We have received the following request from Thomas Binsted to help him with his MSc research project:
Further to my previous email regarding the survey for my Masters research project, I am pleased to confirm that I have now received clearance from Birkbeck College’s ethics committee to distribute the survey to potential participants. This short survey aims to collect anonymous data from beekeepers and honey bee enthusiasts to investigate their awareness of ecological threats faced by wild pollinators and their attitude towards the conservation of these species. To ensure that no identifiable information is collected from participants, the survey is hosted on the third-party survey site Microsoft Forms, which can be accessed via the link below.
The survey itself should not take longer than 15 minutes to complete.
Link to research survey: https://forms.office.com/r/DgZFSpPgmi
The front page of the survey includes an information sheet outlining the topic of research, namely beekeepers’ and honey bee enthusiasts’ awareness of and attitude towards wild pollinators and their conservation. It also provides the contact details for my course supervisor and includes a consent declaration that participants will need to select in order to proceed with the survey. However, please also find attached a copy for your review.
If the Shipston and District Beekeepers’ Association is able to provide assistance with my MSc research project survey, I would be very grateful if you could forward the survey link to the membership.
In order to be able to ensure the data collected is statistically valid, I will need sufficiently large sample sizes of beekeepers and honey bee enthusiasts from many different backgrounds. To achieve this, I have sent the link to my research survey to regional beekeepers’ associations and branches across the United Kingdom as well as posting the link on UK beekeeping themed Facebook groups. The link will remain active for the entirety of July.
This may lead to potential participants receiving copies of the link to my survey via multiple channels so I would be grateful if participants could complete the survey only once.
It is fortunate that ethical clearance for distribution of my survey was delayed until July, between the swarm and honey harvesting seasons. However, being a beekeeper myself, I fully understand how hectic the whole summer can be for beekeepers so I would be very appreciative of any assistance the members can provide and hope as many as possible, whether novice or veteran, current or former, can participate.
Many thanks and I wish you, the association members and the bees, both wild and managed, a happy and productive summer.
Best wishes,
Thomas Binsted
Birkbeck student no.: 12729316