Data Collection

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Study Title:
The Teacher Precarity Project: Understanding the Precarious Experiences of Educators 

Researchers:
Ann Frkovich, Ph.D. (Ann.Frkovich@CUChicago.edu); Jenna Nelson, Ed.D. (Jenna.Nelson@CUChicago.edu)

Introduction:
You are being asked to participate in a research study by Drs. Ann Frkovich and Jenna Nelson. The data collected may be used for their educational scholarship around the experience of teacher precarity. Dr. Frkovich is a Professor of Research, and Dr. Nelson is an Associate Professor of Curriculum & Instruction, at Concordia University Chicago.

Your participation is being requested because you match the following inclusion criteria for our study:

1. You teach at or serve as an administrator at a PK-12 school within the United States and have experienced precarity in your role (uncertainty, unpredictability, anxiety, instability, and disruption).

2. Participants must be at least 22 years old.

Please read this form carefully and ask any questions you may have before deciding whether to approve your participation in the study.

Purpose:
This study focuses on better understanding the challenges, dangers, and precariousness of specific work in schools today.

Procedures:
If you agree to participate in this study, you will be asked to: 

Agree to sign this formal consent form which will be distributed ahead of participation in the study process. This study is for academic publication and conference presentation purposes in the fields of comparative and international education and qualitative research; 

Select a pseudonym; 

Write a reflection about a specific moment of precariousness in your profession (see prompts included in the Google Form linked to this page); 

Submit this writing to Ann Frkovich and Jenna Nelson via this Google Form. Please replace names of all people and places with pseudonyms (be sure to select one for yourself in the writing sample you submit.) Potentially, we may contact you to clarify any details shared and ask for a revision that focuses on writerly details.

Typed reflections will be securely submitted on Google Forms to Drs. Frkovich and Nelson to a password-protected, private email address and saved to a password-protected computer. Saved reflections will be destroyed on February 5, 2029.

Risks/Benefits:
Risks involved with this study do not go beyond the risks one might encounter daily in one’s profession. To minimize risk, we recommend participants seek counseling support from professionals available to them.

There are no direct benefits for your participation, but the resulting data and generated themes will be used for educational scholarship.

Confidentiality:
To the extent possible, the information gathered will be confidential. Data collected will be kept confidential whereby participant names will not be used.

Only the researchers will have access to the study data.

Study data will be de-identified and a master list connecting the subjects to their data will be stored on a password-protected computer. The master list will be kept separately from the data. The master list will be destroyed once the research is completed.

Voluntary Participation:
Participation in this study is voluntary. If you do not want to participate in this study, you do not have to agree to participate. Even if you decide to participate, you are free to not respond to any prompt(s). You can also withdraw from participation at any time without penalty.

Contact and Questions:
If you have any questions about this research study, please do not hesitate to contact Drs. Frkovich and Nelson (teacherprecarityproject@gmail.com).

Should you have any questions about your rights as a research participant, please do not hesitate to contact the Concordia University Chicago IRB (IRB@CUChicago.edu)