The following is information about my interview protocol and procedures of care that I have built into my interview process in order to ensure that subjects feel comfortable and empowered throughout their involvement in the project.

Recording of Consent

Carter, et al. (2021) note that the recording of consent in the context of online research can lead to varying challenges due to the process being entirely virtual. Following their arguments that written consent formats can be complicating, restrictive, and potentially introduce security concerns, the default format for seeking and recording consent for this study will be done verbally. However, if it is the preference of the participant to use a written consent form, the form will be made available to them.

Process

In order to limit the number of meetings required of participants, recording of consent will by default occur at the start of the first scheduled interview session. However, if it is the preference of the participant to have a separate introductory session that will allow for real-time addressal of questions and concerns, this option will be made available to them.

Stage Course of Action
Initial Contact Following expression of interest in the study, the potential participant is sent additional information on the study details including its purpose and procedures.
  • If the potential participant confirms their interest in particpating, email communication to set up interview times will occur and the option for an introductory meeting in addition to the interviews will be offered in addition to the option for a written consent form.
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    Optional: Introductory Meeting If an introductory meeting is requested, it will be scheduled at a time that is mutually convenient.
  • Topics to go over will be the format of the participatory elements and any questions that the participant might have from the outset.
  • If the participant expresses continued interest in participating, procedure for procuring verbal consent will occur (see next step).
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    Procuring Consent
    Written Consent
  • Written Consent If the participant indicates that they would prefer a written consent process, they will be asked to return the form with their confirmation of interest in participating.

    • Oral Consent
  • If an introductory meeting did not occur, consent will be procured during the first interview session before the interview begins.
  • Regardless of whether it is conducted during an introductory meeting or the first session, the process for procuring verbal consent will follow the Oral Consent Script and be recorded on Zoom.
    		•
    Follow Up Following the interview process, it is the goal of the research team to give participants agency in the documentation of their reflection and to keep them informed of the role of their stories in the work.
    • Participants will be invited to review their transcripts before they are coded and used in the construction of the project's case studies.
    • In the spirit of a dialogic interpretive process, following the writing process, participants will be contacted and offered the opportunity to review the written materials and confirm that they are comfortable with what has been written
    Publication Assuming the final thesis is approved, it is the goal of the research team to produce an interactive digital tool that gives back to the participants and the overall community to allow them to explore the research, its products, and related materials that are able to be shared.
    • Before the tool is made widely available, participants will be invited to interact with the website and its features and request adjustments to their consent should they have concerns about the public nature of the tool.
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      Interviews

      Participants will be interviewed in a semi-structured manner, with the focus being on how they tell their adoption 'story,' how they construct their cultural and racial identity/ies, and where records fit into that narrative.

      Object Elicitation

      In addition to interview questions, there will also be an object elicitation activity that the participants will be asked to engage with. This will involve their selection of 2-5 documents relating to their adoption that they feel strongly speak to their story, the questions they have about their adoption, and/or the relationships that they have built through, alongside, or in some cases in spite of their adoption. During their interview, participants will be asked to share about these documents and why they chose them for the prompt.

      Literature Response

      Alongside a fairly large body of adoption research and scholarship, there is also a significant amount of creative nonfiction and fiction that centres the adoptee experience. Some of these works explicitly focus on the presence and absense of records, notably the poetry and writings of Sun Yun Shin and the graphic novel, Palimpsest by Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom.

      In this element of the interview process, participants will be asked to respond to excerpts from these two authors and consider the similarities or differences of their experiences and thoughts.

      Distress Protocol

      I am interested in investigating an aspect of people’s lives that can be quite sensitive and presents the real possibility of making someone uncomfortable. While the purpose is liberatory, and to create a greater understanding of how archivists can address issues of alienation in the context of government record creation and access, I acknowledge that it is potentially emotionally charged subject matter that not everyone will be unaffected by, even if they are the type of person who has “come to terms” with their adoption. One way in which I hope to mitigate this is through the adaptation and adoption of a distress protocol for the interview process such as those proposed by Haigh & Witham (2015) . I will not have an extensive array of resources or professionals at my disposal or employ, but making sure that I provide adequate resources before and after the interview, as well as take care to be aware of when an interviewee needs a break and having a protocol for how that can happen over Zoom will be incredibly important steps towards making the interview space as safe as possible.

      Stage Signs/Course of Action
      Distress
    • A participant indicates they are experiencing a high level of stress or emotional distress
    • A participant exhibits behaviours suggestive that the discussion/interview is too stressful such as uncontrolled crying, shaking, disengagement with platform, etc.
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      Stage 1 Response
      Pause interview
    • The researcher will offer several options for reducing intensity of the process, including but not limited to:
      • Turning the camera function of Zoom off while the interview continues
      • Taking a time out from the process
      • Moving to a different part of the data collections process that is not directly focused on the participant's story
    • The researcher will also offer the option to reschedule the remainder of the interview when the participant feels ready
      		•
      Review
    • If participant feels able to carry on: continue the interview with any requested adjustments
    • If participant does not feel comfortable with continuing, proceed to Stage 2 Response
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      Stage 2 Response
      Halt interview
    • If the participant does not feel as though they need to disengage immediately, spend time seeing how the researcher might offer support. Make recommendations for getting support from their emotional support system
    • If the participants needs to step away immediately, the researcher should inform the participant that they will be reaching out to them with resources and allow the call to end as soon as the participant needs.
      • In both cases: proceed to Followup Step
      Followup As a followup to halting the interview, the researcher will send the Emotional Distress Email Script and attach the emotional resources handout, which will also have been provided to the participant over the course of the pre-interview email contact. The researcher should also encourage the participant to approach the research team or other related contacts should they have concerns about the research.

      References

      Carter, .M., Shih, P., Williams, J. et al. Conducting Qualitative Research Online: Challenges and Solutions. Patient (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40271-021-00528-w

      Haigh, C. & G. Witham. “Distress Protocol for qualitative data collection.” Manchester Metropolitan University. (2015) https://www.mmu.ac.uk/media/mmuacuk/content/documents/rke/Advisory-Distress-Protocol.pdf