Invitation

You are being invited to take part in this study due to your professional experience in documenting the sex or gender of a human subject as part of your workplace duties, in a legal, forensic, medical or criminological context.

Study Purpose

The purpose of this exploratory research project is to identity gaps between the acknowledgement of the need for broader sex and gender diversity and inclusivity in forensic human identification in Canada, as increasingly noted in journal articles and at professional conferences, and the current daily practices of forensic, legal, medical or criminological sex and gender documentation in Canada.

This research is undertaken by Cassandra Chowdhury, BA, BA (Hons) as part of the Master of Arts in Criminology program at Simon Fraser University, Canada. This research is not funded and there are no conflicts of interest to report. This project is anticipated to be published by April 2026.

Voluntary Participation

Your participation is voluntary. You have the right to refuse to participate in this study. If you decide to participate, you may still choose to withdraw from the study at any time without any negative consequences to the education, employment, or other services to which you are entitled or are presently receiving.

Study Procedures

If you agree to participate in the study, you will be asked to spend between 8 -15 minutes filling out a survey questionnaire (“Documentation of sex and gender in death investigations and medical cases across Canada”) consisting of multiple choice, scaled and open-response questions. The questions ask about the technical tasks, paperwork or online database recording of sex and gender of human subject, within your role. Your participation in each and every question is optional. Participants will be generally invited to a follow up interview, but will only be contacted if they provide their contact information and explicit permission for that reason.
Potential Risks of the Study

We do not think there is anything in this study that could harm you or be bad for you. Some of the questions we ask might bring up indirect emotional responses to personal or political discourse regarding sex and gender identity, though no questions will be asked about your personal position on the matter. There is a risk that your organization may become aware of your participation in this research, but your identify and workplace cannot be connected with any responses given.

Potential Benefits of the Study

The potential benefits of participating in this survey are your contribution to the progress of the field of forensic anthropology and the resulting improved service to all Canadians. This research is not anticipated to lead to a commercialized or patent-eligible process or technology.

Payment

This study is voluntary, and we cannot compensate you for your time.

Organizational Permission

Your organization may require you to get permission to participate in research by another organization. There is a risk that your organization may become aware of your participation in this research. Your responses to the research survey, “Documentation of sex and gender in death investigations and medical cases across Canada” will not be linked to the contact information you choose to provide in this contact consent form.

Confidentiality

Your confidentiality will be respected. Information that discloses your identity, for example, responses that may be identifiable due to the small number of people working within your field, will not be released without your consent.

Participants will not be identified by name in any reports of the completed study, unless they have given informed and written consent. Other participants will be identified only by a unique code number or grouped collectively as “Other participants”.

Data Security

As SurveyMonkey is an external provider of service to SFU, support for the service is provided directly by SurveyMonkey. SFU policies and guidelines related to the use of personal information are subject to SFU's Terms of Service for SurveyMonkey.

SurveyMonkey is hosted in Canada, however the parent company, SurveyMonkey, Inc. is owned and operated in the United States of America. Any data you provide may be transmitted and stored in countries outside of Canada, as well as in Canada. It is important to remember that privacy laws vary in different countries and may not be the same as in Canada.

The information collected on the Contact Consent Form includes the name and e-mail address of participants who choose to provide them. This is otherwise an anonymous survey. This information is directly related to and necessary for contacting participants who have contributed or are interested in the results of Cassandra Chowdhury's research thesis for completion of the Master of Criminology degree at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C. The information collected will only be used for this purpose. This survey does not contain questions that could be foreseen to solicit information triggering a duty to disclose.

Research data and contact information will be stored in two places: on SurveyMonkey’s data server, based in the USA, and on the researcher’s personal computer. The data will be encrypted and stored for two years beyond the thesis publication date on the researcher’s personal computer, which is password-locked and not accessible to other persons, and then deleted and overwritten. Risk of a data breach is minimal but participants should be aware that no information uploaded to the Internet can be considered secure in perpetuity.

If you have any questions about the collection and use of this information, or would like to request that you
Sharing this Study on Social Media

You are encouraged to post the link to the research study on your social media, to assist in gathering data from a larger and broader group of people and professions. Please note that posting to public comments sections, liking or sharing on social media or other forums about this study may indirectly associate you with this study.

Withdrawal From This Survey

You may decline to answer any questions you choose, on the research survey, “Documentation of sex and gender in death investigations and medical cases across Canada, or the contact consent form.

You may withdraw your participation in the research survey at any time up to the point of submitting your responses. Please note that as there is no way to match participants and their responses, it is not possible for the researcher to delete your responses once they have been submitted.

You may withdraw your contact consent up to ONE WEEK after the date and time of submission, by e-mailing the researcher, Cassandra Chowdhury, at cass_chowdhury@sfu.ca.

Study results

The results of this research will be made available as a published graduate thesis, which will be reviewed and supervised by the PI, Dr. Gail Anderson, and made public at the SFU Library Website. The results of this research may also be published in journal articles and books, and discussed at public discussions and symposia as opportunities become available.

As stated above, participants will not be identified in any research outputs unless they have expressly consented to this. Participants who provide their contact information will be informed when the thesis is published. Please see the choices given for the use of your contact information to indicate whether you would like to receive the executive summary of findings from this thesis.

Contacts for information about this study

If you are interested in learning more about the terms or processed mentioned in this survey, or have any questions about this topic, please contact the researcher at cass_chowdfhury@sfu.ca

If you have any concerns about the direction of this survey, please contact the researcher’s thesis supervisor, Dr. Gail Anderson, at ganderso@sfu.ca.

If you have any concerns about your rights as a research participant and/or your experiences while participating in this study, please contact the Director, Research Ethics and Security at hreb@sfu.ca or 778-782-6593, and cite Kuali Ethics Review Application #30003556.

Question Title

* 1. Summary: Participant Consent

Taking part in this study is entirely up to you. You have the right to refuse to participate in this study. If you decide to take part and later change your mind, you can withdraw from the study at any time without giving a reason and without any negative impact on your grades, or employment, or any services to which you are presently entitled to receive.

You will also be invited to provide your contact information in a separate form. This is optional, and the terms of this Informed Consent also apply to the contact consent form. Separating your contact information in this way helps maintain the anonymity of your responses. You will simply be asked to reaffirm your consent to use your contact information.

Please respond "Yes" if you accept this informed consent.

Responding "No" or simply backing out of this survey without clicking "Submit" at the end will eliminate all of your responses from being used.

T