INFORMED CONSENT
Title of Study: Coding in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Principal Investigators: Paul A. Craig (paul.craig@rit.edu), Wally Novak (novakw@wabash.edu), Mike Foster (mrfcos@rit.edu)

What are some general things you should know about research studies?
We invite you to take part in a research study. Your participation in this study is voluntary. You have the right to be a part of this study, to choose not to participate or to stop participating at any time without penalty.  You are not guaranteed any personal benefits from participating in this study.  If you don’t understand something in this form it is your right to ask the researcher for clarification or more information. You are encouraged to print a copy of this consent form. If at any time you have questions about your participation, do not hesitate to contact the researchers named above.

What is the purpose of this study?
We believe that creating and using computer code is an important tool for undergraduate students to acquire. We have created a survey to ask a series of questions about the kinds of coding activities you would find useful for your biochemistry and/or molecular biology courses. The goal of this survey is to get a sense of your needs/wants, and there are no right or wrong answers!

What will happen if you take part in the study?
Participants in this study will be asked to complete a survey one time with 7 questions. You will be asked about your prior experience with coding as an individual and in classroom or lab settings, your interest in teaching your students to code, your interest in access to coding resources, the best time for you to be involved, and specific topics related to coding that interest you. We think the survey should take from 5 to 10 minutes. There are no right or wrong answers; we are just interested in your opinions. Your participation in this research is voluntary and it is your choice whether to participate or not. You may choose not to participate or to stop participating at any time without penalty or loss of benefits.

Risks
We don’t anticipate any risks to you if you participate, but there may be some we don’t know about.

Benefits
Knowledge gained from this study may help change certain aspects of teaching and learning in biochemistry and molecular biology courses. There are no direct benefits for you.

Confidentiality
The information in the study records will be kept confidential. This means we will do our best to make sure only people connected with the research will see your data. Data will be stored securely on password protected servers and computers.  Only the researchers listed above will have access to the data.  The results will be presented together and demographic data will only be used to describe the group of people who provided information. None of your individual responses will ever be presented alone. The results of the study will be shared only for academic purposes and may be presented at conferences or in journal articles.  In rare instances, there may be safety or compliance issues that arise and require authorized representatives of Rochester Institute of Technology, including members of the Human Subjects Research Office (HSRO) or Institutional Review Board (IRB), or federal officials to access research records from this study.

Future Use of Information
Your data, even if identifying information is removed, will not be used or distributed for use in future research studies.

Compensation
Participants will not receive compensation.

What if you have questions about this study?
If you have questions at any time about the study or the procedures, you may contact the Principal Investigators. If you have other questions please contact the Human Subjects Research Office at hmfsrs@rit.edu.