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The Research Assessment

Interview Study

We’re conducting semi-structured interviews to investigate how researchers approach assessing research outputs.

PURPOSE

We want to learn more about how research outputs are evaluated by researchers. The study will cover a few key contexts: assessing research while serving on a hiring committee, assessing research while serving on a grant review committee, and evaluating scientific outputs for use during conceptualization, investigation, methodological design, or writing of a research project.

We’ll recruit Cell Biologists with experience serving on grant or hiring committees as well as those who are actively working on research projects and are based in the following countries:

USA
UK
Germany
Spain
Netherlands
France
Italy
Portugal
Finland
Belgium
Austria
Sweden
Denmark

Your stories will help us understand how we, as a publisher and advocate for open science, can best support you in this important work.

WHAT IS INVOLVED?
  • Time commitment: 90 minutes
  • Compensation: $100, which can be redeemed as cash, a gift card, or donated to a charity of your choice.
INFORMATION WE WILL COLLECT

We will take notes to record your comments and will also video record the session to help us remember accurately all the information you provide. If you prefer not to be video recorded, you can choose to opt out. We will also collect your name, email address, and institution. In order to ensure your privacy, your name will not be recorded with your responses. Instead, your recording and comments will be allocated and stored using a special code number. Only the research team will be able to match your name to your code number if it is necessary to do so (e.g., to send you a payment).

PRIVACY, CONFIDENTIALITY AND DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION

We care about your privacy:

  • Your identity will be kept confidential.
  • Your email address and any other identifying information will not be connected to your interview responses.
  • Furthermore, you may withdraw your consent at any time to terminate your participation.
  • Your participation in this study is voluntary.

If you change your mind, and want to withdraw your consent in the future, please contact us and we will destroy any personal data we hold about you. Otherwise, we will delete your personal data after three years.

In addition to the PLOS Research team, other PLOS employees or contractors may watch the video recording of your session in the future. These recordings will be treated as confidential and will not be shared outside our organization.

We may publish research reports that include comments and actions but any such comments or actions will be anonymized. This means your name and identity will not be linked in our research reports to anything you say or do. By “actions” we refer to any physical action you make during your sessions, such as pointing or otherwise referring to places and objects.

YOUR CONSENT

You will be asked to give consent at the beginning of the screener questionnaire: https://ethn.io/81663?=ref=5.

By ticking the consent checkbox in the screener questionnaire, you indicate that you:

1. Understand this information,
2. consent to participate in this study, and
3. to PLOS collecting the data as described above
4. to PLOS using the data collected as described above.

If you want additional information, wish to withdraw your participation, or if you have any questions about this project you can contact Louise Mayville, or the PLOS Research Team 

Please keep a copy of this document for your records.

Please save a copy of our Information for Participants document.  Download PDF

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