Research on Millennial Women Entrepreneurs

APPENDIX 4 – Focus Group Consent Form

OMB Approval No. 3245-_ _ _ _

Expiration Date: ________

Research Purpose and Use of Information Collected

• This research is being conducted on behalf of the National Women’s Business Council, a non-partisan advisory group to the President, Congress, and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).

• The research could not go forward without approval from the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The control number indicating approval is [Insert OMB Control Number].

• The NWBC will use information gathered from this research project to produce recommendations to the President, Congress, and the SBA on policy and program initiatives to facilitate entrepreneurship among millennials, specifically women.

Voluntary Participation

• Your participation in this focus group is completely voluntary, and you may withdraw your consent to participate at any time during the process. If you choose to withdraw, any information derived from your participation will be deleted from the focus group findings.

• You will receive a $25 incentive for participating in this focus group at the close of the session.

• During the focus group, you will be asked to share your perspectives on challenges, barriers, and motivations related to your experience with entrepreneurship or desire to launch an entrepreneurial endeavor. The information you share will not be attached to your name or business; all reports will use aggregated data. We will only use first names here. This session will be audio-recorded so that we have a full and accurate record of what was said for our analysis. Your name will not be connected to the recording in any way after the recording is transcribed.

• The session will take approximately 1.5 hours.

Privacy

• All responses you give will be held private by Premier Quantitative Consulting, Inc. to the extent permitted by law. Your name and contact information will not be shared beyond the Premier Quantitative Consulting, Inc. research team, whether in reports, transcripts, or data sets, unless you give written permission. The data from the focus group research will only be reported in the aggregate. It is, however, useful to use direct quotations to more clearly capture meaning in reporting the findings from this form of evaluation. You will be asked at the end of the focus group if there is anything that you do not want included as a quotation, and we will ensure that it is not used. However, quotations will never use your name and will be reported as “a participant indicated.”

• We ask you as a volunteer to not share any information discussed in the focus group outside of this group, or to share potential identities of volunteers in this focus group to those outside of the group.

Potential Benefits and Risks

• There are no anticipated physical risks to participants. Focus group members will be asked to keep the information provided in the groups confidential; however, a potential risk that might exist that information about your business could be discussed outside the group by other participants and be traced back to you.

• A potential benefit of participating in this research is the opportunity to describe your experience with entrepreneurship with others who have shared the same experience. The benefits to society and policy as a whole are myriad. This study will allow policy makers to obtain a greater understanding of the motivations and obstacles facing current and potential millennial entrepreneurs, including a gendered perspective. This information will help the NWBC to affect positive change for the millennial generation.

Questions

• If you have any questions about this research or focus group at any time, you may contact Ms. Dolores Rowen at the NWBC by telephone at 202-205-9974 or email her at Dolores.Rowen@sba.gov and she will be pleased to answer any of your questions.

Consent

• I freely and voluntarily agree to participate in this focus group. I have read and understand the consent form. I have been given a chance to ask questions about the consent form prior to signing.

Participant Name: __________________________________________________

Participant Signature: _______________________________________________

Date: ____________________________________________________________

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