University of Waterloo

Date

Dear Resident,

Recently an announcement about a University of Waterloo study to be conducted in your neighbourhood was left in your mailbox. This study focuses on the use of outdoor space in townhouse developments and is being conducted as a fourth year research project through the Department of (insert Department) under the supervision of Professor (insert name of Professor). As you may know, townhouse developments are one of the fastest growing type of housing developments in South-western Ontario, and Kitchener-Waterloo has become a prime area for development. Because you are a resident in a townhouse development, your opinions may be important to this study. Thus, I would appreciate the opportunity to speak with you about this.

Participation in this study is voluntary and would involve a (insert time commitment) interview in your home or alternate location at a convenient location and time. There are no known or anticipated risks to your participation in this study. The questions are quite general (for example, what recreational facilities are available in your development?). You may decline answering any questions you feel you do not wish to answer. All information you provide will be considered confidential and grouped with responses from other participants. Further, you will not be identified by name in my thesis or in any report or publication resulting from this study. The data collected through this study will be kept for a period of (insert number of years) in my supervisor's lab at the University of Waterloo.

This study has been reviewed and received ethics clearance through a University of Waterloo Research Ethics Committee (ORE#XXXXX - insert your ORE file # here).If you have questions for the Committee contact the Chief Ethics Officer, Office of Research Ethics, at 1-519-888-4567 ext. 36005 or .

For all other questions or if you would like additional information to assist you in reaching a decision about participation, please feel free to contact Professor (insert name of Professor) at 519-888-4567, Ext. (insert ext.).

Thank you for your assistance with this project.

Yours sincerely,

Student Investigator

I agree to participate in an interview being conducted by (insert name of Student Investigator) of the Department of (insert Department) under the supervision of Professor (insert name of Professor). I have made this decision based on the information I have received in the Information Letter and have had the opportunity to receive any additional details I wanted about the study. As a participant in this study, I realize that I will be asked to take part in a fifteen minute interview and that I may decline answering any of the questions, if I so choose. All information which I provide will be held in confidence and I will not be identified in the thesis, report or publication. I understand that I may withdraw this consent at any time by asking that the interview be stopped.

For all other questions contact [insert researcher’s name and contact information].

Participant’s Name: ______

Participant’s Signature:______

Name of Witness:______

Signature of Witness:______

Date:______