Research Participant Information Sheet

Generative AI training and use

Project overview

You are invited to take part in a research study about generative AI training and use. The study is being carried out by researchers in CSIRO’s Humans and Machines group and is funded by CSIRO and in part, through revenue derived from the delivery of our generative AI training. The purpose of this project is to understand:

          (a) the processes through which training can promote informed generative AI use and

          (b) the benefits and/or negative impacts associated with different types of generative AI use.

Findings from the study will help decision-makers (whether employers, employees, managers, educators, regulators or technology designers) understand the types of generative AI use that are appropriate in a given context.

What does participation involve?

Participation in this study will involve providing consent for the data that you provide in the course of completing CSIRO’s generative AI training (the responses you provide to our questionnaires and the workflow analysis questions) to be used for research purposes. No personal information will be captured with or linked with the data. Your responses to the questionnaire and workflow analysis will only be linked to a randomly generated six-digit code. The questionnaires will capture some demographic information (e.g., gender, employer, field of study) and questions relating to your use of generative AI, your generative AI literacy and attitudes, and the benefits and/or negative impacts that you observe when using generative AI in the course of your work. The workflow analysis focuses on a task that you perform regularly and captures information about the nature of the task, the stage/s of the task when you plan to use generative AI, and your strategy for working with the generative AI.

Risks and benefits

There are no foreseeable risks associated with participating in this study. Whilst your participation in this study may not benefit you directly, your participation will improve our understanding of best practice training and use of generative AI tools. We intend to make our findings available to the public, through presentations and publicly accessible research papers and/or reports.

Withdrawal from the research project

Participation in this study is completely voluntary and you do not have to take part. Your decision whether to participate will not affect your current or future relationship with the researchers or anyone else at CSIRO. You can choose not to participate in the research at any stage (before, during or after completing our training). If you make this choice, your responses will still be captured for the purposes of delivering the training but your data will not be included in any analyses that we conduct for research purposes. If you wish to withdraw after the interview has finished, simply notify the researchers listed below and your data will be removed from the research dataset. You may withdraw from this study at any time up until publication of the final outputs.

Confidentiality

All information provided by you will be treated confidentially. Your name, workplace or any other personal information will not be linked to your questionnaire or workflow analysis and will not appear in any publications resulting from the study. All data collected in this study will be reported in such a way that responses will not be able to be linked to any individuals. De-identified, non-sensitive data collected by the project may be shared with other researchers for the purposes of verifying published results or advancing other research on this topic. Any data collected as part of this study will be securely stored as per CSIRO’s Recordkeeping Procedure.

How will my information be used?

It is anticipated that the information obtained through the research will be published and/or presented in a variety of forums. This includes the production of scientific journal publications, mainstream media articles, conference presentations and presentations at relevant industry or public fora. De-identified information collected through the interviews may also be shared with other researchers for the purposes of verifying published results or future research. Sharing of this information may include putting it in data repositories where anyone can easily access it. We will ensure this information cannot be linked to you before it is published or shared.

CSIRO Privacy Notice – For Research Projects

Your personal information is protected by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act). CSIRO will handle your information in accordance with this Act and the latest National Health & Medical Research Council National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research or as otherwise required by law.

 

CSIRO will collect personal information (your name, email address and employer) in order to schedule and deliver generative AI training but not for the purpose of conducting the research.  None of your personal  information will be linked to the questionnaires or workflow analysis that you complete before, during and after taking part in training. CSIRO will be conducting this research project anonymously. CSIRO’s research is not intended  to collect any information from which it could reasonably identify you. However, CSIRO will handle the data it receives as though it were ‘personal information’ for the purposes of the Privacy Act in accordance with this Privacy Notice.

Results from the project will be de-identified and/or aggregated and published/presented or shared  in a variety of forums and with third parties. These include scientific journals, media articles, conference presentations and events.

While CSIRO will make all attempts to ensure you cannot be reidentified from the information contained within the publications, this risk can never be completely removed.

You are free to withdraw at any time during the project. Unless requested, we will retain any personal information collected prior to your withdrawal from the study. If you request that we delete your personal information, we will do so if permitted by and in accordance with any applicable laws (including the Privacy Act and the Archives Act 1983 (Cth)).

For further information on how CSIRO handles your personal information and our access, correction and complaints process please read our privacy policy available on our website or by contacting us at privacy@csiro.au.

 

Ethics clearance and contacts

This study has been approved by CSIRO’s Social Science Human Research Ethics Committee in accordance with the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (2023). If you have any questions concerning your participation in the study please contact the project leader, Dr Claire Mason via her contact details provided. Alternatively, any concerns or complaints about the conduct of this study can be raised with the Executive Manager of Social Responsibility and Ethics on +61 7 3833 5693 or by email at csshrec@csiro.au.

Dr Claire  Mason                                                                                    

Project Leader                                                                          

CSIRO’s Data61                                                          

41 Boggo Rd                                                               

Dutton Park QLD 4102                                              

Email: Claire.Mason@data61.csiro.au                  

 

Thank you for taking the time to help with this research project.