Recruitment for interviews
SHARE YOUR STORY – CONTRIBUTE TO LOCAL HISTORY!
Everyone has their own unique life story and their own important perspective. We each experience social change in our own way. Share your life story with us and save from oblivion the stories of places that have changed and people who may no longer be with us.
WHO WE ARE?
Welcome to the LINLOSS Project website! We are a group of researchers based at Maynooth University and the University of Silesia in Katowice who are studying how people living in two communities – Carrickmacross in Ireland and Suszec in Poland – are dealing with social change over the course of their lives, and how such change is affecting their families, communities and places.
WHY DO WE NEED YOU?
We want to see these places through the eyes of their residents because we know that to truly understand a community it is not enough to analyse statistics or scientific publications.
If you are a resident of Carrickmacross or its surroundings, your life story will help us to build a picture of the changing experiences of different people and families over time in this community.
Your story matters. We will value and help preserve it. By participating, you can make sure your experiences and voice are part of the story of the local community. You will help create a record of your community’s past and present for future generations.
WHAT DO WE DO?
Our research is part of a major international research project funded by the European Research Council (ERC). The ERC was set up by the European Union in 2007 and is the main European funding organization for scientific research across Europe.
The study will compare the lives and relationships of people living in Carrickmacross and in Suszec. We want to understand how change is experienced and what effects it has in the lives of people in such different places. How is it that ways of life that we leave behind or forget about at moments of crisis and uncertainty shape our futures as individuals, families and communities?
WHAT WILL YOUR PARTICIPATION INVOLVE?
The study will involve taking part in two interviews on separate days, about two weeks apart. In the first, you will be able to tell us the story of your life, and the people and places that have been important to you, in your own words. Afterwards, we will ask some questions about the timing of important events and changes in your life, about your family and other people who have been important to you, and about your values.
In the second interview you will have a chance to review and comment on the story you have told us – perhaps add further information or make changes to it if you so wish. The researcher will then ask you to talk about places that have been important to you in the community, and to identify them on a map.
For each of these interviews a researcher from our team will visit you – in your own home or other place of your choosing – at a time that is convenient for you. With your permission, each interview will be audio-recorded using a mobile device.
Because we are interested in hearing about your life in your own words, there is no set time limit within which the interviews will be carried out. However, we expect that for most people, the first interview will last about an hour and thirty minutes, and the second interview will last about one hour. With your permission, both conversations will audio-recorded.
YOUR PARTICIPATION WILL BE CONFIDENTIAL
All information that is collected about you during the research will be kept confidential. Electronic information, including digital recordings, will be encrypted, and held securely on MU servers. All hard copy information will be held in a locked cabinet at the researchers’ place of work. No names will be identified at any time unless you prefer to be identified. Only the members of our research team will have access to the full recordings and transcripts of your interviews, and we will use them solely for the purposes of this research.
If you wish, the audio recording of your life story, will be included in a publicly available Community Collection in the Irish Qualitative Data Archive, where it will form part of the historical record of social life in the community.
No information will be distributed to any other unauthorised individual or third party. If you wish, the data that you provide can also be made available to you at your own discretion.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE INFORMATION WHICH YOU GIVE?
All the information you provide will be kept at Maynooth University in such a way that it will not be possible to identify you. On completion of the research, if you consent, an anonymised version of your data will be deposited in the Irish Qualitative Data Archive, where it will be available for future researchers to consult. Any information that could identify you will be removed, unless you tell us that you are happy to be identified. Otherwise, the anonymised data will be retained on the MU server. You can access your data up to the conclusion of the project in October 2028. After ten years, all data retained by MU will be destroyed.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE RESULTS?
The research will be written up and presented as a report to the European Research Council. It will also be presented at national and international conferences and may be published in scientific journals, and in a book. A copy of the research findings will be made available to you upon request. You can also follow news published on our website and follow us of Facebook where we will give you the latest updates from our research.
FREE TO WITHDRAW
If you decide to take part, you are still free to withdraw at any time without giving a reason and/or to withdraw your information up until the conclusion of fieldwork in December 2026.
INTERESTED? WANT TO KNOW MORE?
CONTACT US BY EMAIL: Linloss@mu.ie, BY PHONE: 01 708 3596 (Principal Investigator) , OR VIA OUR FACEBOOK PAGE.