We are collecting data about user experience with our case studies to learn more about how to improve the data science education experience. Part of this includes getting a better understanding of who is using our case studies and how so that we can better design our case studies. This data may ultimately be used for a research publication. We thank you very much for any feedback you can provide!
DATA CONFIDENTIALITY: We will not collect any personally identifiable information about you through this survey for the purposes of this research. We will only ask very general questions about you (such as if you are a student) and your use of the case studies. The potential risks to you are small. The potential benefits to the community of data scientists, developers, and professors are very high – we will be able to learn how we can improve data science/statistics/public health education material.
DATA SHARING: We plan to release the data collected from this survey openly online using GitHub (
https://github.com/) - however no personally identifiable information (such as email addresses) will be shared as it will not be collected. See below for an image of what the data might look like. We will only have a timestamp and answers to your questions. Only a reduced version of the timestamp will be included in the shared data to enhance the anonymity of the participants.
PARTICIPATION: You must be 18 or over to participate. You will be asked a series of questions about your experience with the case studies and some general information about you. You can stop participating in the survey at any point. You do not need to answer all of the questions. Only answers that are submitted by clicking the submit button at the end of the survey will be recorded. Depending on how you answer the survey, this will take 1-10 minutes to complete. You will have an opportunity at the end of the survey to edit your responses, including removing all of them. Any answers that are ultimately submitted (and not removed by the participant) will continue to be used for research.
General information about traffic to the case study websites and our main website (
www.opencasestudies.org) is being tracked by Google Analytics (
https://analytics.google.com) - which provides us with summary information such as the number of visitors from different countries. A running count of the number of people who have visited our main website (
www.opencasestudies.org) is also being tracked with ClusterMaps (
https://clustrmaps.com/). We will not use this to try to identify who has submitted a survey response.
RISK: Risk of participation is minimal. If our google account was hacked, it is possible that someone could attempt to leak this information. However, the questions we ask pose minimal security risk to participants as they are largely about if participants found the case studies useful. Recall that you do not need to answer most questions. Only a few questions are required to determine what additional questions to ask.
CONSENT: The first questions will ask about your age and if you consent (or agree) that the data from your responses be used for research purposes.
If you have different thoughts for different case studies, we kindly ask that you submit to our survey more than once.
QUESTIONS OR PROBLEMS: If you have questions or problems, email Carrie Wright at
cwrigh60@jh.edu.
You may also contact the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health IRB Office if you have questions about your rights as a participant/parent of a study participant. Contact the IRB if you feel you have not been treated fairly or if you have other concerns.
This study has been deemed exempt by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health IRB. No personal or private information will be collected. Thus, the proposed activity does not qualify as human subjects research as defined by DHHS regulations 45 CFR 46.102, and does not require IRB oversight.
IRB No.: 14965
Date Approved: 2020-02-26
The IRB contact information is:
Address: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
615 N. Wolfe Street, Suite E1100, Baltimore, MD 21205
Telephone: 410-955-3193; Toll Free: 1-888-262-3242
E-mail:
jhsph.irboffice@jhu.edu