We will visit several European countries, and talk to Russian citizens in different ages and life situations.
In this article we will give you some information about the research project, how data from the project will be used and stored, and how we can secure the anonymity of our research participants.
What is the project about?
In this project we will interview about the experiences and perspectives of Russians living in Europe. We want to know more about challenges associated with residency rights, how sanctions against Russia impact your daily lives, your contact with networks in Russia and abroad, if you experience discrimination because of your country of origin, your strategies for making a living abroad, and how you think about the future. We are also interested in learning more about political mobilization and activism, but you don’t have to talk about this unless you are comfortable doing so.
What shall we do?
To investigate this, we will visit 5-7 different countries in Europe several times, to talk to Russian citizens living there. The interview will take about 1 hour and will be held at a convenient place to you. We will pay you a small renumeration for your time, and the money will be yours even if you choose not to answer some or all of our questions. We hope to record some of or all of the interview – however if you are not comfortable with us recording our conversation we don’t need to.
How is the information to be used?
If you participate in an interview with us, we will treat all information about you confidentially. No information we receive about you will under any circumstances be passed on to any national authorities, or organization or others. Your name will not be written down together with interview data, notes/transcriptions of files will be written out without names immediately. Still files will be stored with encryption and the tapes will subsequently be deleted. You are free to at any time to not answer specific questions, or to end the interview
In the end of the project, we will summarize what we have found out and write academic articles and policy papers based on it but will not use any names or in any way share information that makes it possible to recognize our respondents.
Voluntary participation and your consent
Participation in the study is voluntary, and you can withdraw your consent at any time without giving any reason. Information will only be collected and stored, if you give your explicit consent to this. After the interview is completed, we will ask you again if you are comfortable with the information you have given us, and if you are not we will delete all notes from the part of the interview you are not comfortable with as well as the sound files. As long as you can be identified in the collected data, you have the right to request access to the data we have about you, to request that the data is corrected or deleted, and to object to the processing. If you contact us regarding your rights, you will hear from us within a month. We will provide an explanation if we cannot identify you or if your rights cannot be exercised. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Authority about how we are processing your data
Only the researchers involved in the project will know if you have participated and nobody outside the project group will be able to know what you have told us. If you withdraw, all information about you will be deleted. If you are unhappy with the way we store or use the information you have given us, you may complain to the Norwegian Data Protection Authority (DPA) (datatilsynet.no). The project will finish by the end of 2029, and by then all data will be anonymized or deleted.
Who are the researchers coming?
The researchers who do the interview work at a research foundation called Fafo in Oslo, Norway. This is a private institution that performs many different research projects and often do research on migration, refugees and immigrants.
We cannot influence the conditions under which you live in now, or other things about your situation, but we want to understand how the current conditions you live under shapes your opportunities and strategies, and to convey this both to an academic audience, and to policy makers with an interest in Russia and the Russian diaspora.
We look forward to hearing your story. If you have questions or comments, you can contact me on or phone +47 99577476, or Fafos representative for data protection, Sissel Trygstad .
With my best wishes,
Guri Tyldum
Research Professor
Fafo
