City of London Open Data Portal Evaluation

You are invited to participate in a research study conducted by the students of the Fanshawe College Research and Evaluation Post-Graduate Certificate Program. If you have any questions or concerns about the research, please contact faculty supervisor: Lindsay Rivard, at lrivard@fanshawec.ca.


PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The goal of this survey is to assess the user-experience of the City of London’s open data portal (the portal is available at: https://opendata.london.ca/). Specifically, this survey will ask whether you have:

  • Success stories with the portal and/or open data sets.
  • Suggestions for how the open data sets and/or portal can be improved (e.g. if there is any data missing from the portal that you would find helpful).
  • Suggestions for the best way(s) to organize/visualize the data on the portal.

PROCEDURES

This study involves an online survey. This survey is expected to take approximately 15-20 minutes to complete.

INCLUSION CRITERIA

You can participate in this study if you:

  • Are 18 years of age or older.
  • Have used the City of London’s Open Data Portal within the past 2 years.


POTENTIAL RISKS AND DISCOMFORTS

This study meets the Fanshawe College Research Ethics Board definition of “minimal risk”. That is, participation in this study is not expected to expose participants to risks greater than those you would experience in your everyday routine.


POTENTIAL BENEFITS TO PARTICIPANTS

There are no direct benefits to participants for completing this survey; participants will not be compensated for completing this survey. Your data will allow the researchers to provide recommendations to the City of London for how to improve the open data portal.


CONFIDENTIALITY

Your responses to the survey questions will be kept confidential. You will not be asked to provide any identifying information in the survey. The data collected will not be shared with anyone except the student researchers in SOSC-6002 of the Fanshawe College Research and Evaluation program, their instructor, Lindsay Rivard, and the City of London. All student researchers given access to this data have successfully completed a course in research ethics, and hold valid Tri-Council Policy Statement certification. The survey results will be reported in an aggregated/summarized format. The researchers will not be able to connect specific data points with specific participants. The survey has open-ended, qualitative questions where participants might provide identifying information. Any identifying information provided in open-ended questions will be de-identified before reporting. The data will be kept in electronic format, and will be stored on password protected servers or computers, as well as the Fanshawe College learning management system, “FanshaweOnline” (FOL) for SOSC-6002, which is also password protected.


PARTICIPATION AND WITHDRAWAL

Your participation in this study is completely voluntary, and you are not obligated to participate. You can skip any questions you do not want to answer. You can withdraw from the study at any point during the completing of this survey by closing the browser window. Your responses will not be saved until you submit your survey. Since no identifying information will be collected from you during the study, once you submit your survey you will no longer be able to withdraw from the study.


FEEDBACK OF THE RESULTS OF THIS STUDY TO THE PARTICIPANTS

A summary of the findings of this research will be presented at the City Studio London Hubbub event from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. on April 2, 2020 at London City Hall, 300 Dufferin Ave, London, ON. This is a free event that is open to the public.


SUBSEQUENT USE OF DATA

The data may be reported in future publications or presentations.

RIGHTS OF RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS

If you have questions regarding your rights as a research participant, contact: Julie Hollestelle, Research Ethics Board Coordinator, Fanshawe College, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6; Telephone: 519-452-4430, ext. 4703; e‑mail: jhollestelle@fanshawec.ca. If you would like to download a copy of this consent form for your records, please click here.


CONSENT TO PARTICIPATE

By clicking on the “start survey” box below, I show that I understand the information provided in this consent form, and I agree to participate in this study.


We strive to ensure the confidentiality of your research-related records. Absolute confidentiality cannot be guaranteed, as we may be required by law to disclose certain information to relevant authorities.

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