Informed Consent Letter
November 3, 2009
Dear Sir or Madam:
We are conducting qualitative research on the effectiveness of Boston’s METCO (Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity) program, a Boston-based program operated and funded by the Massachusetts Department of Education. Our research will be conducted by interviewing eight (8) different stakeholders of METCO in regards to their experiences with the program. We hope to learn about the both the successes and challenges of the program and, more specifically, the degree to which it has been effective in closing the “opportunity gap” between students in the city of Boston and those residing in the suburbs. We intend to interview a variety of stakeholders, including METCO school administrators in Lincoln and SouthShore, students who have graduated from the respective METCO schools, parents, the executive director of the program, and a policy representative from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. In addition to our interviews, we will be writing about what we find in various places to include academic journals, and will use our findings in our A100 wiki project. Although we hope to be able to present our findings in a scholarly journal or in a conference presentation, we realize our limited role as graduate students. In the spirit of transparency, we will be happy to provide you with a copy of our research.
Our work with be supervised by two HGSE faculty members:
Professor Jal Mehta Professor Terrance Tivnan
Educational Policy Research Methods and Data Analysis
Gutman Library, Office 447Larsen Hall, Office 415
Phone: (617) 495-3727Phone: (617) 496-8061
E-mail: -mail:
If you agree to be interviewed for this study, the interview will be recorded and transcribed. We will be writing our study based on what we learn from these interviews.
findings.
You can withhold any information, or decline to answer any question. You can also end the interview at any time if you do not want to continue.
***********************************
Your interview transcript will not be shown to others outside of A100.If you would like for portions of your responses to remain confidential, we will honor those requests. In an effort to mitigate the sensitivity surrounding this issue, both you and the organization in which you are affiliated with will be assigned a pseudonym for use in our study. This pseudonym will be entered into your interview transcript and will be used in any reports or articles written. Thus, your confidentiality will be assured.
The data we collect in this research (such as notes from this interview) will be stored at the home of:
Trevor Ivey
HarvardGraduateSchool of Education
84 Brattle Street, #303
Cambridge, MA02138
I agree to participate in this interview and to have the transcript of this interview made available to A100 as part of the project’s findings.
Signed: Date:
Printed name:
We have discussed with the individual listed above the procedures in which our data will be gathered, explicitly pointing out potential concerns. We have asked whether any questions remain and have answered these questions to the best of our ability.
Signature(s): Date:
Printed name(s):
Note: Please report any complaints or problems concerning this research to the Standing Committee on the Use of Human Subjects in Research at HarvardUniversity, at (617) 495-5459.
Please accept the Starbucks gift card as a token of our appreciation for your participation in this project.
Sincerely yours,
Kendra KrauseKate O’ ConnorSharon AntiaTrevor Ivey
------
If you have questions now or later about this research project, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Kendra KrauseKate O’ Connor
Phone: (602) 690-7408Phone: (339) 225-0686
E-mail: -mail:
Sharon AntiaTrevor Ivey
Phone: (617) 593-0141Phone: (781) 540-1385
E-mail: E-mail:
If you have any questions regarding your rights in this research, please do not hesitate to contact:
Jane Calhoun, Research Officer
HarvardUniversity Committee on the Use of Human Subjects in Research
ScienceCenter 128, Cambridge, MA02138
Phone: 617-495-5459
E-mail: