Title of Research: Response to Pittsburgh / Holocaust Education Survey
Name of Researcher(s): Dr. Karen L. Blair (StFX) & Dr. Rhea Ashley Hoskin (Queen's University)
Invitation to Participate
You are invited to participate in an online survey. This survey was originally designed to assess individuals' knowledge of the Holocaust and attitudes towards Holocaust education. In the wake of the events of October 27, 2018, in Pittsburgh at the Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue, the survey has been adapted to include questions about participants' responses to the shooting at the synagogue. It is intended to document individual and collective responses.
What is the study about?
This survey is about knowledge of the Holocaust. We will compare knowledge across people of different ages, backgrounds, and experiences. We will repeat the survey each year with new participants to see how knowledge changes over time.
What will I be expected to do?
Please read this document carefully. If you decide to participate in the study, you will be taken to the online survey. The survey will ask you questions about your personal demographics (e.g., age, gender, education), your personality, and your attitudes and beliefs concerning how the world operates. Some questions will be about your knowledge and attitudes concerning the Holocaust and Holocaust education.
If you are a student or young person, you will be asked to invite one of your parents to take the survey. You will be presented with a special link to email to your parents. This link will contain a random number that will automatically link your parent’s response to your response. This will not compromise the privacy of your data. No one will know what you said on the survey.
How much time will it take?
The survey should take you anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes to complete. The length of time it takes you will depend on how quickly you read and how long your answers are to the written questions.
Will anyone know what I said?
Everything that you say will be entirely anonymous. No one will know what you said. The survey will not collect any information that could be used to identify who you are. The data analysis will look at everyone’s answers together, not individually. Nothing that could possibly identify who you are will be kept in the data file.
Your data will may be used for teaching purposes. A file consisting only of numbers representing the answers of all of the participants together may be given to students at St. Francis Xavier University to conduct analyses. If you are a student, you will never see the data of other students in your class. If you are not a student, no one will ever be able to identify who you are in the data file. None of the “open-ended” responses will be provided in the data set provided to students.
The responses of parents and students will be linked through a randomly generated number that contains no information that can be used to identify either participant.
What happens if I change my mind and wish to withdraw?
You may leave the study at any time without penalty. Simply close your browser and leave the study. If you would like to have your data removed from the study, click the link at the bottom of the page that says “withdraw my data.” This will delete your answers from the study.
What are the potential benefits and harms associated with participation in the study?
You may find it interesting to think about the questions asked in the study and to think about your own knowledge and attitudes concerning the Holocaust. You may even find that participating in the study sparks an interest in this topic. Your participation will also help us to track knowledge and attitudes over time. This is important so that teachers can update what is being taught to students. With respect to the questions concerning the shooting in Pittsburgh, it is possible that you may find the process of answering questions to be cathartic.
As a thank you for your participation, you will be entered into a prize draw to win a $50 gift card to Amazon.
Risks of Participation: Participating in a study about the Holocaust make you feel unpleasant. This may be especially true for if you have a personal connection to World War Two or the Holocaust. The survey includes questions about events during the Holocaust, attitudes related to different groups involved in the Holocaust, as well as some photos of places and people associated with the Holocaust. Some measures ask about opinions that you may disagree with or even find offensive. You will always have the option to state your agreement or disagreement with each statement - or to skip a question entirely. We would like to be able to capture everyone’s opinion, so it is important to provide a variety of response options. Please respond to all questions honestly with your own opinion.
Thinking about a shooting may also be upsetting, but we do not expect that our questions will bring about any additional distress over and above what you may already be experiencing as a result of knowing about the shooting. The questions about the shooting are optional and may be skipped if you wish to only participate in the standard version of the survey. Similarly, if you only wish to respond to the questions about the shooting and not answer questions about the Holocaust at this time, that is also possible, as we understand that focusing on both of these topics simultaneously may present an unnecessary burden.
Where do I get questions answered?
If you have any questions about this research, please feel free to contact the primary investigator, Dr. Karen L. Blair, Assistant Professor of Psychology at St. Francis Xavier University.
Email: kblair@stfx.ca
Phone: 902.867.5956
Address: Office 024A Annex, 2323 Notre Dame Avenue, Antigonish, NS, B2G 2W5
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