What am I trying to discover?
I am hoping to learn how boards and pastors within Canadian evangelical denominations view the pastoral performance review process and how board members use theological principles in this work. This research is part of my master’s thesis at McMaster Divinity College in Hamilton, Ontario.
What will happen during the study?
You will be asked to complete an 18 question, online survey, which should take approximately 15 – 20 minutes to complete. I will be asking you questions about
I will also ask you for some demographic/background information like your denominational affiliation and age.
People filling out this survey must be from a Canadian church, over the age of 18 and currently serving as a pastor (e.g., pastor, priest, minister, clergy) who receives a performance review from the church board (e.g., board members, elders, deacons, overseers, wardens) or a board member who participates in this process.
Potential Harms, Risks or Discomforts:
There is the possibility that recalling and describing the experience of a past performance review will lead to distress or upset. You can skip any question you do not wish to answer or quit the survey at any point before submitting it. You may also be concerned the confidentiality of your responses. I describe below the steps I am taking to protect your privacy.
Are there any benefits to doing this study?
Although this research may not benefit you directly, it will provide essential background information about pastoral performance reviews in the evangelical faith community in Canada. Summary results will be available to participants and denominations who assisted in promoting the survey.
The study will help us to better understand how church board members use theological principles to inform their pastoral evaluation process and what makes the evaluation process a positive or negative experience.
How will my confidentiality be protected?
You are participating in this research anonymously. An independent firm is supplying the survey platform. They adhere to the highest standards of confidentiality. They will remove references that could identify you before the survey data is provided to me.
The survey contains a number of open-ended questions. Although every effort will be made to remove references that could identify you (e.g., name of your church, your name), there is a chance that you could be identified by the anecdotes, references, and views you share.
The research findings will be circulated in only in summary form; however, I may include quotes from survey responses in my thesis, conference talks, or publications. Please keep this in mind in responding to the survey questions.
The information/data you provide will be kept on a computer and will be protected by a password. Once the study is complete, an archive of the data, without identifying information, will be maintained by the researcher.
What if I change my mind about being in the study?
Your participation in this study is voluntary. Once you have submitted your responses for this anonymous survey, your answers will be put into a database and will not be identifiable to you. This means that once you have submitted your survey, your responses cannot be withdrawn from the study because I will not be able to identify which responses are yours.
How do I find out what was learned in this study?
The survey is now complete! Download the summary results.
