Project Information
Hello, I’m Maddy Thompson, a researcher in Geography at Keele University in the UK. I was recently diagnosed with ADHD, and am really grateful to have secured some funding from the Royal Geographical Society to do some research into women’s experiences of ADHD.
I would like to invite you to take part in my project looking at women, aged 21 and over, with ADHD and their relationship with home and online spaces. Joining the project is entirely up to you, and before you decide, I would like you to understand what the research involves for you and why it is being done, so please read this information carefully.
If you have any questions about any of the information provided or the project more broadly, please contact me and I’ll be more than happy to talk through things in more detail!
Project summary
Spaces of ADHD seeks to understand how women experience ADHD in the home and in online spaces. It is funded by the RGS-IBG Small Grant Funding with the Jasmin Leila Award.
This is the project website. When recruitment has begun, photos will be displaying here (where permission is granted).
Alongside this, up to 10 photos will be framed and a small art exhibit will be curated. The exhibit will be on display in London and Stoke in 2022.
Please note, that by ‘women’ I refer to all women, and am particularly interested in speaking to groups that have been marginalised.
What is involved if I take part?
| TASK | FURTHER INFO | ESTIMATED TIME |
| TAKE AND SUBMIT PHOTOS OF SPACES IN YOUR HOME | Take or select 5 photos that you feel best represent your experiences of ADHD within the home and add brief captions. This should be spaces in your home (rather than your entire home itself) Do not include other people and identifying information (such as addresses on stray envelopes!). You can choose if these are only seen by me, by the Project Facebook Group, or on the website. | 1 hour |
| FILL OUT A DIARY OF ONLINE ACTIVITIES | Record a brief ‘diary’ of your online ADHD activities for a week. This will take you about 5 minutes per day to fill out, and I can send daily reminders if you’d like! | 30 minutes |
| TALK TO ME | Talk to me about your photos and diary. We can either arrange a 20-30 minute call/video or I can send a list of questions you can type answers to. | 30 minutes |
| SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS AND HELP ANALYSE THE PHOTOS | If you want, a few weeks afterwards, you can help analyse the photos to help shape the research and to see what others have included. To do this, join the private Spaces of ADHD Facebook group and help analyse the photos through liking/commenting. Please don’t identify your own photos here (if you choose for them to be included). | 5 minutes onwards! |
Do I have to take part?
It is completely up to you to decide whether or not you would like to take part in this research.
If you do want to be involved, please continue reading this information sheet and read and sign the Consent Sheet below.
Are there any risks to taking part?
Your personal information will be fully anonymised and any photos with identifying information included will not be shared anywhere. The utmost care will be taken to minimise the risks of you being identified in undertaking this research. However, please do read the information in this sheet carefully and be aware that risks remain. If you would like to discuss this further, please contact Maddy.
Being involved in the research may mean that you reflect on or we talk about topic that may be sensitive topics. If at any point you do not want to answer a question or stop the research process, you can do this at any time without having to give a reason. After the data has been collected, there are still some options to withdraw (see below).
If you do feel that you need additional support, the following links may be useful:
https://chadd.org/for-adults/overview/#
https://adhduk.co.uk/
https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/tips-for-everyday-living/adhd-and-mental-health/
https://addcoach4u.com/international-adhd-support-groups-list/
What are the advantages to taking part?
By bringing attention to and sharing photos of some of the struggles and strategies shared by women with ADHD, it is hoped that this research may benefit us as a broader group.
You will not receive any direct personal benefits from participating, but you may find it quite fun, or at the least, a different form of procrastination!
Confidentiality
| All data | Any identifiable information such as your name, place(s) of employment/ residence or anything else mentioned in the photos/interview/diary will be anonymised and I will be the only person to have access to your personal details. They will be saved securely in a password-protected file. |
| Photos | If you choose for photos to be published online, there will be very small risk of you being identified from taking part in the research, such as by family and friends who may know what parts of your home looks like. You must not include yourself, other people or any identifying information in your photos. Photos with identifying information or people will not be included in the project. |
| Interview and diary data | If you are happy for your interview to be recorded, the audio recording will be sent to a professional transcription service in the UK to be transcribed. No personal information such as names or contact information will be passed to the transcriber. The transcriber will sign a Confidentiality Agreement before undertaking any work, you can request to see a copy of the Confidentiality Agreement. |
| Facebook analysis group | The private Facebook Group will only be advertised to existing women with ADHD online support groups and communities. The group will be open to women with ADHD who are not otherwise participating in the research project. This is important as it allows more voices to be heard, but do take this into account when deciding how you would like your photos to be shared. The Group will be closed/ deleted 6 months after the first image is posted. |
Can I withdraw my data at a later point?
| Photos in the Facebook Group | If you choose to share your photos to the Facebook Group, you have 7 days from submitting them to withdraw before they are uploaded. After they have been uploaded, you can still request that I remove them from the Group until 30th June 2022 when the group will be permanently deleted from Facebook. |
| Photos for other uses (website, research publications, talks) | You have 30 days from your interview to withdraw your photos before they are uploaded to the website or used in research publications/talks. After 30 days, you are able to request the photos are removed until 1/12/2022 when the project ends and the website may no longer be maintained. It may not be possible to remove photos from research publications after the 30 day withdrawal period. |
| Interview and diary data | You are free to ask me to exclude any information, or to withdraw your interview/diary data within 30 days of the interview date. After 30 days, when the research has been completed, and the data analysed, it will be more difficult for me to withdraw your data from the study, although I will still endeavour to honour any requests. |
What happens to my data afterwards?
The website has a 4-year domain registration period, and any photos uploaded there will remain there for this period. Due to project funding, it is uncertain if the website will be maintained following 1/12/2022.
Interview data, photos, and diary data will be retained by me, Maddy Thompson, for a minimum of 10 years.
The data, when made anonymous, may be presented at academic conferences, or published as a project report, academic dissertation or in academic journals or book. It could also be made available to any commissioner or funder of the research.
What if there is a problem?
If you have a query, concern or complaint about any aspect of this study, in the first instance you should contact myself, Maddy Thompson if appropriate.
If your concern or complaint is not resolved by Maddy, you should contact the CREC Faculty Research Ethics Committee Chair at Keele University via research.governance@keele.ac.uk quoting the REC Reference Number CR-210016.
Who has reviewed the study?
Research involving human participants is reviewed by an ethics committee to ensure that the dignity and well-being of participants is respected. This study has been reviewed by the Central Research Ethics Committee at Keele University and has been given favourable ethical opinion.
The REC Reference Number is CR-210016.
Thank you
Thank you for taking time to read this information sheet and for considering volunteering for this research. If you do agree to participate, please complete the Consent Form.
You will then be given a copy of this information sheet and your signed consent form, to keep.
