ONLINE INFORMED CONSENT FOR TEACHER BELIEFS AND PRACTICES SURVEY

This questionnaire measures some of your beliefs and practices related to teaching writing. In the first-year writing survey, I=m studying factors that correlate with student performance.  The literature in education and psychology suggests that one factor in students= performance is their teacher’s beliefs.  That is, certain teacher beliefs seem to correlate with how well students learn.  I have designed my own instrument to measure these beliefs, based both on research and on our department’s philosophy. In addition, based in part on the survey last year, I’ve devised questions related to teaching practice that may also be related to student success.  The results of the first-year writing survey, in conjunction with the teacher beliefs and practices questionnaire, will be used to help us develop our approach to teaching writing. 

The questionnaire will take about 5 minutes to complete on line.  Once you submit a questionnaire, you cannot return to it and change your answers. Your participation is strictly voluntary.  Not participating will not result in any penalty to you.  Questionnaire data will be used only for the purpose of modifying the writing courses in the English Department and other schools or sharing research results at conferences or via publication.  Questionnaire answers will be kept strictly confidential, though they will not be anonymous.  However, I am the only person with access to your name.  (This is required so that we can link the teacher survey results to the student survey results.)  No other people will ever have access to your survey form.  No information about individuals will be presented. Instead, information will be presented in percentages and averages. There will be no way for anybody to tell what your answers are. 

To decide whether you would like your answers to be used by me in research, conferences, and publications, check "I accept" after the statement at the end of the questionnaire.  Potential benefits to you for participating in this survey include learning something about your own teaching.  I will to happy to discuss the results with you.  Recognize that I may ask you to take the same survey in several weeks as part of a reliability study.

If you have any questions about this survey, contact me (Ed Jones) at jonesedm@shu.edu.

This project has been reviewed and approved by the Seton Hall University Institutional Review Board for Human Subjects Research. The IRB believes that the research procedures adequately safeguard the subject==s privacy, welfare, civil liberties, and rights. The Chairperson of the IRB may be reached at (973) 275-2974.

If you are an instructor at Seton Hall, please go to the survey by clicking on this link:  http://repository.itd.shu.edu:80/servlets/asset.AssetSurvey?surveyid=237

If you are an instructor at Bergen Community College, please go to this link:  http://repository.itd.shu.edu:80/servlets/asset.AssetSurvey?surveyid=313