Consent Form

Please read the following information and decide whether you want to participate in this study.
Researchers:
  • Principal Investigator: Shannon Blanchet, Associate Professor, School for the Arts, University of Saskatchewan, (306) 966-5180, shannon.blanchet@usask.ca
  • Co-investigator: Janeen Loehr, Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Saskatchewan, (306) 966-6082, janeen.loehr@usask.ca
  • Co-investigator: Jorden Cummings, Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Saskatchewan, (306) 966-7147, jorden.cummings@usask.ca
  • Co-investigator: Shawn Kauenhofen, Research Engineer, Department of Psychology, University of Saskatchewan, (306) 966-1859, shawn.kauenhofen@usask.ca
Purpose of the research: The purpose of this study is to explore people’s experiences of ‘acting as one’ when creating, rehearsing, or performing theatre with at least one other person.

Procedure:
  • To participate in this study, you must be 18 years or older and have experienced a sense of ‘acting as one’ when creating, rehearsing, or performing theatre with at least one other person. You also have to understand English well enough to read the survey questions and provide written answers.
  • You will be asked to fill out an online questionnaire that asks you to provide a detailed description of one or two experiences of ‘acting as one’ in theatre and answer several additional questions about your experiences of ‘acting as one’. You will also be asked to provide basic demographic information (e.g., age, gender, level of education) and information about your theatre experience (e.g., whether you have received formal theatre training).
  • The questionnaire should take about 20-40 minutes to complete.
  • Please feel free to ask any questions you may have regarding the procedures and goals of the study or your role in the study by emailing or phoning the researchers.
Funded by: This research is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

Potential Risks: There are no known or anticipated risks to you by participating in this research.

Potential Benefits: While there are no direct benefits to you as a participant, your participation in this study will contribute to the advancement of knowledge regarding theatre creation and performance. The information gained from this research may also inform future discoveries and innovations.
Compensation:
  • Participants will have the opportunity to enter a draw for the chance to win 1 of 25 Visa gift cards. Please note that you must click “submit” at the end of the survey and provide your first name and email address to be entered into the draw. This personal information (i.e., first name, email address) will be collected and stored separately from your survey responses to ensure your anonymity. Following the survey, you will be re-directed to a separate survey where you will enter your personal information to be entered into the draw. You are only able to enter the draw once and you will not be compensated if it is found that you submitted more than one entry or submitted fraudulent entries into the draw.
Confidentiality and Anonymity:
  • The data collected in this study will be kept completely anonymous. No personally identifying information (including IP addresses or email addresses) will be linked to the responses you provide.
  • At the end of the survey, you will have the opportunity to provide your first name and email address to be entered into a draw and/or to be contacted for a follow-up; however, this information will be collected in a different survey from your responses and will not be stored with the responses you provide for the survey. Therefore, we will not be able to identify participants unless you contact us for some reason.
  • The data from this research project may be used in student theses (undergraduate honours, Master's, or doctoral), published in an academic journal or book chapter, and/or presented at a professional conference or community events. The data might also be used in resources such as reports, infographics, or explainer videos that share the findings with the general public.
  • Publications and presentations might include direct quotations. Any quotations that contain information that could possibly identify you will be reworded to ensure anonymity. If there are any responses that you wish not to have represented word-for-word in the final report or at all, please indicate so while completing the questionnaire. Answers to demographic questions (e.g., age, gender) will not be linked to any responses that are quoted in the final report.
Data storage:
  • Data will be stored securely in electronic form in the University of Saskatchewan’s online cloud storage, OneDrive. It will be accessible only to the researchers, for a minimum of five years after publication of the study. When the data are no longer required, they will be destroyed beyond recovery.
  • If you provide your first name and email to enter the draw for a Visa gift card, this information will be kept on file until the draw has occurred. The file will be password-protected and will be stored separately from the file in which your survey responses are stored.
  • If you provide your name and email to be contacted in the future for a follow-up interview, this information will be kept on file until a follow-up study is completed. The file will be password-protected and will be stored separately from the file in which your survey responses are stored.
  • For those participants who win a gift card, any personal information collected as a record of gift card receipt (such as your name and address) will be stored separately from the data and may be kept for 7 years in case the University of Saskatchewan is subjected to a financial audit.
  • It is important for you to know that "Survey Monkey" is the host of this online questionnaire. Survey Monkey is a web-based survey company with data storage centres in multiple countries. This survey has been set up so that the data you provide will be stored in Canada until it is deleted from the Survey Monkey servers, which will occur once all of the data have been collected. Survey Monkey's servers record incoming IP addresses, including that of the computer that you use to access the survey. However, no connection is made between your survey responses and your computer's IP address. Please see the following link if you would like more information about Survey Monkey’s privacy policy: https://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/legal/privacy-policy/.
Right to withdraw:
  • Your participation is voluntary and you can answer only those questions you feel comfortable with. You can decide not to participate at any time by closing your browser or choose not to answer any questions you do not feel comfortable with. Survey responses will remain anonymous. Since the survey is anonymous, once it is submitted it cannot be removed.
  • The procedure for withdrawing from the study is to leave the survey webpage before you click the ‘Next’ button at the end of the survey page. Your responses will only be recorded after you click ‘Next’. Once you click ‘Next,’ you will no longer be able to withdraw your data, as no identifying information will be attached to it.
Follow up:
  • In the future, we may want to contact participants to participate in follow-up interviews about their experiences of acting as one during theatre-making. These interviews will help us gain a more in-depth understanding of the experience of acting as one and the contexts in which it occurs. Once you finish the survey, we will ask for your permission to contact you in the future for these follow-up interviews. If you agree to be contacted, we will ask you to provide your first name and email address. This information will be collected and stored separately from your survey responses to ensure your anonymity. You are welcome to decline to be contacted in the future and there is no penalty for refusing to participate in the follow-up study. If you agree to be contacted for any follow-up study, we will re-confirm your consent to participate and you are welcome to decline at that time.
  • To obtain results from this study, please contact Shannon Blanchet at shannon.blanchet@usask.ca or Dr. Loehr at janeen.loehr@usask.ca. We expect the results to be available approximately 1-2 years after data collection is complete.
Questions or concerns:
  • If you have any questions or concerns about the research project, please feel free to contact the principal investigator at (306) 966-5180 or shannon.blanchet@usask.ca. This research project was reviewed and approved on ethical grounds by the University of Saskatchewan’s Behavioural Research Ethics Board on May 12, 2025. Any questions about your rights as a participant may be addressed to that committee through the Ethics Office by emailing ethics.office@usask.ca or calling (306) 966-2975. Out of town participants may call toll free at (888) 966-2975.
Consent:
  • Please print off a copy of this consent form for you records before proceeding to complete the survey.
  • By clicking on the ‘Yes’ button below to indicate your consent, YOUR FREE AND INFORMED CONSENT IS IMPLIED and you indicate that you understand the above conditions of participation in this study.

Question Title

1. Do you consent to participate in this study? (Required.)

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