Information Sheet Survey and Web Forum Participants

Bridging Musical Knowledge
What is this study about?

Bridging Musical Knowledge (BMK) is a new research project based at Dublin City University (DCU). It aims to explore different ways that people communicate and share their experiences, memories, perceptions and understanding of music.

Although much of BMK will be carried out online (especially now during Covid-19), each phase will be organized around a specific urban location. This first phase is based around Belfast, with further phases planned to take place later in other mid-sized or large cities in Ireland, UK, EU and further afield.

Musical knowledge can range from the things we feel, hear, discover, remember and communicate about music in our everyday lives, from what learn about music by ourselves, with family or friends, or as part of larger groups (communities, clubs, audiences, fan groups) to the ways that different aspects of music are considered and communicated by enthusiasts, bloggers, broadcasters, local historians, music journalists, critics, academics and others.

Why are we carrying out this study?
There are many different ways that people engage with music across a wide range of styles and genres, including many ways that music can be talked or written about and understood. Some kinds of musical knowledge lend themselves easily to words (musician biogs, magazines/fanzines, books or articles about music history or music theory, blogs about music scenes etc.). Other kinds of musical knowledge are more hidden, such as those shared by a community, or the knowledge that comes from our lived experiences of ‘getting’ or appreciating music. The project leaders are interested in all kinds of musical knowledge, their meanings for individuals and groups, their relation to society and culture, and the potential to bring together or ‘bridge’ these different ways of ‘knowing’ music. This goes from everyday experiences and understandings, to written and media accounts, to more formal studies of music. As far as we can ascertain, this is the first study to consider such a broad spectrum of how people understand and engage with musical knowledge.

Where are we carrying out the study?
Each phase of our project will be based in a different city. We accept that many people also engage with music from outside the place where they live. However, our reason for focusing on particular cities (beginning with Belfast) arises from the project’s long-term aim of bringing together or ‘bridging’ different types and experiences of musical knowledge: first, we want to discover the many ways that musical knowledge might happen or be imagined, and second, how these different types of musical knowledge might relate to each other across the same location.

What does taking part in this study involve?
Your participation in this study is voluntary, and you can withdraw your consent to be involved at any time and for any reason. If you wish to withdraw your consent after you have participated in the study please contact John O’Flynn at the email address provided below.

The study initially comprises a short online survey that can be completed on our project website http://bridgingmusicalknowledge.com/belfast.html It contains two background questions (your broad age group and identified gender) before asking general questions about your interest in and/or involvement with music. This leads to questions about experiences, memories or other types of engagement you might have (or had) in relation to musical knowledge. These will vary from person to person and might include one or more of the following:

The survey will be open from late June 2020, and it will be followed by a web forum organised later on in July 2020. Each web forum discussion thread will be based a theme that emerges from the initial survey. You can choose to take part in the survey, and/or in one or more of the web forum discussion threads.

Code of conduct for web forum
If you consent to join one or more of the web forum discussion threads you will be asked to read a standard code of conduct and indicate your agreement to this. The forum will be regularly monitored with a protocol in place for the immediate deletion of content. This is in case you or other participants request that particular content is removed, and/or in case the web forum’s code of conduct is somehow breached.

Who can take part?
The study is open to everyone aged eighteen or older who is interested in, or involved with music in any way, whether as an individual, with family/friends, or in larger groups, communities, networks or institutions.

For this phase of the project we are mainly looking for participants in the Greater Belfast area. This can also include those who used to live in Belfast, and/or those who live outside but have links with music in the city.

Anonymity and Confidentiality
Everyone taking part in the survey will be anonymous. You will not be asked to give your name. This is to ensure the confidentiality of the survey, and to take every step to ensure that you cannot be identified based on the data. The forum discussions will take place on a restricted area of the website and will be viewable only to those participating in the forum. Those who take part will be asked to choose usernames that avoid the inclusion of any information that might identify them.

All responses to the survey and web forum will be treated confidentially, though we would like to make you aware that there are legal limits to confidentiality. In cases where you disclose that you are at immediate risk of harming yourself or others, or where you disclose child abuse or criminal activity that puts the wellbeing of a child at risk, we will contact the appropriate authorities.

Personal Data
This study complies with the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which sets very strict rules around the collection and processing of personal data. Personal data is, according to the GDPR, “any information that relates to an identified or identifiable living individual.” It also includes “different pieces of information, which collected together can lead to the identification of a particular person.” More information about GDPR can be found here:

https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/reform/rights-citizens_en

The survey and web forum will only collect personal data deemed necessary to carry out this project according to its aims, detailed above. All personal data that is collected will be anonymous. In will be kept safe on an encrypted computer and encrypted laptop and backed up onto an encrypted cloud server.

The raw data from the survey and web forum will not be shared with anyone else. The restricted area of the website for the web forum will be removed in August/September 2020. We will securely retain the data from both the survey and web forum until August 2026, as that is the expected duration of the long-term project Bridging Musical Knowledge. At that point the raw data from the survey and web forum will be permanently deleted so that no else can find or access this personal information.

Details for the Data Protection Officer at Dublin City University can be found in the contact information at the bottom of this information sheet.

Potential Risks
We have made every effort to minimize any risk to participants in the study. However, as with any study involving people there are some risks. While anonymity will be kept at all times, there is a remote chance that someone familiar with music in Belfast might identify a participant from our written outputs, even where anonymity has been consistently adhered to. There is a small risk that reporting a past experience about musical knowledge might inadvertently cause distress, if that experience was a negative one. If any participant feels particularly distressed, the project’s principal investigator (John O’Flynn) can provide details of local counseling services.

Potential Benefits
A major potential benefit of this study is that it will bring together a wide range of experiences and understandings of musical knowledge in an urban centre. Such a broad inquiry into musical knowledge has not taken place to date. It will also help to map out and provide valuable individual insights into different aspects of musical experience in Belfast.

Ethics Approval
Research ethics is concerned with ensuring that all people involved in a study are treated fairly and with respect. It is therefore important that ethics experts should approve research projects before they can begin.

This project has undergone rigorous ethics approval procedures. It has sought advice from an expert Steering Group for the project, and official approval by the Research Ethics Committee at Dublin City University.

Contact Information

Researchers:
Dr John O’Flynn (Principal Investigator)
Office S209, Senior House, DCU All Hallows Campus, Grace Park Rd, Drumcondra, Dublin, D09 N920, Ireland
Email: john.oflynn@dcu.ie
Phone: +353 1-7006120

Dr Dónal Fullam, School of Theology, Philosophy, and Music, Dublin City University
Email: donal.fullam@dcu.ie

DCU Data Protection Officer
Mr. Martin Ward
Email: data.protection@dcu.ie
Phone: +353 7005118 / +353 7008257

If participants have concerns about this study and wish to contact an independent person, please contact:

The Secretary
Dublin City University Research Ethics Committee
c/o Research and Innovation Support
Dublin City University
Dublin 9
Email: rec@dcu.ie
Phone: +353 1-7008000


This project has received funding from Enterprise Ireland’s ERC Proposal Support Scheme