Participant Information Sheet for Online Observation
Name of department: Education (School of Humanities and Social Sciences)
Title of the study: Theyby Parent Pedagogy: An Exploration of Teaching and Learning about Gender in an Online Community
Introduction
The investigation is being conducted by Milo Chesnut as part of their PhD research at the University of Strathclyde. Milo Chesnut has been a member of the Parenting Theybies Facebook group since 2018. Please refer to the About and Publications pages for more background information on the researcher.
What is the purpose of this research?
The overall aim of this study is to explore the motivations, meanings and experiences of gender open parenting from the parents’ perspective. The researcher is broadly defining ‘gender open parenting’ and ‘theyby parenting,’ as parents who use they/them/their pronouns with their children from the start, but also plans to explore the language parents use through the research. Additionally, the investigation aims to understand how parents learn about gender open parenting, how they educate others – including their children – about their politics and practices, and their experiences with schooling. All participants will be drawn from the Parenting Theybies Facebook Group. The researcher hopes to use the findings of the study to increase awareness of gender open parenting, and support parents and educators of all children who push the expected boundaries of sex and gender, including, but not limited to, transgender and non-binary youth, and theybies.
Do you have to take part?
The study will have three different phases: online observation, a questionnaire, and interviews. All phases of the study are voluntary, and will require separate consent. For example, if you consent to the online observation phase of the study, that does not mean that you’ve consented to the questionnaire or interviews. This information sheet is for the online observation phase of the study only.
During the online observation phase of the study, the researcher will read past and current posts within the Parenting Theybies Facebook group. They will take notes on the topics of conversation, the types of questions that are asked, and the stories that are shared. No images or videos will be collected during this phase, only text. No identifying information will be recorded during this phase, including specific names and locations. The usernames of all participants will be kept anonymous in the notes, and only the researchers will have access to the notes. The wording of quotes will also be changed to increase confidentiality, while still retaining the ‘spirit’ of the original post. These notes will be used by the researcher to write their thesis, and other publications associated with the thesis. If any information relating to your posts appear in the research, your personal identity will not be identifiable.
If you consent to participate in the online observation phase of the study, you do not need to take further action. If you do not consent to this phase of the study, you may withdraw by contacting the researcher using the information below. If you withdraw, the researcher will not include any of your posts in the study. There are no consequences for withdrawing from online observation, and you may still participate in the questionnaire or interviews in the future. The researcher will wait 3 weeks from the initial post about the study before beginning observation. You can also choose to withdraw your posts after the research has begun. If you do so, then all identifying information will be destroyed by the researcher, unless the data has already been anonymized.
You have the right to ask questions or request access to the data the researcher has collected about you at any time by contacting the researcher at the details below.
What will you do in the project?
During the online observation phase of the study, the researcher will take notes on posts within the Parenting Theybies Facebook group. Participants are expected to do nothing more than what they would normally do within the group. The researcher will notify the group when the online observation phase is complete.
After the online observation phase, members will be invited to complete a questionnaire on basic demographic information, and indicate their interest in participating in an interview. For the last phase of the study, members will be invited to participate in an interview with the researcher. More information about these phases of the study will provided in future posts and information sheets.
To recognize the value of your contribution to the investigation, and the importance of continued support of gender open parenting, the researcher will offer a $200 donation to theybyparenting.com at the completion of the study.
Why have you been invited to take part?
You are invited to take part because you are a member of Parenting Theybies.
What are the potential risks to you in taking part?
The researcher does not anticipate any significant risks as a result of participating in the online observation phase of the study.
What information is being collected in the project?
During the online observation phase of the study, the researcher will take notes on the posts within the Parenting Theybies group. Specifically, the researcher is looking for evidence of parents teaching and learning from other parents, parents discussing teaching their children, parents discussing interactions with extended family/strangers/peers/schools, and parents discussing their children’s futures. All of these examples relate to the research questions. No identifying information will be collected, all usernames will be anonymized at the point of collection, and the wording of quotes will be changed.
Who will have access to the information?
As discussed above, identifying information is not being collected during the online observation phase of the study, and precautions will be taken to ensure the confidentiality and anonymity of members of Parenting Theybies throughout the investigation. The usernames of all participants will be kept anonymous, and quotes from posts within the forum will be reworded in order to decrease the searchability of the original post. All potentially identifying information will also be removed. Only the researchers named on this information sheet will have access to the notes.
Where will the information be stored and how long will it be kept for?
Typed notes will be stored in password protected folders on the University of Strathclyde’s server. Hand-written notes will be stored in a locked cabinet in the researcher’s place of work. The notes will not contain any identifying information.
All personal data on participants will be processed and stored in accordance with the regulations of the Data Protection Act 1998, the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR)and theUniversity of Strathclyde Data Protection Policy. The researcher will destroy all personally identifying data when it is no longer for the purposes of this specific study. Anonymous research data may be retained indefinitely in the University Records Centre.
What happens next?
If you are happy to participate in the online observation phase of the study, you do not need to take further actions.
If you do not want to participate in this phase of the study, please indicate that you would like to withdraw using this link.
If you are unsure about whether you would like to participate and have further questions, please contact the researcher using the information below:
After completion of the study, you will be offered the opportunity to receive the following electronic documents:
· Summary of the investigation findings
· The final PhD thesis
You may contact the researcher with any questions after reading the findings. The researcher will notify the group of other publications as necessary.
Thank you for reading this information – please ask any questions if you are unsure about what is written here.
Researcher contact details
Feel free to reach out with any questions about the study through the contact form on this website, or at the email address below:
Milo Chesnut
Postgraduate Student (PhD Education)
Education Department; School of Humanities and Social Sciences
milo.chesnut@strath.ac.uk
PhD Supervisor Details: If you would like to contact the PhD Supervisor during the study, her information is below:
Professor Yvette Taylor
Education Department; School of Humanities and Social Sciences
+44 (0)141 444 8048
yvette.taylor@strath.ac.uk
This research was granted ethical approval by the University of Strathclyde School of Education Ethics Committee.
If you have any questions/concerns, during or after the research, or wish to contact an independent person to whom any questions may be directed or further information may be sought from, please contact:
Chair of the School of Education Ethics Committee
University of Strathclyde
Dr Eugenie A. Samier
Lord Hope Building
141 St James Road
Glasgow
G4 0LT
Email: eugenie.samier@strath.ac.uk