Create Your PIS

Data Storage & PIS Download

This part will help you fully figure out how to answer the question “What will happen if people decide to take part” in PIS. The main purpose of the first three small questions is to help you understand the meaning of the main points involved in "What will happen if people decide to take part". Through these three small questions, you can figure out your data collection plan and make better answer to question 4. You can enter your answer in the text area below or you can edit the downloadable Latex file provided.

1. Do you collect personal information of participants?

Yes

Personal data are data relating to living individuals, whether hard or soft copy, as long as you have some means of identifying the individuals. In research this could be:

Names, contact details, other factual information

Answers to questions, for example in questionnaires or interviews, whether factual or the participant's opinion

Photographs, film, video, audio, transcripts of interviews etc.

Human biological material, e.g. blood, tissue, when linked to an identifier such as CHI number, name etc.

Test results e.g. heart rate, blood pressure, when linked to an identifier such as CHI number, name etc.

Tips(If No):

If you are not sure about what kinds of personal information you need in your study, it would be better to click "NEED HELP?” in this question. The explanation here might be helpful.

When you are clear about what personal information you want to collect, what needs to be noted is that you need to state the personal information you will collect in the study in the PIS in a concise and clear language.

Tips(If Yes):

If you are clear about what personal information you want to collect, what needs to be noted is that you need to state the personal information you will collect in the study in the PIS in a concise and clear language.

2. Do you clearly know how to collect the data?

Yes

Tips(If Yes):

When you are clear about how to collect data, you need to state the means of data collection in the PIS in a concise and clear language.

Tips(If No):

There are two ways to collect data:

Qualitative data collection includes:

Interview

Focus groups

Observations

Oral histories

Quantitative data collection includes:

Documents and records

Questionnaires and surveys

3. Do you clearly know how to store the data you collect?

Yes

Tips
Data storage

When you think about how to store the data you collect, you need to pay attention to Encrypting data, Active data storage and Storage for sensitive data. You can click "Data storage" tab for more detailed information.
Note: Please contact the IS Helpline at your earliest convenience if you plan to use the Data Safe Haven in your research project. https://www.ed.ac.uk/information-services/help-consultancy/contact-helpline

You need to pay attention to Encrypting data, Active data storage and Storage for sensitive data.

Encrypting data

Personal data used for research should be encrypted for the entire period it is held. This includes:

Data at rest: Data held on storage media or computing devices should be protected to prevent unauthorised access. Protection measures should be applied to *ALL* copies of the data, including those held on back-up media.
Data in motion: Data being transferred from location A to location B should be encrypted to prevent it being intercepted and accessed. This covers electronic transfer (e-mail, FTP, etc.) and physical transmission (e.g. sending a USB drive through the post).

Active data storage

The University offers a number of options for storage of data during your research project.

DataStore is the central, backed-up University system that can hold your research data, either in your own private drive or in a shared drive with a research group.
OneDrive is a Microsoft managed file space that is offered as part of Office365.
Other options for storing active research data include the University wiki, Sharepoint and electronic laboratory notebooks such as RSpace.

Storage for sensitive data

The University’s Data Safe Haven is a highly secure server and analysis environment for projects requiring additional security measures. This may be due to the use of data considered to be sensitive, including the special categories of personal data. In most cases there is a charge for use.

Tips(If Yes):

Data storage needs to strictly comply with the requirements of GDPR, and do its utmost to protect participants' information security.
Get more information about GDPR

4. What will happen if your participants decide to take part?

This section details what will be involved in your research study from a participant’s point of view, and in the order they will experience it. If there are multiple study visits, describe them in turn.
It would be better if you can clear what kind of data being collecting, means of collection, duration of session, data storage and how often, where and when your study will take place.

We will ask you to install the Unicorn+ app on your personal Android or iPhone device and use it to generate Unicorn images. You will be provided with several pictures of Unicorns and asked to use the app to generate similar looking Unicorns and then use the app to email your generated Unicorns to the researcher’s email address. At the end of the study we will as you to provide some demographic information including age, gender, and if you are a student. We will also help you uninstall the app from your device. The study uses a special app version that automatically collects basic information about your device such as its model number the app also records the settings you use to create Unicorns.
With your consent, we will audio and video record the session using an IPhone. If at any point you feel uncomfortable, you can ask me to stop the audio/video recording , or state that you do not want something specific quoted.

You will be included as a member of the focus group. We will ask you to participate in a group discussion focus on your experience with writing participant information sheets. We will be asking several questions to guide the discussion which are aimed at understanding the process of writing a participant information sheet. Including what elements of the process were easy as well as those that were more challenging.
Due to the impact of the epidemic, we will hold these discussions using an online meeting platform like Microsoft Teams. With your consent, the video and audio of the interview will be preserved by recording. All recordings will be saved on a password-protected encrypted computer locally. Though they may also be stored on Teams itself temporarily as part of the recording process. If at any point you feel uncomfortable, you can ask me to stop the recording or state that you do not want something specific quoted.

Data Storage & PIS Download

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