Prof. Harold Marcuse
Tel: (805) 893-2635 (office)
(805) 968-6703 (home)
marcuse
@history.ucsb.edu

May 29, 2002

Consent Form (in-depth interviews)

Dear Teachers, Students, Parents or Guardians,

I am a history professor at UCSB, studying how students learn history, and how it becomes meaningful to them. I am particularly interested in how listening to people who participated in historical events affects student learning. My field of study is the history of the Holocaust, the genocide organized by Nazi Germany during World War II. For over ten years I have been working with Holocaust survivors who tell their stories in junior high, high school, and college classrooms. My research team and I observe the classes in which "historical witnesses" speak, talk to some of the students before and after the guest speaker’s visit, and interview the classroom teachers before and after the visits. Since we are also interested in the long-term effects, we contact some of the students months or even years after they have heard the "historical witness."

We are contacting you because you have already or will soon experience such a historical witness in an educational setting. We are asking your permission to speak with you (or your child) about this experience. We are interested in your prior knowledge and expectations, your thoughts about the interaction itself, and your memories of it afterwards. We would also like to learn about ways this event may have affected other areas of your life, if you are willing to tell us about them. Of course you may leave any question unanswered, and you (or we) can end the interview at any time. Also, if you don’t want certain comments to be included in our research database, you just have to let us know. Upon request, we will provide you with a copy of any materials that include your story, for your approval, prior to publication.

Federal law requires that you be informed about the potential benefits and possible risks of this research. The main benefit to students is that our presence in the classroom, and our conversation(s) with her or him, will enhance the educational experience organized by the regular teacher. More generally, we are developing materials to help teachers make the best use of such "oral history" projects in their classrooms. The only risk we can think of is that, should any minor offer information about abuse that happened to them, State law requires all educators to report this to the appropriate authorities. However, we do not ask for such information. If you have questions, you can contact the UCSB office that handles questions of ethics in research by phone at (805) 893-3807.

We will keep all personal information strictly confidential, unless you (and the parents/guardians of minors) grant explicit permission to attach your name to any data we collect. Please check the boxes below that correspond to your wishes. If you have any questions, please contact me by e-mail or phone (above), at your convenience. You can also find out more about the project at: http://www.history.ucsb.edu/projects/holocaust.
Thank you very much! We appreciate your cooperation, and the timely return of this form.

Sincerely
Harold Marcuse

ÿ I grant permission to Prof. Marcuse and his assistants to speak with me (or my child) about my/her/his expectations, experience, and memories of meeting with a historical witness. If yes, please provide a phone or e-mail.

e-mail: _____________________
Phone: _____________________

ÿ If you are willing to appear, anonymously, in a documentary videotape about the uses and effects of oral history in the classroom (or are willing to allow your student to), please check this box. If not, please check here: ÿ .


___________ _____________________________ _____ _________________________________
date signature of interviewee age (for minors) signature of parent/guardian