Consent to Participate in this Research Study

You have been asked to participate in this future forecasting research study because you are a subject expert who can help support the effort in identifying future opportunities and threats in relation to the Hawaii Broadband Initiative. Your help is invaluable to the study and we highly appreciate your contributions.

The full title of this research study is "Fostering the Creation of Futures Data and Simulating Subsequent Future Events and Trends Interactions: Early identification of opportunities and threats for high-speed broadband development in Hawaii", and it is conducted by Alex Bergo and Dr. Dan Wedemeyer from the School of Communications at University of Hawaii at Manoa. This study is part of Alex Bergo's PhD dissertation in the interdisciplinary Communication and Information Sciences PhD program at University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study is to identify the most important opportunities and threats for the State of Hawaii Broadband Initiative. We will also seek to identify how these opportunities and threats interact and identify the most important influencing factors in the future.

Study Participation

Participation in this study is entirely voluntary. Any information provided is voluntary and will be treated as anonymous, and not at any point be attributed to you personally. If you volunteer to be in this study, you may withdraw at any time without consequences. You may also refuse to answer any questions you do not want to answer.

Potential Benefits of the Study

As a telecommunication/ICT expert you can greatly benefit from early identification of opportunities and threats relating to the State of Hawaii Broadband Initiative's success. The better information this research study receives, the more probable is it that it's outcome will be accurate and that the study can provide better recommendations for you and other stakeholders.

The State of Hawaii can benefit from this study as it's outcome will add to the amount of available relevant information, and help provide a better foundation for making sound decisions related to the future of Hawaii broadband.

Finally science will benefit as this study is using proven methodologies in new ways, as well as developing and testing software that can be reused for other studies.

There are no risks associated with participation in this study.

Study Procedures

If you volunteer to participate in this study, you will be asked to do the following:

• Answer forcasting questions to the best of your ability and knowledge.
• Provide honest estimations for what you think is the probability of a given event or trends occurrence, and the impact it will have if it actually occurs.
• Selected study participants may also be asked to provide estimations on how these factors are interrelated.

As this study is online you can provide this information from anywhere. The information you provide will only be used in aggregates and never be directly attributed to you.

Confidentiality

Any information that is obtained in connection with this study and that can be identified with you will remain confidential and will be disclosed only with your permission or as required by law. Confidentiality will be maintained by means of encrypted information in the database. At no point will your name be published unless explicitly asked for permission. Answers are used at an aggregate level. Any written answers are anonymized. Individual interviews can be recorded only after explicit permission, and the investigators are the only persons with access to the files and participant keys/names.

Contact

If you have any questions or concerns about this research study, please contact Alex Bergo at rolv@hawaii.edu or via phone at (808) 366-3818, or Dr. Dan Wedemeyer at danw@hawaii.edu or via phone at (808) 956-8881.

The University of Hawaii Institutional Review Board has approved this research study. If you have any concerns about your rights as a participant in this study, please contact:

Committee on Human Studies 
1960 East-West Road
Biomedical Building, Rm. B-104
Honolulu, HI 96822 
Phone: 808.956.5007 
Email: uhirb@hawaii.edu

Consent to Participate in this Study

By registering you are consenting to participating in the research study as described above.