A university researcher is asking for participants to share their perspectives on the abortion debate in the Maritimes.
Katrina Ackerman, a PhD. history student from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, is studying abortion politics in the Maritime provinces during the 20th century.
Ackerman says she wants to figure out the factors that shape someone's position on the debate.
As this LifeSitewNews article says, Ackerman was once an escort at the Morgentaler clinic so she sounds very pro-abortion. Nevertheless,I think it's a good idea to participate because we need our pro-life stories in history books.
I googled her name and found this request for participants on Kijiji:
I am a PhD student in the Department of History at the University of Waterloo researching the cultural, economic, political, and social factors that influenced the availability of abortion services in the Maritime Provinces from 1969 to 1996. The study is being conducted with funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
There are two phases to this project. In the first phase, I am collecting surveys from residents of Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia who are willing to reflect on the abortion debates during the period 1969-1996. If you decide to volunteer, a 15-minute online survey is completed anonymously. Survey questions focus on demography, religion, political views, and personal experiences to determine the various factors that shape a person’s beliefs regarding abortion. Participation in this study is voluntary. You may decline to answer any questions that you do not wish to answer and you can withdraw your participation at any time by closing your web browser; incomplete surveys will be deleted and not analyzed. I may use quotes from participants’ responses and publish them in my dissertation and/or articles. In circumstances where answers are of a personal nature or could put a participant’s reputation at risk—such as a patient or medical professional’s experiences with abortion--I will aggregate data at either a regional or provincial level to ensure anonymity. The data collected through this study will be maintained in a de-identified, encrypted file on a password-protected computer and kept for a period of ten years. The website is programmed to collect responses alone and will not collect any information that could potentially identify you (such as machine identifiers).
In the second phase of the study, I would like to conduct follow-up interviews with those who are willing from the group that has filled out this survey. Participation in the interview would again be completely voluntary and you may decline answering any questions you prefer not to answer. Your involvement in the first phase of the study does not obligate you to participate in the second part. There will be a question at the end of the survey that asks if you would like to participate in the interview and space for you to fill in your contact information.
All information that you provide through your participation in this study will be kept confidential. Unless requested otherwise, participants’ identities will remain anonymous.
I would like to assure you that this study has been reviewed and received ethics clearance through the Office of Research Ethics at the University of Waterloo.
Please pass this around to your pro-life contacts in the Maritimes.
