Participant Information Sheet: Online Survey

 Title of study: Developing Business-Aware Academics 

You are being invited to take part in an academic research study. Before you decide to participate in this study, it is important that you understand why the research is being done and what it will involve. Please take the time to read the following information carefully.

Purpose of the research 

The Research-England funded project, Developing Business-Aware Academics, brings together academics, researcher developers, industry, non-profits and policy makers to inspire collaborative and impactful research that addresses today’s most urgent societal and environmental challenges. As part of the project, this survey is being conducted to contribute to the building of an evidence base to inform the design of initiatives that will offer doctoral and early-career researchers from all disciplines the knowledge, skills, and networking opportunities to engage effectively beyond academia.

Who is doing this research? 

The lead researcher of this study is the DBAA Project Director, Professor Alison Truelove, University of Exeter Business School. Other researchers on the team include Dr Jo Bowler, Dr Kate Ellis, and Dr Felipe Do Nascimento Rodrigues.

Ethical review of this Research 

This study has been reviewed by the University of Exeter Business School Research Ethics Committee and received a favourable review. The review reference is 6500253. The Business School Ethics Committee may be contacted by email via the Co-Director, Steven Boyne, S.Boyne@exeter.ac.uk , and Senior Research Ethics Officer, Dr. Ashley Luckman, A.Luckman2@exeter.ac.uk.

Procedures of this study 

This survey invites you to share your views on the barriers to, and enablers and motivators for, researchers engaging with organisations beyond academia. There are 18 questions, scored on a Likert scale, or by selecting from a drop-down menu, and a free text box if you would like to give any further information. There are also some optional Equality, Diversity, and Inclusivity (EDI) questions, to enable us to ensure that research findings and outputs are inclusive and accessible. There is no obligation to complete these questions.

We estimate it should take 10-15 minutes to complete this survey.

Benefits and risks of taking part 

There is unlikely to be any immediate direct or personal benefit to you in taking part, but we hope the survey results will inform the development of training initiatives in business skills, competencies and mindsets for doctoral and early-career researchers that you may find useful in your career. There may be some benefit to society; but this cannot be assured at the start of the research project. There are no risks to taking part in this research greater than that which you may encounter on a daily basis in your normal life. If you feel any discomfort or doubt about taking part you can stop at any time before completing the survey.

Voluntary participation and your right to withdraw 

Your participation in this study is entirely voluntary. You are under no obligation to take part and you may stop at any time. If you stop before completing the survey, your partial response will be saved, and these responses will be considered in the analysis of the survey results. Withdrawal after completing the survey is not possible as your responses, once submitted, will not be identifiable to the researcher to enable removal from the data set.

Anonymity 

Your name and contact details are not provided by the survey referrer to the researcher. Your responses to this survey are therefore anonymous, though details of some personal characteristics such as age, ethnicity and gender will be captured, to ensure that research findings and outputs are inclusive and accessible. You are invited to provide the name of your institution, but this is optional. There will be no specific personal information such as name and contact details to identify you. Your responses to this survey are not subject to GDPR as there is no personally identifiable data.  

The Data Controller for this research is the University of Exeter. You may contact the Information Governance office of the University of Exeter by emailing dataprotection@exeter.ac.uk 

University of Exeter Data Protection for Research Statement 

Qualtrics Data Privacy statement 

The Results 

Results will be published or presented in academic papers and presentations. If you wish to be updated about the results of this study, please email dbaa@exeter.ac.uk.

Consent 

• I have read and understand the information provided above. 

• I understand that my participation is voluntary 

• I understand that I may withdraw and stop participating at any time during the survey. 

• I understand that if I withdraw partway through the survey, my partial response will be saved and included in the dataset. 

• I understand that there will be no negative consequences for withdrawal. 

• I understand that once submitted my data will be anonymous and cannot be withdrawn later. 

• I understand that my anonymised data will be deposited into a data repository for long-term preservation and sharing. 

• I understand that the EDI questions at the end of the survey are optional. There is no obligation for me to complete these questions. 

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Thank you for participating in this study! 

Thank you for taking part in our research about how best to bring together academics, industry, non-profits and policy makers to inspire collaborative and impactful research that addresses today’s most urgent societal and environmental challenges.

The purpose of this survey was to contribute to the building of an evidence base to inform the design of initiatives that will offer doctoral and early-career researchers from all disciplines the knowledge, skills, and networking opportunities to engage effectively beyond academia. If you have any questions or you are interested in finding out more about this research you may contact the researcher, Kate Ellis, by email at K.Ellis2@exeter.ac.uk.