AgilePM for Social Enterprises

From 9th August 2019 to 1st November 2019

Information page for social entrepreneurs and artists managing large projects

Who is carrying out the research? ​My name is Clive Vassell and I would like to invite you to take part in a research project, AgilePM for Social Enterprises. I am a student on the Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) in Social Science Research Methods (SSRM) and this project is part of an assessment for the programme. I am also a member of staff in the School of Management. I teach traditional and agile project management and my research interest is what I call agile social entrepreneurship, applying agile methods to social ventures. The PGDip in SSRM is run by the Institute of Education, which has an impressive reputation for its education teaching and research, and is ranked as the world number one for Education for the last six years in the QS World University Rankings by Subject. The project is not funded by a research grant.
I am hoping to find out the potential value of the Agile Project Management (AgilePM) method for large social enterprise and/or artist projects. I am the one who will ultimately deliver the course at UCL, so I do have a personal interest in the project, and the information gleaned from this study will be used to hone the course delivery.
If you are planning to manage a project worth at least £50,000 and which will include both project oversight roles (such as a sponsor or executive) and delivery roles (such as team leader and/or designer), then I very much hope that you would be willing to take part. This information sheet will try to answer some of the key questions you might have about the project, but please do not hesitate to contact me if there is anything else you would like to know.

Why are we doing this research? ​This project will explore the perceived value of an agile methodology focused on large projects and/or large organisations, AgilePM, for large projects (with a value in excess of £50,000) in social enterprises and for artists.

Why am I being invited to take part? ​You are being invited to take part in the project because you meet two criteria: the purpose of your organisation is to deliver social value, and you plan to manage a large project within your venture.

What will happen if I choose to take part? ​You will be introduced to the AgilePM web portal, designed to provide support resources to those interested in applying the method in social enterprise and/or art projects, and to the course content. And you will be invited to take part in two interviews, one after the creation of the website, and one after the creation of the course materials. Each interview will last around one hour and will be semi-structured; there will be a set of questions which you will be invited to answer, but you will be encouraged to speak more widely about your views on the website and course content. The interviews will be recorded.

Will anyone know I have been involved? ​It is very unlikely that anyone will know that you have been involved in the project. Your answers will be anonymised, and I will take all reasonable steps to protect your identity. The information to be collected is unlikely to be sensitive. Nonetheless, I will not divulge, publish or otherwise make known to unauthorized individuals any information collected during this research that could identify you as a participant in this study, unless there is a legal or ethical obligation to do so.

Could there be problems for me if I take part? ​It is unlikely that your involvement in the project will cause you any harm or distress. However, in the event where this happens or where you where you fear it may happen, please let me know and we can either avoid the question or questions of concern, have a break, terminate the interview, or you may withdraw from the project altogether, whichever you feel most comfortable with. Please note though that, should you withdraw after 1st September 2019, any data you have contributed to the project will be retained and will form part of the analysis.

What will happen to the results of the research? ​Once all the interviews are done, the data will be transcribed into text, collated and analysed. The findings will then be written up in accordance with the requirements for Module 3 of the PGDip SSRM. The project may also form the basis of a paper which may be submitted for presentation at a conference and/or publication in an academic  journal. In any event, your anonymity will be maintained. The data will be kept in secure research archives in UCL for 10 years and then destroyed.

Do I have to take part? You are under no obligation whatsoever to take part. It is entirely up to you whether you choose to be part of the project or not. If you meet the two criteria described above, I hope you choose to participate. And if you do, I hope it proves to be an informative and rewarding experience. But I do not foresee any negative consequences to your taking part or not taking part.

Data Protection Privacy Notice ​The data controller for this project will be University College London (UCL). The UCL Data Protection Office provides oversight of UCL activities involving the processing of personal data, and can be contacted at data-protection@ucl.ac.uk. UCL’s Data Protection Officer can also be contacted at data-protection@ucl.ac.uk​. Further information on how UCL uses participant information can be found here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/legal-services/privacy/ucl-general-research-participant-privacy- notice​. The legal basis that will be used to process your ​personal data is ‘performance of a task in the public interest’. ​Your personal data will be processed as long as it is required for the research project.

Contact for further information ​Should you have any queries on any aspect of this project, please feel free to contact me. My email address is:​c.vassell@ucl.ac.uk​; my mobile number is: 07425 131254​.

What next? If you would like to be involved, please complete the project Consent Form and the Evaluation of Curated Content ​by Tuesday 10th September, 2019. ​

This project has been reviewed and approved by the UCL IOE Research Ethics Committee.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this information page.