedures and outcomes) and will take approximately 15-30 minutes to complete. Survey responses are confidential and will be anonymized. No personal information will be collected unless the participant discloses personal information in the comment sections of the survey. Any personal data provided under the comment sections of the survey will be cleaned in such a way that all identifying information will be removed, thus protecting the identity of the survey taker.
Potential Benefits
Participation in this study will help researchers understand how pervasive the problem of workplace bullying is in Canadian Universities and bring light to the issue. Participant responses may help researchers understand how Canadian universities can better support targets, and offer potential suggestions that can be implemented to help maintain healthy workplace environments in higher education settings.
Potential Risk or Discomforts
To the best of our knowledge, participation in this survey will present no more risk of harm than you would experience in everyday life. There is potential that topics discussed in the survey may be uncomfortable or bring up upsetting situations. To minimize risks, participants have the ability to pause, stop, or end the survey at anytime. If they choose to end the survey, responses will not be recorded. The following resources may be helpful for participants who experience discomfort. These resources will also be listed at the end of the survey.
Canadian Institute of Workplace Bullying Resources Crisis line: 1-800-448-3000
Distress and Crisis Ontario Text Line: Text SUPPORT to 258258
Canada Mental Health Support: Text WELLNESS to 741741 or call 1-866-585-0445
Canadian Centre of Occupational Health and Safety (OSH): FAQ on Workplace Bullying
https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/psychosocial/bullying.html
Canada Safety Council: Working with a Bully
https://canadasafetycouncil.org/working-bully/
Use and Storage of Data
Data collection period: [January 24th, 2025] to [March 24th, 2025].
Data collection is administered through an electronic survey questionnaire. Data will be collected in an in-house virtual machine (VM) created by IT and placed inside the Ontario Tech IT infrastructure. No data will be stored on external cloud servers and is subject to Canadian privacy legislation. There are no remote cloud servers involved in the data collection process. Once the survey is closed, data will be pulled off the server and stored on an encrypted drive. Data will be reported in amalgamated formats, and any comments collected offering qualitative experiences of respondents will be cleaned for any personally identifying information, including names of people or companies, should they be provided. Qualitative information will also be reported in amalgamated form, grouping like comments together of similar behaviour captured in the survey. Data will be kept indefinitely as it will be anonymized.
All information collected during this study, including your email address if you choose to reach out to the doctoral student (amy.webster@ontariotechu.net) or the Principal Investigator (hannah.scott@ontariotechu.ca) will be kept confidential and will not be shared with anyone outside the study unless required by law. You will not be named in any reports, publications, or presentations that may come from this study.
Confidentiality
Personal identifiers are not included in the data collection process. This survey is designed to collect anonymized data. URL, names, company names, or other personal identifiers are excluded from the data collection.
Your privacy shall be respected. Confidentiality will be provided to the fullest extent possible by law, professional practice, and ethical codes of conduct.
Please note that confidentiality cannot be guaranteed while data are in transit over the Internet, as for how respondents access the survey (via cell phone, personal computer, etc.) is outside of our control. Please note that communication via e-mail is not absolutely secure. Thus, please do not communicate personal sensitive information via e-mail.
Voluntary Participation
Your participation in this study is voluntary and you may partake in only those aspects of the study in which you feel comfortable. You may also decide not to be in this study, or to be in the study now, and then change your mind later. You may leave the study at any time without any repercussion and the information provided up until that point will be discarded.
Right to Withdraw
Your participation is voluntary, and you can answer only those questions that you are comfortable with. If you withdraw from the research project at any time, any data that you have contributed will be removed from the study and you need not offer any reason for making this request. To withdraw from the survey, click on “Exit and clear survey,” and all data supplied by the survey taker will be deleted automatically. All participation in this survey is voluntary. Once participants have submitted their answers and completed the survey, there is no way to identify individual respondents and therefore withdrawal from the study after survey completion is not possible.
Conflict of Interest
The survey is intended to reach professors (tenured, tenured-track or untenured) at Canadian
universities. It is possible that participants may be from the Principal Investigator’s (Dr. Hannah
Scott) and doctoral student's (Amy Webster) workplace. However, the structure of the survey
asks for minimal demographic information in effort to minimize risk of personal identification. We also do not collect university affiliation.
Compensation, Reimbursement, Incentives
Participants are not being paid for their participation in this survey.
Debriefing and Dissemination of Results
The survey will be closed for data analysis as of [March 24th, 2025]. Survey participants are invited to contact Amy Webster (amy.webster@ontariotechu.net) if they would like further information about the study and survey results.
Use of "cookies"
Participants have the option of returning to the survey if they are unable to complete it once it has started. A “cookie” will be placed on the device where the survey is being taken. This allows respondents to pick up where they left off, should they choose this option and are coming back to it from the same device. All surveys have the option to generate cookies so that respondents can return when it is convenient. The cookie ensures that the survey taker does not have to fill in their answers to questions they have already answered when they return. This cookie is in no way linked to survey responses or the identity of the survey taker.
Re-entering the Survey
To save answers and finish the survey at a later time, there will be a resume later button in the top right hand corner of the screen. You will be prompted to enter a username and password of your choosing for re-entry into the survey. If you get the message that the username has already been used, please choose a different username. You do NOT need to enter your email address if you choose not to do so. This will create a "cookie" so that you can re-enter the survey at a later date. Cookies can expire depending on your computer and search engine settings. If the "cookie" has expired, you will have to re-enter the survey by using the same link you originally used to enter it. You will then be prompted to enter your chosen user name and password for access to previously saved answers. If you are directed to the consent page, simply click "load unfinished survey" in the top right corner. If you are having issues with re-entry, please email
workplacesurvey@ontariotechu.net.
Participant Rights and Concerns
Please read this consent form carefully and feel free to ask Amy Webster (amy.webster@ontariotechu.net) any questions that you might have about the study. If you have any questions about your rights as a participant in this study, complaints, or adverse events, please contact the Research Ethics Office at (905) 721-8668 ext. 3693 or at researchethics@ontariotechu.ca.
If you have any questions concerning the research study or experience any discomfort related to the study, please contact Amy Webster (amy.webster@ontariotechu.net). By clicking "To continue please first accept our survey data policy", followed up "next", you do not give up any of your legal rights against the investigators, sponsor or involved institutions for compensation, nor does this form relieve the investigators, sponsor or involved institutions of their legal and professional responsibilities.
Consent to Participate
- I have read the consent form and understand the study being described.
- I have had an opportunity to ask questions and my questions have been answered. I am free to ask questions about the study in the future.
- I freely consent to participate in the research study, understanding that I may discontinue participation at any time without penalty. A copy of this Consent Form has been made available to me by printing this screen.
- I understand the possible need for secondary research uses of my responses to this survey for future research use and provide consent for the use of my data to be used in future studies.
- The research team has informed me that a separate Research Ethics Board (REB) application will be submitted for the secondary use of data for any future research purposes.
- I understand my personal identity will remain anonymized, and if I am interested in being contacted about subsequent studies, I must contact Amy Webster (amy.webster@ontariotechu.net) or Dr. Hannah Scott (hannah.scott@ontariotechu.ca).
By checking the "To continue please first accept our survey data policy" box and clicking "Next", you are providing informed consent to participate in this study and can begin sharing your experiences with workplace bullying. We would like to thank you for the time you are about to share with our study.