A statement on the project’s engagement with human

1. Data Collection

1.1 What data will you collect or create?

The data will be qualitative and quantitative written information from surveys of adult participants, collected in email surveys, stored in the sole researcher’s password-protected University account. The data will not be shared, as the data is defined at Level 3 according to the Information Security Classification Policy:

Level 3 – Standard: Disclosure would not cause harm, but the researcher has chosen not to release.

1.2 How will the data be collected or created?

The surveys will be conducted by the sole researcher. Email surveys will be uploaded to the University’ Onedrive, for data analysis. The participant reflections may be emailed to the on the University’s Onedrive. Participants will be anonymised using a sort of numerical labels.

2. Documentation and Metadata

What documentation and metadata will accompany the data?

There will be a file including a cross-reference between participants’ real names and their anonymising labels, stored separately from the data to the University Onedrive. The metadata is available to the main researcher as to file creation and modification dates etc, within the protected online account.

3. Ethics and Legal Compliance

3.1 Overview (How will you manage any ethical issues?)

As part of the PhD research project, this study has received ethical approval from the Chair of the Faculty Research Ethics and Integrity Committee at the University of Plymouth. The research will abide by the 'Research Ethics Policy' of the University of Plymouth and the British Educational Research Association (BERA) guidelines, ensuring compliance with research ethics throughout the study.

Participants will receive a project overview document and will then decide whether to grant informed consent having been offered an opportunity to discuss any concerns with the researcher. The information sheet and the consent form will be shared with education experts. Consent to be recorded on a signed form will be received by email and immediately uploaded to the secure One Drive of the University of Plymouth. This research project does not anticipate addressing any sensitive data, but it will maintain anonymity of participants and seek to avoid disclosing details that might be a threat to confidentiality.

Fig.1. The procedures to maintain confidentiality and anonymity

3.2 Anonymity

Because the responses of the participants in Delphi survey will be offered anonymity, Delphi survey has been described as a research method for the anonymous collection of narrative group opinion (Sekayi and Kennedy, 2017). Individual panellists of expert group do not have to be concerned about repercussions for their opinions. To ensure the anonymity of participants, gender-neutral pseudonyms will be assigned and no mention will be made of the institutions they work for in any reports or publications resulting from the research.

3.3 Confidentiality

To secure confidentiality and security of information, all data and information collected from participants will be kept on Plymouth University's secure network. Based on the University’s Research Data Policy, version 1:1 published in June 2020, this research project will comply with the university’s research data policy.

3.4 Right to withdraw

Participants can withdraw their participation in the process of Delphi survey at any time. However, any data they have provided up to the date of withdrawal will be retained if the data were already amalgamated. This is to maintain the integrity of the survey and prevent the identification of individual responses which could bias the results. When withdrawing the research project, participants can inform the research team that they wish to withdraw by email. Participants do not need to provide the research team with a reason for withdrawing the research project. To ensure that the participants are aware of the withdrawal period in each round, the estimated duration of each round will be clearly stated in the introductory email. This will allow participants to understand the timeframe for their participation and withdrawal. By describing the withdrawal period for each round, the participants will be able to make an informed decision about whether to participate in the survey and to withdraw their participation if necessary.

3.5 Debriefing

Responses from the survey are summarised and shared with the participants after each round through a process of feedback (Hasson et al., 2000). In addition, a final report on the research findings will be provided to Delphi survey participants.

3.6 Dissemination of research

As a PhD research project, this project findings will be published in the open access research repository 'PEARL' for the University of Plymouth as well as having an opportunity to be published to academic journal articles and presented at academic and professional conferences.

3.7 Openness and honesty

This research project will receive honest opinions from participants using an open-end questionnaire in the first survey. In addition, in the second and third surveys using semi-structured questionnaires, a choice such as 'Review the summarised opinions of other participants and answer them later' will be provided in the choices to induce openness and honesty from participants.

