Title of Study: Exploring the long-term effects of wildlife experience tourism among travellers

University of Surrey Ref: FASS 22-23 044 EGA

TAKING PART

Hi, my name is Roz Sherman-Davies, a PhD researcher at the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, University of Surrey. This research project forms part of my PhD degree and is being supervised by Professor Xavier Font and Dr Christy Hehir of the University of Surrey and Dr Chris Jones, of the University of Portsmouth. We would like to invite you to participate in this research project which is looking at the effects of wildlife experience tourism.

We have asked the Transformational Tourism Council and its member organisations to help us find travellers with the right experience for this research.

You should only participate if you want to; choosing not to take part will not disadvantage you in any way. Before you decide if you wish to take part, it is vital for you to understand why the research is being done and what your participation will involve. If you have any questions you can contact us using the contact details at the end of this information sheet.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY?

The main aim of this study is to gain a better understanding of peoples’ experiences while participating in Wildlife tourism activities.

We are specifically interested in hearing about your holiday-based wildlife experience.

This will involve answering a few short questions via an online questionnaire about your wildlife experience. We will then be carrying out a further phase of interviews with a small number of participants, you will be asked whether you would be interested in participating further at the end of the questionnaire.

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS STUDY?

This study is the responsibility of Roz Sherman-Davies at the University of Surrey.

WHY HAVE I BEEN INVITED TO TAKE PART?

You are invited to participate in this study because we understand you have participated in a wildlife experience whilst on holiday.

DO I HAVE TO TAKE PART?

Participation is voluntary and you do not have to take part. We will describe the study in this information sheet so you can decide whether you wish to take part. Please contact us if there is anything that is not clear, or if you have any questions, or need more information.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO ME IF I DECIDE TO TAKE PART?

If you decide to take part, you should read all the information in this sheet carefully and retain a copy for your own records. You will then be asked to sign a consent form by following the link in this email, before completing some online survey questions and submitting these for initial analysis.

As outlined above, we will be carrying out some further in-depth interviews (conducted online via MS Teams or Zoom) with a small number of participants. If you would be willing to be interviewed you can indicate this on the questionnaire. Should you be selected for an interview, we will contact you again to arrange a convenient date and time and provide you with some more detail about what you can expect from the interview itself.

WHAT HAPPENS IF I DO NOT WANT TO TAKE PART OR IF I CHANGE MY MIND?

You are free to withdraw from the study at any time, without giving a reason. Your right to withdraw includes before, during and after the research.

WHAT HAPPENS TO MY DATA IF I WANT TO WITHDRAW?

Your right to withdraw enables you to ask the researcher to remove your data/survey responses within one month of the submission of the questionnaire. In these circumstances, the stored questionnaire will be deleted from the storage drive and the data removed from the dataset. After this period, data will be aggregated and anonymised for analysis and will no longer be able to be removed.

WHAT ARE THE POSSIBLE BENEFITS OF TAKING PART?

The information we will get from the study will help us to gain a better understanding of the long-term benefits and effects of wildlife tourism experiences. While there are no immediate benefits to those taking part in the study, the findings will be used to help Tourism providers improve their experiences.

Latin Routes has also kindly offered a prize draw for a £30 Amazon voucher for those who are chosen for further in-depth interviews following the completion of the survey

ARE THERE ANY POTENTIAL RISKS INVOLVED?

There are no anticipated risks with being involved in this research study. The main disadvantage will be that we require a bit of your time for you to complete the questionnaire and potentially a follow-up interview.

HOW IS THE PROJECT BEING FUNDED?

This research is a student project as part of A PhD in Tourism and Environmental Psychology

WILL MY PARTICIPATION BE KEPT CONFIDENTIAL?

Yes. All the data collected via the survey will be kept strictly confidential and is used only in accordance with the ways described in this information sheet. In the accompanying questionnaire, we do ask for your email address if you would be interested in participating further via an interview. If given, your email address will only be used by the researcher to contact you to arrange an online interview. Once the research is complete all such records will be deleted.

Your information may be reviewed for monitoring and audit purposes, by the University of Surrey and/or regulators who will treat your data in confidence.

WILL MY DATA BE SHARED OR USED IN FUTURE RESEARCH STUDIES?

No. No data will be shared or used in future research studies. However, the collected data may be subject to review by responsible individuals from the University of Surrey and/or regulators for monitoring and audit purposes.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE RESULTS OF THE STUDY?

This research may be published in academic journals and presented at academic conferences. Any published findings or quotations will use pseudonyms, maintaining the anonymity of participants.

We anticipate that the findings of this study will inform the development of further research projects.

WHO HAS REVIEWED THE STUDY?

This research has been reviewed by the University of Surrey’s Ethics Committee. This study was reviewed and given a favourable ethical opinion by this committee.

YOUR PERSONAL DATA

WHAT IS PERSONAL DATA?

‘Personal Data’ means any information that identifies you as an individual. We will be collecting and using some of your personal data that is relevant to completing the study and this section describes what that means.

The information that we will collect will include name, age, gender and email address (if given) which is regarded as ‘personal data’. We will use this information to ensure we are able to contact and invite suitable participants for the next phase of the study.

Besides, no personal data will be shared with any other parties for any purpose or communicated to any publications and reports.

WHO IS HANDLING MY PERSONAL DATA?

The University of Surrey, which has the legal responsibility for managing the personal data in this study, will act as the Data Controller for this study. The research team will process your personal data on behalf of the controller and is responsible for looking after your information and using it properly.

HOW WILL THE RESEARCH DATA BE STORED?

All data from the research project will be stored in accordance with the University of Surrey’s policy. The research findings will be securely stored on the University of Surrey’s OneDrive for 10 years, while project data e.g. consent forms will be held for at least 6 years on the University’s OneDrive. Individual participant information i.e. email addresses will be destroyed upon completion of the study.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO MY PERSONAL DATA?

As a publicly-funded organisation, we must only use identifiable personal information from people who have agreed to take part in research and process this data fairly and lawfully. The University of Surrey processes personal data for the purposes of carrying out research in the public interest and special category data is processed on an additional condition necessary for research purposes. This means that when you agree to take part in this research study, we will use and look after your data in the ways needed to achieve the outcomes of the study.

If you wish to complain about how we have handled your personal data, you can contact our Data Protection Officer who will investigate the matter (dataprotection@surrey.ac.uk). If you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are processing your personal data in a way that is not lawful, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) (https://ico.org.uk/).

You can find out more about how we use your information https://www.surrey.ac.uk/information- management/data-protection and/or by contacting dataprotection@surrey.ac.uk .

FURTHER INFORMATION

WHAT IF I HAVE A QUERY OR SOMETHING GOES WRONG?

If you are unsure about something you can contact the research team for further advice using the contact details at the bottom of this information sheet.

However, if your query has not been handled to your satisfaction, or if you are unhappy and wish to make a formal complaint to someone independent of the research team, then please contact:

Research Integrity and Governance Office (RIGO) Research and Innovation Services

University of Surrey

Senate House, Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7XH Email: rigo@surrey.ac.uk

The University has in place the relevant insurance policies which apply to this study. If you wish to complain or have concerns about how you have been treated during the course of this study, then you should follow the instructions given above.

WHAT SHOULD I CONTACT FOR FURTHER INFORMATION?

If you have any questions or require more information about this study, please contact the research team using the following contact details:

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences University of Surrey, UK

Tel: +44 (0)1483 684290

x.font@surrey.ac.uk

Thank you for reading this information sheet and for considering taking part in this research.