You are invited to be in a research study about doctoral trainees and early career professionals and their perspective on social justice. You are being asked to participate in the study because you are a doctoral student or early career professional (graduated in 2005 or more recently) from a doctoral program in counseling psychology, clinical psychology, or counselor education. Your perspective about social justice is valuable information as doctoral training strives to incorporate a social justice agenda.

Voluntary Nature of the Study

Western Oregon University and the Department of Psychological Sciences support the practice of protecting research participants' rights. Accordingly, this project was reviewed and approved by the WOU Institutional Review Board. The information in this consent form is provided so that you can decide whether you wish to participate in our study. It is important that you understand that your participation is considered voluntary. This means that even if you agree to participate you are free to withdraw from this study at any time, without penalty.

Study Procedures
Survey. You will be invited to fill out an online survey about your perspective on social justice and demographic information. The survey takes approximately 30 minutes to complete.

Optional Interviews. After completion of survey, you will have the option of providing contact information if you are interested in interviews. I invite you to provide your contact information even if you aren’t sure if you are eligible. To be eligible, you must relate negatively to social justice in some way. You may: a) not self-label as social justice-oriented, b) not engage in social justice action, c) not endorse social justice values, or d) not identify with social justice in counseling psychology. You will be contacted by email or phone to arrange for an interview date and time that best fits your schedule. Interviews will be conducted by phone or videoconferencing based on your preference and schedule.  
a. The interview will be semi-structured with some topics about your perspective on social justice. Interviews may last between 1 – 2 hours, and you can take breaks at any time. During the interview, you may skip any question you like, or you may terminate the interview at any time. At the end of the interview, you will have the option to exclude any information you provided during the interview.
b. You will be contacted to schedule a follow-up interview based on researcher’s emerging analysis. Follow-up interviews may last between 30-60 minutes, and you can take breaks at any time. During the interview, you may skip any question you like, or you may terminate the interview at any time. At the end of the interview, you will have the option to exclude any information you provided during the interview.
c. You will be contacted to provide feedback about the preliminary analysis of the interview data. The feedback session will last up to 30 minutes.
d. All three data collection meetings (initial interview, follow-up interview, feedback interview) will be audio recorded, transcribed, de-identified, and analyzed for common themes.  

Confidentiality
The information you share will be kept confidential. Tapes and transcripts will be stored in a locked filing cabinet or on a password protected computer located in the researcher’s workspace. The researcher and trained research team members will have access to the information and guarantee confidentiality.
For the survey, I ask for your email so that I may contact the winners of the raffle (see below); this is optional. If you choose to provide your email, your responses will not be anonymous, but they will be confidential. I will remove any personal identifiers after data collection is completed in order to maintain your confidentiality; at that time, your information will be assigned a number. For the interview, your information will be assigned a code name (which you may choose if you wish). In publications, only your code name will be used, and every effort will be made to protect your identity by removing identifying information from quotes, etc., that are used in publication. If you have specific concerns about excluding information you shared from publication, I will accommodate your requests. All data will be destroyed five years after publication.

Risks and Benefits
This study poses no known risks to your health, and your responses will remain confidential. However, as in any interview situation, you may feel uncomfortable or embarrassed. You may skip any question you don’t want to answer, or withdraw your participation at any time. Also, at the end of the interview I can exclude any information you supplied during the interview if you so choose. You might find it personally or professionally meaningful to participate in the study, and your participation will inform counseling psychology training.

Compensation
Participants who complete the survey have the option to enter a raffle to earn 1 of 10 $50 gift cards. Participants who complete the interviews will be compensated with a $20 gift card.

Contacts and Questions
This study is being conducted by Stephanie Hoover, Department of Psychological Sciences, Western Oregon University. You may ask any questions you have. If you have questions later, you are encouraged to contact at the information below. If you have any questions about your rights as a participant in this research, or if you feel you have been placed at risk, you are encouraged to contact the Western Oregon University Institutional Review Board at 503-838-9200 or irb@wou.edu.

An electronic copy of this document is attached to the recruitment email for your records.  

Thank you for your time.

Stephanie Hoover, Ph. D.
503-838-8512
hooverst@wou.edu