You are invited to participate in a study conducted by the Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO) in collaboration with the Agence des forêts privées de l'Outaouais (AFPO). This study is funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). The objective of this study is to better understand the practices, interests, and needs of private woodlot owners in the Outaouais region in order to develop tools and strategies to promote forest management in a context of global change and sustainable development.
This survey is intended for people aged 18 or older who own a private woodlot of 4 hectares (10 acres) or more in the Outaouais region, and that able to communicate in English or French. If you have difficulty understanding the information provided, or if a condition (e.g., cognitive impairment) prevents you from fully understanding the implications of your participation in this study, we invite you not to complete this survey.
Your participation consists of completing an online survey. This should take approximately 45 minutes. All questions are mandatory, but you may opt for a "null response" option (e.g., "I don't know" or "I don't want to answer") if you are not confortable with a question or lack the necessary information to answer it.
Informed consent
By completing this survey, you voluntarily consent to participate in this study. You are free to participate or not, and to withdraw at any time without consequences. The risks associated with your participation are minimal. The anticipated direct benefits of this project are to improve knowledge about the practices, motivations, and needs of woodlot owners in the Outaouais region with regard to forest management, enabling better targetted support of their needs. Please note that no monetary compensation will be provided.
Confidentiality
The confidentiality of the collected data as part of this study will be ensured in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations in the province of Quebec and with UQO regulations and policies. Neither the data collected nor the results of this project will in any way, lead to your identification. The results of this study will be shared through the publication of scientific articles, and a summary of the results will be distributed to interested participants and project partners. The data collected will be stored securely on a UQO institutional server, accessible only to authorized members of the research team who have successfully completed and passed the research ethics training program of the Université du Québec en Outaouais. A copy of the data will also be stored on an encrypted hard disk in a secure location. The data will be stored for a maximum period of 7 years following the end of the project, after which it will be securely destroyed. Digital files will be permanently deleted, and copies will be erased using secure erasure software. No nominative data (i.e., data that can be used to identify you) will be used in published results.
Secondary use of data
The information collected in this survey may be used for other research activities in the field of forest management under the responsability of Philippe Nolet (principal researcher), in which you are invited to participate today. In order to preserve the confidentiality of personal data and identity, the data will be anonymized, meening that it will be no longer possible for anyone to link them to your identity. We undertake to respect the same ethical rules as for the present project. It is not necessary to consent to this component in order to participate in this study. At the end of the survey, you will be asked to indicate whether you agree to be contacted to participate in other parts of the research project. Participation is entirely voluntary. If you agree, your data will be kept for a period of 7 years after the last data collection, and will be destroyed thereafter.
This research project has been approved by the ethics committee of the Université du Québec en Outaouais. If you have any questions about this project, please contact Philippe Nolet (philippe.nolet@uqo.ca), principal researcher. If you have any questions about the ethical aspects of this study, please contact André Durivage (andre.durivage@uqo.ca), President of the UQO Research Ethics Commitee.
* In particular, for control and verification purposes, your research data may be consulted by authorized personnel of the Université du Québec en Outaouais, in accordance with the Regulations on the use of informatic resources and telecommunications.
There are 45 questions in this survey.
