Research Information Letter

The goal of the research is to explore the pathways people have followed from the traditional corporate workplace to start businesses oriented toward positive social/environmental change. I am conducting the research to meet the requirements of Doctoral Studies at the University of Waterloo.

You are eligible to participate if you left a traditional corporate workplace in Canada to start a business oriented toward positive social/environmental change.

If this sounds like you and you are interested in participating in the study, please email at ajbraith@uwaterloo.ca

I am inviting you to a one on one interview that will take about 60-90 minutes and will be conducted over video conferencing or telephone. The interview will be a conversation about your experience shifting from the corporate workplace to start a business. that aims to make positive change in the world. I will ask you to share your story of shifting from the traditional corporate workplace to starting a business. From your story I will be looking for:

• Your experience in the corporate workplace that you left (company, culture, values, emotional environment, role, sense of self, sense of belonging/connection, tension/conflicts within them/within the workplace, supports)
• Your experience of making the shift (supports, personal values, emotions, sense of self, sense of belonging/connection, conflicts/tensions)
• Your experience in creating your business (culture, values, emotional environment, sense of self, sense of belonging/connection, conflicts/tensions, supports)

The risks of this research are not anticipated to be any more than what you would experience in day-to-day life. 

There are unlikely any direct benefits to you. Other than perhaps gaining some personal insight from sharing your story, there are likely no direct benefits to you. The shared stories people who have left traditional corporate workplaces in Canada to start businesses oriented toward positive change will:

• provide insight into pathways to creating more shifts of these shifts for others,
• identify the affective and emotional environments that support these shifts,
• look at a person’s sense of self is affected by these shifts and
  how these shifts were supported/cared into being.

I will keep your identity confidential. During the interview you will choose a pseudonym, the name you would like me to use for the research. The name of the company you work(ed) for will not be revealed. We can sometimes be identified by the stories we tell; however, I will obscure identifying details to help keep your identity confidential. I will use your anonymized responses to assist with publications and the anonymized interviews will be kept on my password-protected computer for at least 7 years.

The interview is being conducted over an on-line video conferencing system or over the phone.

Just like if sitting in a café having a conversation, there is the chance for conversations to be intercepted by a third party. 

When information is transmitted over the internet privacy cannot be guaranteed. This study will use the Webex platform to collect data, which is an externally hosted cloud-based service. A link to their privacy policy is available here .

There is always a risk your responses may be intercepted by a third party (e.g., government agencies, hackers). University of Waterloo researchers will not collect or use internet protocol (IP) addresses or other information which could link your participation to your computer or electronic device without first informing you. 

• With your consent I will audio record the interview and take notes
  participation is completely voluntary
• Share to the level you feel comfortable
• Feel free to skip any question, you can still be in the study without answering all the questions
• You can stop at any time for any reason, there are no consequences to you if you for stopping 
• If you do stop, I will ask you whether you would like your answers to that point to be included in the research or not
• If you consent to including your answers to the point of stopping, I will include them in my research
• If you do not consent to including those answers, I will delete the audio recording and any notes I may have created.

If you decide to withdraw completely, I will erase the recording and delete all your data from my records.You can request your data be removed from the study up until August 1, 2021 as it is not possible to withdraw your data once papers and publications have been submitted to publisher. You may make that request by emailing me, Alison Braithwaite at ajbraith@uwaterloo.ca.

If you are interested on knowing the status of the research I will post regular updates on the research at www.AlisonBraithwaite.com/research. 

This study has been reviewed and received ethics clearance through a University of Waterloo Research Ethics Committee (ORE#42662). If you have questions for the Committee contact the Office of Research Ethics, at 1-519-888-4567 ext. 36005 or ore-ceo@uwaterloo.ca.

Nancy Worth
University of Waterloo
Department of Geography
NWorth@uwaterloo.ca