Research Consent Form
Introduction:
My name is Julie Periman; I currently live in a rural town in Colorado. I am a Doctoral candidate student at Trinity Bible College in North Dakota. I am conducting a research study on how sung worship, specifically in a rural context, can lead to an encounter with God’s presence, facilitating the transformation of individuals and even a congregation as part of their discipleship transformation. I am completing this research as part of my Doctorate degree in Practical Theology. I invite you to participate.
Activities:
If you participate in this research, you will be asked to:
1. Participate in a survey questionnaire.
2. Potentially engage in a follow-up semi-structured interview with key people.
Eligibility:
You are eligible to participate in this research
1. If you are a member of such a church
2. If you are a pastor/ worship leader of a rural/small-town church congregation.
You are not eligible to participate in this research
1. If there is a conflict of interest between you and the researcher.
2. If you are under 18.
I hope to include ten different churches in the Cortez area in this research.
Risks:
There are minimal risks in this study. Some possible risks include the use of your time and disclosure of information.
To decrease the impact of these risks, you can skip any question that you deem inappropriate or irrelevant to you. All interview material will be kept confidential in the researcher’s personal pass-coded electronic device, and pseudonyms for any references to a comment’s source will be used to ensure confidentiality and anonymity.
Benefits:
If you decide to participate, there may be no direct benefits to you, but there will hopefully be benefits to others. These would include better understanding one’s faith in Christ and creating tools to help disciple other Christians, both new and mature. It may enhance worship leaders’ self-understanding of their task in bringing people into the presence of God as well as teaching congregants to engage individually within the corporate context.
Confidentiality:
The information you provide will be kept confidential to the extent allowable by law. The step I will take to keep your identity confidential is that I will use a pseudonymous name to identify you.
The people who will have access to your information are myself and/or my research supervisor.
I will secure your data with the following steps:
· Data will be kept on pass-coded electronic files.
· Kept in a personally owned pass-coded electronic device and subsequently stored in a safety deposit box for up to 7 years - while writing up the dissertation and its immediate aftermath; after 7 years, all personal referenced files on e-storage or paper will be deleted).
Contact Information:
If you have questions for me, you can contact me at: julieperiman@trinitybiblecollege.edu Phone, 970-560-0534.
My supervisor’s name is Dr. Anne E Dyer. She works for Trinity Bible College and is supervising me on the research. You can contact her at: adyer@trinitybiblecollege.edu.
Voluntary Participation:
Your participation is voluntary. If you decide not to participate, or if you stop participation after you start, there will be no penalty to you.
Audiotaping: (optional)
I would like to record your responses using a voice recorder or Zoom. All quotations and references to specific comments will be checked back with the person making the original comment.
