Transgender interviews
Hello everyone - I am working on my thesis project which includes interviewing people who identify as transgender or other gender variations. Please check out the details and consider participating, and pass this info along if you know anyone who might be interested. Thanks!
My name is Julie Fliss and I am a master’s level psychology student currently working on my thesis. I am especially interested in the transgender population and the various identities within this spectrum. I am looking for individuals who identify as transgender or other gender variations (such as genderqueer) who would be willing to participate in a phone interview conducted by myself. The interview is expected to take between 45 minutes and one hour to complete. I will be asking various questions covering topics like school, family, relationships, body image, suicidal thoughts, and psychological health (such as anxiety or depression). This is in an effort to gain valuable information about individuals’ life experiences with their gender identity.
All information obtained by participants will be kept confidential. I do not need to know your names or locations, but if I do learn any of this information during the process of the interview, none of this information will be recorded. At the conclusion of our interview, my record of your phone number and email address will be permanently deleted. I will make every effort to ensure that you are not identifiable based on any information provided. Feel free to ask any questions before agreeing to participate in this study, either here on the community or at my email gender.thesis.study@gmail.com. During the study, you may decide not to answer any question you do not want to answer. Similarly, you may decide to drop out of the study at any time, without penalty.
Once you have agreed to participate, we will agree on a date and time that I can call you to participate in the interview. At that time and with your verbal informed consent, the interview will be recorded so that I can type it out afterward to use for my study. Once the interview has been typed, I will permanently delete the voice recording. The transcripts will be kept for a period of three years following the conclusion of the study, after which they will be destroyed. During this three year period, the transcripts will be kept in a locked file cabinet in my advisor’s office. By contacting me to set up an interview, you thereby provide your informed consent to participate.
I appreciate your willingness to consider participating. If you are interested, please send me an email at gender.thesis.study@gmail.com so that we are able to set up a date and time for the phone interview.
Thank you,
Julie Fliss
INFORMED CONSENT
THE EXPERIENCES OF POST-OPERATIVE, PRE-OPERATIVE, AND NON-OPERATIVE TRANSGENDER INDIVIDUALS
June 30, 2010
My name is Julie Fliss and I am a graduate student in the Master’s Program in Clinical Psychology at Cardinal Stritch University. I am conducting research interviews to gain knowledge of the experiences of transgender individuals, including post-operative, pre-operative, and non-operative identified individuals, as well as any other identification across the spectrum.
Procedure: If you agree to participate in this study, you will be involved in a phone interview with me in which you will answer various questions related to your experience as a transgender person. By providing me with your phone number and/or email address when you contact me to set up an interview, you provide your informed consent to participate in this study. I expect the interview to take approximately 45 minutes to one hour to complete. The interview will be audio recorded to allow for later transcription. As the study investigator I will be the only person to listen to the recorded interview and to transcribe your responses. No information that might identify you will be transcribed or included with the transcript. As soon as the interview is completed, I will permanently delete and destroy all of your contact information, including phone numbers and email addresses. The deidentified transcripts will be stored in a locked file cabinet in my advisor’s office located at the Medical College of Wisconsin (9200 W. Wisconsin Ave. Milwaukee WI 53226) for three years following conclusion of the study, after which they will be destroyed.
Participation is Voluntary: You are not obligated to participate in the interview. If you choose not to participate, simply disregard this message. If we set up an interview and there is any question I ask that you do not feel comfortable answering or simply do not want to answer, you can skip the question without penalty. You may withdraw from the study at any time without negative effects and data that has been collected will be destroyed if you request that I do so.
Confidentiality: Through interacting with you, I may learn your phone number, email address, or name. I encourage you to avoid using your name or any identifying information during our conversations, but if I do learn your name I will not include it in any way in my study. Likewise, phone numbers and email addresses will be deleted at the conclusion of our interview and none of this information will be included in my study or any other materials. I will be the only person who will know these details and this information will not be revealed to anyone else.