4. Copyright

4.1 What is copyright?

Copyright is a legal right granted to the original author as a form of intellectual property of certain types, which can render the license to a publisher or a producer(GOV.UK, 2023, bbc.co.uk, 2023, Society, 2022). Copyright has regulations on limitations and exceptions to copyright to legally permit others to use copyrighted works for the progress of knowledge and society. The UK Government allows exceptions to copyright for non-commercial research and study (GOV.UK, 2021, University, 2022).

4.2 Concerning a work of joint authorship and co-author

A work of joint authorship refers to a work created by two or more authors through the collaboration (Simone, 2020). Co-authors jointly and equally own the copyright of the work unless otherwise agreed as well as a joint author may be an organisation or corporation (California, 2023). If a person merely contributes such an idea to a joint work without documenting this, the person might not be considered an author of a joint work (California, 2023).

4.3 Practical advice for those collaborating on a project

Based on a court case concerning a dispute over the authorship of the screenplay Florence Foster Jenkins, it is desirable for those who cooperate with the project to reveal their intentions for ownership from the beginning as well as to record the relatively contributed parts of each individual's work. In determining whether there is a collaboration to create a work, it is important to understand the various ways for collaboration to create works. If making a plot and writing a story are created separately through collaboration between the two people, there might be joint copyrights (Byrd, 2021).

If secondary schoolteachers utilise the pilot prototype of this research project to create an interactive storybook in their class, I recommend that schoolteachers inform students and their parents that the stories of students generated for educational purposes can contribute to the whole story and also receive written consent from them. This could be an early-stage documentation process for a story completed by co-authors to be published or commercialised.

4.4 Ethical consideration of IP issue

Ethical consideration of IP issue in this research will include a sentence about acknowledging consent from participants about IP. Participants in this research project will be asked to sign a consent form which includes a tick box to waive their rights to co-ownership resulting from their participation in the research. In addition, This study will manage copyright and IPR and will seek advice from UoP specialist advisors about both the content generated with the app and the app itself.

3.3.5 Storage and Backup

5.1 How will the data be stored and backed up during the research?

All the raw data and the information of participants will be securely stored in a folder within the password-protected University account.

5.2 How will you manage access and security?

The data will be password protected and only the sole researcher will have the password. Data will be uploaded to the online account and then the recorded material will be deleted at the end of research project.

3.3.6 Selection and Preservation

What is the long-term preservation plan for the dataset?

Based on the University's Research Data Policy, version 1:1 published in June 2020, the raw data will be stored in the sole researcher’s online protected university account for 10 years. After that all the data and transcripts will be removed.

https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/uploads/production/document/path/6/6913/Research_Data_Policy.pdf

Based on the University's Research Data Policy, version 1:1 published in June 2020, sole researcher who owns the online protected university account where the raw data is stored will be responsible for removing all the data and transcripts after the expiration of the 10-year preservation period.

3.3.7 Data Sharing

What resources will you require to deliver your plan?

The usual password-protected University software and systems will be at no costs.

3.3.8 Ethics statement

See above, all participants will be fully informed about project aims and activities and understand that their participation is voluntary.

3.3.9 Data protection and accessibility:

In line with UKRI and Plymouth University's Research Data Policy (Innovation, 2023, Plymouth, 2022), it is important to recognise the value of research data and make it available to the broader community (Regulation, 2018). However, for this research, data will be kept private due to the potential sensitivity of the data and to reassure participants of their privacy and confidentiality. Securing the anonymity and protection of participants' identities and responses is a priority for this survey (Tenopir et al., 2011).

While research data will be kept confidential and anonymised in the first instance, data management practices will be kept under review. The possibility of making aggregated or de-identified data available to other researchers will be considered in the future, provided that individual identities remain protected Resnik (Resnik and Ness, 2012).

By following these guidelines, this research project aims to achieve a balance between making data available for the benefit of the broader research community and securing the privacy and confidentiality of its participants (Zuiderwijk and Janssen, 2014, Borgman, 2012, Taylor and Taylor, 2014, Molloy, 2011).