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Have your say in research

Share your views and help us to develop new research that aims to improve the effectiveness of infant hearing tests.

A person holding a smiling baby with hearing aids.

This research opportunity is now closed. Visit our current opportunities page to explore available studies.

Take part in an online discussion to help research

What sights and sounds hold your baby’s attention more than others? Researchers want to improve the way we test a baby’s hearing, which means choosing the best types of sounds and images to make sure baby finds the test fun and engaging. You can help by taking part in an online discussion, on Wednesday 25th November 10am-11.15am.

Share your views

Help us design new research

What’s involved?

We are looking for people who have children of 3-24 months of age to take part in an online discussion about research. The session will be informal.

We’d like to hear your views about our research project, what sort of sounds and images your child is interested in and how we should manage this research in the time of COVID-19. We’ll use the discussion to develop our research which focuses on improving hearing tests for babies.

You don’t need to have any experience of research, just be happy to share your views in a group discussion. By taking part you’ll be helping to improve the way that research is planned and conducted by the NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre. You will not be taking part in a research study.

Who we are looking for

Parents or other primary caregivers of children of 3-24 months old.

What are the details?

When: Wednesday 25th November 10-11.15am.

How: The online focus group will take place on Zoom .

Who: There will be around 5-7 people taking part and the discussion will be led by a member of the Vocal team and two researchers.

The group discussion is entirely confidential. The session will be recorded to make sure we don’t miss anything in the discussion. Information and quotes from the discussion may be included in grant applications, journal articles, and other communications or activities related to research. No names or identifiable information from participants will be included.

To take part you need to

  • Be happy to participate using Zoom on a computer (we’ll send you the link)

  • Agree for the session to be recorded

  • Agree to maintain confidentiality

We’d also appreciate it if you would complete an anonymous survey before the meeting, this is optional but the survey enables us to comply with our policy of ensuring equality in our work.

You will receive £20 in compensation for your time. This is an optional payment, so you do not have to accept it if you prefer not to. In order for the payment to be processed you will need to provide your bank details. (Payments can take 4-6 weeks)

We are committed to making our opportunities as accessible as possible. We want to support you to be involved so if there is anything we can do to enable you to take part please let us know.

If you are interested in taking part, please email Zahra vocal@mft.nhs.uk Thank you.