Project title: Software Career Progression Survey
Lead Researcher: Miikka Kuutila, PhD. Dalhousie University. miikka.kuutila at dal.ca
Other Researchers: Paul Ralph, Professor. Dalhousie University. paulralph at dal.ca
Funding provided by: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada - NSERC grant number RGPAS-2020-00081, and Killam postdoctoral fellowship.
Version: 2024-7123
Thank you for your interest in participating in the longitudinal survey conducted by the lead researcher Miikka Kuutila, who is a postdoc at Dalhousie University. Before you proceed, please take a moment to read the following information regarding your involvement in this study. Participation is entirely voluntary, there will be no impact on you if you decide not to participate in the research. To participate, you need to sign the consent form and sign the questions below. The information below will tell you what is involved in the study. If you have any questions or concerns about the study, ethical or otherwise, please feel free to contact lead researcher Miikka Kuutila via email: miikka.kuutila at dal.ca . If you have any ethical concerns about your participation in this research, you may also contact Research Ethics, Dalhousie University at (902) 494-3423, or email: ethics@dal.ca (and reference REB file # 2024-7123).
This study aims to investigate your perceptions of your work and how they change with time. The first wave of this study involves an online survey, which will take approximately 10 to 15 minutes to complete. The ensuing waves will involve a similar but shorter survey. People who are between the ages 18 and 65, currently work for a main employer and get their primary income from the software industry can take part in this study. All information collected during this survey will be kept confidential, and any identifying information such as your email address will be stored encrypted. No personally identifiable information will be disclosed from your responses. We may use quotations from the answers to the optional open-ended questions. These quotations will not contain any identifying information, such as names or intricate details. Other results from the survey will be reported in aggregate form, for example: "the respondents had an average of 7 years of work experience". To cancel your participation, close the survey. To withdraw submitted data, email the lead researcher.
During the survey, you will be asked to provide an email address for continued participation. The email address will be used to invite you to follow-up surveys about your perceptions of your workplace up to once a year. Furthermore, your email may be used for follow-up interviews (if you opt-in) or to share findings. The email address will not be used for any other reason. Your continued participation is entirely voluntary, and you have the right to withdraw your participation at any time by not filling out the survey. If you continue, your responses will be linked across surveys. Your continued consent will be sought in each future wave of the survey. If you wish to participate in the current study, but do not wish to participate in any future research, you need to sign the current consent form including providing your email address, but simply not take part in the follow up surveys.
You have the option to allow your de-identified data to be securely archived in a public repository for future research purposes. If you choose to opt-in, your answers will be shared in a public data repository in a de-identified form. This means that all information that could directly or indirectly identify you will be removed, including your name, contact details, company name, and any responses to open-ended questions. To further protect your privacy, we will bin some information into categories or ranges, e.g. a birth year of 1987 might be binned to category of “1985–1989". Opting in for data archiving is completely voluntary. You are still welcome to participate fully in the study even if you choose not to have your data archived.
The risks associated with this study are no greater than those you encounter in your everyday life. [Participation in this study does not provide direct benefits. / By participating in this study, you will receive a $10 gift card, which will be sent to the email address you provide. The gift card will only be sent to participants who pass attention check items and spend enough time on the survey to provide valid responses]. Indirectly, the knowledge we gather may lead software companies to treat their employees better. Furthermore, if we reach our participant recruitment goal of 1000 participants, we will donate 2000$ to the most-selected charities. Our donations to charities regarding continued participation will be made known in the future surveys sent.
By continuing with the survey and signing the consent form, you indicate that you are at least 18 years old and voluntarily agree to participate in this study. If you agree to the terms stated above, please proceed with the survey. If you do not wish to participate, simply close the browser or exit the survey. If you would like to see how the information you provided is used publications, please feel free to visit websites (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=bLG5nKYAAAAJ or https://miikkakuutila.github.io/), where links to all publications will eventually be posted.
Thank you for your time and contribution.
Sincerely,
Miikka Kuutila, Killam Postdoctoral Fellow, Dalhousie University | 