Risks: It is possible that some of the questions that will be asked may raise some anxiety or uncomfortable feelings for you as a participant. These may not be topics you are used to discussing or thinking about on a regular basis. Some of the questions I ask may bring up negative feelings which could cause a sense of emotional distress. If you would experience a strong negative reaction to any question I ask, I would make every effort to support you. The interview can be terminated at any time but I would still be willing to talk to you to help you process your feelings and thoughts, which would not be included in my study. Similarly, there are resources available including The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender National Hotline (1-888-843-4564) which is free and confidential and provides peer counseling and local resources around the United States. Similarly, www.GLBTnearme.org is a National Resource Database which includes resources for transgender individuals and can be looked up by entering your zip code to find resources close to you. As mentioned previously, there is the possible risk of loss of confidentiality, meaning that I may learn personal details about you through the interview process and by simply interacting with you. Again I encourage you to avoid providing any identifying information you are not comfortable with, but if I were to learn any such details I would be the only one to know these details and they would be deleted and not included in the transcripts or my study.
Benefits: Although this study will probably not benefit you directly, this research will help me better understand the experiences that transgender individuals have had and the impact of those experiences. This is an area of study that needs more information in order to better understand the transgender population and its unique life experience.
Use of Your Information: The information that I gather as a result of your answers to interview questions will be used in my thesis paper to provide details about the experiences you have had as a transgender person. Names or any other type of identifying information will not be included in the paper.
Contact Information: If you have any questions, concerns, or comments on this project please contact:
Julie M. Fliss
Department of Psychology
Cardinal Stritch University
6801 N. Yates Rd.
Milwaukee, WI 53217
414-736-6567
gender.thesis.study@gmail.com
Mark D. Rusch, Ph.D. (Advisor)
Department of Plastic Surgery
Medical College of Wisconsin
Hand Center, Froedtert East
9200 West Wisconsin Avenue
Milwaukee, WI 53226
414-805-5476
mrusch@mcw.edu
If you have any complaints about this study, please call or write:
Joan Whitman (Institutional Review Board Chairperson)
Cardinal Stritch University
6801 N. Yates Rd. Box 375
Milwaukee, WI 53217
414-410-4343
jlwhitman@stritch.edu
Although your name may be asked, all complaints are kept in confidence.
Thank you for your cooperation.
This research project has been approved by the Cardinal Stritch University Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Research Participants on May 4, 2010, for a period of 12 months.
My name is Julie Fliss and I am a master’s level psychology student currently working on my thesis. I am especially interested in the transgender population and the various identities within this spectrum. I am looking for individuals who identify as transgender or other gender variations (such as genderqueer) who would be willing to participate in a phone interview conducted by myself. The interview is expected to take between 45 minutes and one hour to complete. I will be asking various questions covering topics like school, family, relationships, body image, suicidal thoughts, and psychological health (such as anxiety or depression). This is in an effort to gain valuable information about individuals’ life experiences with their gender identity.
All information obtained by participants will be kept confidential. I do not need to know your names or locations, but if I do learn any of this information during the process of the interview, none of this information will be recorded. At the conclusion of our interview, my record of your phone number and email address will be permanently deleted. I will make every effort to ensure that you are not identifiable based on any information provided. Feel free to ask any questions before agreeing to participate in this study, either here on the community or at my email gender.thesis.study@gmail.com. During the study, you may decide not to answer any question you do not want to answer. Similarly, you may decide to drop out of the study at any time, without penalty.
Once you have agreed to participate, we will agree on a date and time that I can call you to participate in the interview. At that time and with your verbal informed consent, the interview will be recorded so that I can type it out afterward to use for my study. Once the interview has been typed, I will permanently delete the voice recording. The transcripts will be kept for a period of three years following the conclusion of the study, after which they will be destroyed. During this three year period, the transcripts will be kept in a locked file cabinet in my advisor’s office. By contacting me to set up an interview, you thereby provide your informed consent to participate.
I appreciate your willingness to consider participating. If you are interested, please send me an email at gender.thesis.study@gmail.com so that we are able to set up a date and time for the phone interview.
Thank you,
Julie Fliss
INFORMED CONSENT
THE EXPERIENCES OF POST-OPERATIVE, PRE-OPERATIVE, AND NON-OPERATIVE TRANSGENDER INDIVIDUALS
June 30, 2010
My name is Julie Fliss and I am a graduate student in the Master’s Program in Clinical Psychology at Cardinal Stritch University. I am conducting research interviews to gain knowledge of the experiences of transgender individuals, including post-operative, pre-operative, and non-operative identified individuals, as well as any other identification across the spectrum.
