Please help: research participants needed

Alright everyone, I need your help. Please pass this on to everyone you know who could possibly assist in this.

I am looking for participants to join in the research for my PhD. If you attended an Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) school in the UK (or if you were home schooled with ACE), I want to hear from you. Until now, almost no research has been done on the outcomes of Accelerated Christian Education students.

I’m especially keen to hear from people who still consider themselves Creationists, but I would love to hear from you whatever your views.

If you take part:

• You will be anonymous
• Your views will be treated with respect and sensitivity
• You will be free to withdraw from the research at any time
• You will initially commit only to a one-hour recorded interview
• You will have the right to approve the transcription of this interview. You can ask for parts to be removed, changed, or added

Read on for a Q&A for participants. Please pass this on to anyone you know who could take part… or who might know someone who could, or… etc.

Participants FAQ

I’m a creationist, and you’re critical of my beliefs on this blog. Why should I participate when that’s your view?

The aim of the research is to find out about students’ experiences of ACE. I want to know how you found ACE, and how it has affected your life since. However you feel about ACE, please take this opportunity to make sure those views are represented in my research. I will not argue with you or try to change my mind. The purpose of the research is to understand your perceptions of ACE, not to persuade you to accept mine.

The research question is not “Is ACE (or creationism) a good thing?” That is a separate matter, about which all the participants and I have differing views.

How do I know you’ll keep my data confidential and treat it with respect?

I am bound to follow the ethics code of the British Education Research Association. Additionally, there is an ethics board at my university, the Institute of Education, which approves my research. I have a supervisor who keeps an eye on me, and in order to pass my PhD, my work will have to be approved by two professors. If I fail to meet my ethical obligations, I will fail my PhD, and my chances of a career in academia will be ruined.

Some of the ethical guidelines I follow include:

• I am bound not to ‘sensationalise’ my research, compromising its integrity for public exposure.

• I am bound to represent my findings fairly, and not to distort them by selectively publishing some details and not others.

Won’t you be biased?

Yes, just like every researcher, I have preconceived ideas and biases. Rigorous research will challenge those biases. One way to check my biases is to look for evidence that disproves them. I need research participants with a wide range of views to make this possible. If I have a theory about ACE and you help to prove it wrong, you’ve done me a big favour.

What will you do with my interview?

Its main purpose is to go in my thesis, but I will also be writing reports on my research for other publications, like academic journals.

Sounds good, how do I do this?

Get in touch by email or using this site’s contact form.