Research

Hi,

I’m Dr. Nikki Martyn, you can call me Dr. Nikki, I am the Program Head of Early Childhood Studies at the University of Guelph-Humber. I teach people how to teach and care of kids. We are interested in hearing about your experiences during the pandemic, all of our lives have changed. We want to know what you are thinking, feeling, experiencing, because as a child you have an important and different understanding and view of the world. It is unique and beautiful. It is really important that we hear from you about you, not from your parents or other adults who think you might be thinking or feeling something. We want to know what you are thinking, feeling, experiencing in your own words and through your own art work.

This will help us better understand how to help you and other kids in Canada. It will help us know what’s important to you, what you care about, what scares or worries you or what makes you happy and excited or what you love or hate.

If you choose to share your art work with us, we promise not to share who you are. Actually, we will not even know who you are. We are asking your parents or guardians, if you tell them you would like to share your art work and or stories with us to put it onto our website where we will collect lots of art work and stories from kids all over Canada. I am going to ask you parents to read all the details so they feel comfortable too but the first step is asking you if you want to share your art.

There are some things I will promise you, they are called confidentiality, privacy and voluntary participation, these are big words, but what they mean is we do not know who you are, we will know your beautiful art work and words and stories that you share but we will not know they are yours and we will share them only if you say you want to share them on the website with the world. If not they will only come to me, I will keep them safe on my computer and only the researchers who work with me will see your art work. Voluntary participation means you do not have to share anything with me, it is your choice, I promise I will not be hurt, upset, sad or angry if you decide you do not want to share your art work, I want you to want to share it and be happy to share it, if you do not feel good about sharing your art work, you should not share it. You can also come back and share anytime, as much or as little art work as you want, I want you to do what feels good to you.

When your parents or guardians choose to share your art work, because you want too, they will be asked a number of questions, they are going to tell me they understand the things we spoke about like confidentiality and voluntary participation but they are also going to tell me they feel safe sharing your art work and or words. I am going to ask them for some other information too, I am going to ask them for what we call demographic information. This is a big word that means tell us a little about you and your family, but only the stuff that is not going to tell me things about who you are. The questions I am going to ask are, if you identify as a girl, a boy or other; I am going to ask where you live, the city, province or territory and country, I am going to ask what ethnicity your family is, this means where your family is from, finally, I am going to ask your families socio-economic status, this means how much money your family makes every year. These questions will help us understand you without knowing you, sometimes boys and girls think or feel differently, we want to know if that is happening, we want to know if kids who live in the country or city have different experiences, or kids in different parts of Canada, it is so big and each area is unique, that is why we are asking where you live, because that also gives us an idea of what your experiences are like. We are also going to ask your parents a couple questions about how the pandemic has affected your family, has your family felt a loss like a death, sickness or a job, does someone in your family work with people during the pandemic, we are asking your parents about these things, because it would make sense that if you or your family are feeling more stress, worry or sadness then your art work might show that. If we see a lot of kids who experienced the same kinds of things it will tell us how it feels and how we can help. None of these questions need to be answered, or will tell us about you of your family specifically but when we put all of it together with lots of other kids, your art work and the demographic information will tell us a story about what kids in Canada are thinking, feeling and experiencing during this time and that is exciting to me.

I hope this helps you understand why I am asking you to share your art work, words or stories with us, because we are interested in hearing what you have to say. I want you to talk with your mom or dad or person who takes care of you about the project and if you want to share your art work with us. If you do, I want to tell you there is no right way to create art, it does not need to look like anything or be perfect, everyone imagines and creates differently which is why I would also like to hear your thoughts and feelings about your creation. I doesn’t matter what it looks like it will be beautiful because it is from you and you are beautiful and special.

If you would like to share your art work, I would like to ask you to click the box below. That says that you understand everything I said and that you are making the choice to share your art work with me. This will let your parent or guardian send me the picture of your art work. There is also a check mark box that asks if you want your picture posted on the website for the whole world to see, you do not have to do this but if you want too, let me know by checking the box.

Thank you for your interest in our study, come back often and I will tell you what we discover and what the kids in Canada are feeling, thinking and experiencing.

Bye for now,

Dr. Nikki