Procedure: If you agree to participate in this study, you will be involved in a phone interview with me in which you will answer various questions related to your experience as a transgender person. By providing me with your phone number and/or email address when you contact me to set up an interview, you provide your informed consent to participate in this study. I expect the interview to take approximately 45 minutes to one hour to complete. The interview will be audio recorded to allow for later transcription. As the study investigator I will be the only person to listen to the recorded interview and to transcribe your responses. No information that might identify you will be transcribed or included with the transcript. As soon as the interview is completed, I will permanently delete and destroy all of your contact information, including phone numbers and email addresses. The deidentified transcripts will be stored in a locked file cabinet in my advisor’s office located at the Medical College of Wisconsin (9200 W. Wisconsin Ave. Milwaukee WI 53226) for three years following conclusion of the study, after which they will be destroyed.
Participation is Voluntary: You are not obligated to participate in the interview. If you choose not to participate, simply disregard this message. If we set up an interview and there is any question I ask that you do not feel comfortable answering or simply do not want to answer, you can skip the question without penalty. You may withdraw from the study at any time without negative effects and data that has been collected will be destroyed if you request that I do so.
Confidentiality: Through interacting with you, I may learn your phone number, email address, or name. I encourage you to avoid using your name or any identifying information during our conversations, but if I do learn your name I will not include it in any way in my study. Likewise, phone numbers and email addresses will be deleted at the conclusion of our interview and none of this information will be included in my study or any other materials. I will be the only person who will know these details and this information will not be revealed to anyone else.
Risks: It is possible that some of the questions that will be asked may raise some anxiety or uncomfortable feelings for you as a participant. These may not be topics you are used to discussing or thinking about on a regular basis. Some of the questions I ask may bring up negative feelings which could cause a sense of emotional distress. If you would experience a strong negative reaction to any question I ask, I would make every effort to support you. The interview can be terminated at any time but I would still be willing to talk to you to help you process your feelings and thoughts, which would not be included in my study. Similarly, there are resources available including The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender National Hotline (1-888-843-4564) which is free and confidential and provides peer counseling and local resources around the United States. Similarly, www.GLBTnearme.org is a National Resource Database which includes resources for transgender individuals and can be looked up by entering your zip code to find resources close to you. As mentioned previously, there is the possible risk of loss of confidentiality, meaning that I may learn personal details about you through the interview process and by simply interacting with you. Again I encourage you to avoid providing any identifying information you are not comfortable with, but if I were to learn any such details I would be the only one to know these details and they would be deleted and not included in the transcripts or my study.
Benefits: Although this study will probably not benefit you directly, this research will help me better understand the experiences that transgender individuals have had and the impact of those experiences. This is an area of study that needs more information in order to better understand the transgender population and its unique life experience.
Use of Your Information: The information that I gather as a result of your answers to interview questions will be used in my thesis paper to provide details about the experiences you have had as a transgender person. Names or any other type of identifying information will not be included in the paper.
Contact Information: If you have any questions, concerns, or comments on this project please contact:
Julie M. Fliss
Department of Psychology
Cardinal Stritch University
6801 N. Yates Rd.
Milwaukee, WI 53217
414-736-6567
gender.thesis.study@gmail.com
Mark D. Rusch, Ph.D. (Advisor)
Department of Plastic Surgery
Medical College of Wisconsin
Hand Center, Froedtert East
9200 West Wisconsin Avenue
Milwaukee, WI 53226
414-805-5476
mrusch@mcw.edu
If you have any complaints about this study, please call or write:
Joan Whitman (Institutional Review Board Chairperson)
Cardinal Stritch University
6801 N. Yates Rd. Box 375
Milwaukee, WI 53217
414-410-4343
jlwhitman@stritch.edu
Although your name may be asked, all complaints are kept in confidence.
Thank you for your cooperation.
This research project has been approved by the Cardinal Stritch University Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Research Participants on May 4, 2010, for a period of 12 months.