Participant Information

Introduction.

If you are a social entrepreneur who is actively involved in the early-stage of founding and developing a social enterprise in Ireland, then I would like to invite you to apply to take part in this training program and research study.

Before you decide if you wish to take part, you need to understand why the research is being done and what it would involve for you. Please take time to read the following information carefully. Feel free to contact me directly and ask questions if anything you read is not clear or if you would like further information. Please take time to consider the information provided and decide whether or not to apply for a place on this program.

What is this study about ?

My name is Gavan Cleary, and I am an assistant lecturer and PhD researcher in Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT). The Jump-start program for New Social Enterprise is a pilot-project, supported by DIT, Dublin City Council (DCC) and the Irish Social Enterprise Network (ISEN), which forms part of the PhD research study which I am undertaking. Successful completion of the study, and resulting thesis, will result in my completing my PhD Studies and being awarded a doctorate.

The research study examines the use of contemporary theories of entrepreneurship during the creation of new social enterprises in Ireland. The intention of the research is to contribute to the development of an educational framework and social enterprise toolkit which can be used to support social entrepreneurs as they create and establish new social enterprises.

The program has three aims:

1. Provide you, as an early-stage social entrepreneur, with training and information designed to support you in identifying and evaluating a market opportunity for a social enterprise and developing a comprehensive business plan for the venture.
2. Provide Dublin City Council (DCC) and its partners with feedback and research data on the 'Social Enterprise Toolkit' which was launched in December 2017.
3. Provide research data for my PhD research project examining the application of contemporary theories of entrepreneurship during the early-stage creation and development of social enterprise in Ireland.

Do I qualify to take part?

All participants selected will be adults, engaged in the initial stages of founding a new social enterprise in Ireland, who volunteer to participate in a series of training workshops on new social enterprise creation and to participate in follow-up interviews to track the process of establishing their venture.

What are the risks and benefits of taking part ?

Benefits:

• You will benefit from a training program designed to support you in producing a comprehensive business plan for your social enterprise.
• You will have the opportunity to meet with social entrepreneurs who run established social enterprises.
• You will have the opportunity to network with and learn from other social entrepreneurs participating in the course.
• The feedback you give in your interviews will help us to improve and further develop the 'Social Enterprise Toolkit' and training for social entrepreneurs in Ireland

Risks:

• The primary risk is your time. I am asking you to commit to 10 workshop training sessions over 5 weeks, and to 5 interviews over a 12 month period.

What will taking part in the research study involve?

Your contribution would consist of an initial interview, and four follow-up interviews (approximately one hour for each interview), held at regular intervals over a twelve month period, designed to get your feedback on the training you received, how/if it was used by you to create and develop your social enterprise, and how it can be further developed and improved.

The purpose of the interviews is to get your on-going feedback, impressions, opinions, comments, and suggestions regarding the training you receive and how/if you used that training during the following 12 months. You may also be asked some questions regarding your personal opinions and your personal or professional background.

Each interview will be a private one-to-one conversation between you (as the social entrepreneur) and me (as the researcher). I will make an audio recording of each interview as it takes place, and I may take some notes as the interview progresses. Some interviews will be transcribed to help with analysing the data. You will be offered the opportunity to review the audio recordings and any transcripts of your interviews to ensure that they accurately reflect what was said and are used in their proper context.

Taking part is completely voluntary and you have the right to refuse to reply to any question, or withdraw your participation and/or data from the research, at any time without consequence.

How will the information I provide be used?

Research suggests that the training needs of social entrepreneurs are subtly but significantly different to those of your commercial counterparts. As social entrepreneurs, you face additional challenges in accessing training, support, and funding for your venture. The information from your interviews will be analysed and combined with the information from the other participants in the program to help us develop better entrepreneurship training programs for social entrepreneurs. Your opinions, impressions, and suggestions regarding the training you receive will help us to identify what we are doing well and what we can do better.

Specifically, we will be evaluating two things:

1. We will be seeking your impressions of the 'Social Enterprise Toolkit', and the accompanying training materials, and revising them based on your input, and that of your peers, in order to ensure that we offer training and information that properly supports social entrepreneurs creating new social enterprise in Ireland.
2. We will be introducing both traditional and contemporary theories on how to develop new ventures, and using your opinions, impressions, and suggestions to examine which elements of these theories you choose to use and the effect they have on establishing your social enterprise.

What will happen to the results of the study?

The information you provide will be analysed by me, and combined to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the training provided. The combined information will be used to discover which elements of the training proved most useful to you when establishing your social enterprise, and to develop a framework for training future social entrepreneurs. I will write and submit a PhD thesis based on my analysis of this information. This will be published and made available via the DIT 'Arrow' website, and other academic networks. Selected anonymised information may also be included by me in research papers submitted to academic conferences and journals.

Anonymised and summarised information will also be made available to Dublin Institute of Technology, Dublin City Council, and the Irish Social Enterprise Network to support further development of the 'Social Enterprise Toolkit'.

The information you provide will not be made available to any other organisations.

Will my taking part be confidential?

The anonymity of all participants will be guaranteed, and all commercially sensitive information will be held in confidence. The privacy and dignity of every person will be fully respected.

In accordance with DIT policy, confidentiality may not apply in situations where the researcher has a strong belief that there is a serious risk of harm or danger to either the participant or another individual (e.g. physical, emotional or sexual abuse, concerns for child protection, rape, self-harm, suicidal intent or criminal activity) or if a serious crime has been committed.

How will the information I provide be recorded, stored, and protected ?

Interviews will be recorded using a digital audio-recording device, and may be transcribed for record keeping and data analysis. Digital copies will be encrypted and stored on a computer hard drive, and backed up to an encrypted external hard drive.

Non-anonymised data in the form of signed consent forms and audio recordings are collected and retained as part of the research process. The data gathered as part of this research study will be securely stored and retained in line with DIT data retention policy and E.U. General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).

Signed consent forms will be retained in DIT, Aungier St. until after the research has been completed. Transcripts of interviews from which all identifying information has been removed will be retained for a further 5 years after this.

Under freedom of information legislation you are entitled to access the information you have provided at any time.

Who is funding this research?

The research study is funded by Dublin Institute of Technology via the Fiosraigh PhD Scholarship Program. No other organisations have contributed to the funding of this research.

The organisations supporting and participating in this research are Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), Dublin City Council (DCC) , and the Irish Social Enterprise Network (ISEN). This research is being carried out as part of a PhD research project, and is completely independent of any commercial institutions.

Who should I contact for further information?

Please contact myself, Gavan Cleary, my e-mail address is gavan.cleary@dit.ie

Thank you for taking the time to read this information. I hope you will apply for a place on the jump-start program and contribute to the valuable work we are doing to develop training and support for social entrepreneurs.