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7 November, 2009
Dear ATEM Member
INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE IN A RESEARCH PROJECT AND PLAIN LANGUAGE STATEMENT
You have been invited to participate in a research project being conducted by RMIT University. This statement describes the project in straightforward language, or ‘plain English’. Please read this letter carefully and be confident that you understand its contents before deciding whether to participate. If you have any questions about the project, please ask one of the investigators.
Project Title: Investigating Leadership Literacies for the Knowledge Era in Universities in Australia
This PhD research project will be conducted by Ms Heather Davis, an ATEM member and Councillor and School of Management PhD Candidate under the supervision of Assoc Prof Sandra Jones (Associate Professor - Employment Relations).
This PhD project aims to identify appropriate leadership literacies for the knowledge era and test whether these leadership literacies are being practiced and/or theorized in Australian universities. The word ‘literacies’ is used as an umbrella term for the many ways to describe leadership in theory and practice, i.e. traits, competencies, capabilities, skills, qualities etc. The research question you have been asked to respond to is “to what extent are leadership literacies appropriate for the knowledge era being practiced in Australian Universities?”
You have been approached because you are a member of the Association for Tertiary Education Management (ATEM Inc). ATEM Inc. have agreed to support this research project because it fits with their mission to advance the higher education sector and the profession of tertiary education administration and management.
You have been selected because you meet the following criteria:
· you are an ATEM Inc member; you work in an Australian university
· and you are employed as either:
o a Higher Education Worker (HEW) or equivalent,
o or you hold an executive contract/salary position that is not 100% academic.
The ATEM Secretariat has randomly selected the participants for this research from the population of ATEM members who meet the above criteria. ATEM has not forwarded the names or any other details of the selected participants to the researcher or to RMIT University. Any correspondence between you and the researcher will be through the ATEM Secretariat.
If you agree to participate, you will complete an online survey found at www.leadershipliteracies.com (instructions on how to access the survey are given in the email sent to you and are also on the first page of this pdf package). It is expected that the survey should take no more than 20 minutes to complete. You will be asked questions about you, your work in the university sector, your observations of your direct leader and the process of leadership at your university.
It is expected that a direct benefit to you will be the opportunity to express your views concerning leadership in Australian universities and have these views heard. This research will contribute to filling a gap in Australian higher education literature because although professional staff make up over 50% of workers in the sector, your voice is generally underrepresented in higher education research, literature and policy analysis.
The information you provide is anonymous and data collected will be aggregated. There are some open questions on the survey and this data may be used as anonymous direct quotes to add context to the PhD thesis or publications emanating from the PhD thesis. The survey you are agreeing to participate in may be used as a comparative data set during the PhD study and within a five year period thereafter.
The data gathered will be disseminated by the researcher in a PhD thesis and publications emanating from the PhD study which may include presentations, journal articles, books and blog entries. A research report outlining the findings of the survey will be made available to ATEM members via the ATEM website at the completion of the PhD.
The data gathered from this survey will be kept securely at RMIT University for a period of five years and then be destroyed.
It will be assumed that you are giving consent to participate in this online survey when you click the ‘agree’ button to begin the online survey. By clicking the ‘agree’ button you will also be confirming that you have read this “Plain Language Statement”.
Your rights as a participant are important to the researcher and these include:
· the right to withdraw your participation at any time without prejudice;
· the right to have any unprocessed data withdrawn and destroyed provided it can be reliably identified, and provided that so doing does not increase the risk for the you; and,
· the right to have any questions you have about this research project addressed at any time.
There are minimal perceived risks associated with the research outside of normal day to day activities, therefore this project has received ethics clearance from RMIT University as a Level 2–minimal risk research project. There are however, some questions relating to workload and work life balance that you should be aware of before you agree to participate in this survey. In the unlikely event that you are unduly concerned about your responses to any of the survey questions or happen to find participation in the project distressing, you should contact Assoc Prof Sandra Jones (sandra.jones@rmit.edu.au) as soon as convenient. Assoc Prof Jones will discuss your concerns with you confidentially and suggest appropriate follow-up, if necessary.
If you have any questions you may address them as follows:
· If you wish to remain anonymous to the researcher you should submit your question to Ms Maree Conway, ATEM Executive Director, who will request an answer from the researcher;
· If you wish to address the researcher directly, please email Heather Davis (see contact details below);
· If you have concerns about the conduct of this research project please direct your questions to the supervisor of this project Assoc. Professor Sandra Jones.
Thank you in advance for your time and consideration of this project.
Yours Sincerely, | 
