Research Method & Safeguards
Research Principles
- Use semi-structured interviews, forms or workshops only after approval.
- Record stakeholder category, geography and assessment perspective for every contact.
- Distinguish fact, estimate, experience and opinion.
- Treat interview comments as leads unless corroborated.
- Include dissenting views, failed cases, non-adopters and reasons not to proceed.
- Avoid leading questions, promotional framing and assumptions that hemp is viable or beneficial.
Safeguards
For participant-facing disclosure material, see Long-form Research Disclosure and Short Participant Snapshot.
| Safeguard | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Consent | Participants should understand the purpose of the research, how information may be used, what may be shared back in aggregate form and what will not be published without permission. |
| Participant disclosure | Survey forms should provide only a short participant-information summary at the top and direct participants to the published research disclosure / short participant snapshot on the Industrial Hemp subdomain. Printed forms should include a QR code where useful. |
| Privacy | Names, contact details, raw notes and identifying details must remain outside the publishing layer. Published or circulated summaries must combine and anonymise responses. |
| Commercial sensitivity | Prices, volumes, contract terms, margins, buyer requirements and processor capacity should be published only in aggregated, generalised or permissioned form. |
| Participant feedback | Where useful, de-identified aggregate summaries should be provided back to participants so growers, processors, buyers, advisers and other respondents can benchmark their own position against the broader evidence without identifying other contributors. |
| Demographic baseline | Demographic responses should be optional, placed near the end of the form before participant consent, used only for aggregate communication planning and audience-pattern analysis, and must not be used to identify respondents. |
| Participant consent | Survey forms should confirm that the participant has been provided with the research statement, then separate research consent from respondent details, follow-up contact and published-information sharing preferences. Signed consent records should use a compact participant signature, name and date block. |
| Recording | Where audio recording is proposed, survey forms should ask plainly whether the participant is comfortable with audio recording for note-taking only, using Yes and No options. |
| Response tracking | Survey forms should include a clearly visible top-of-form survey number so individual paper responses can be tracked during data entry without relying on names as identifiers. |
| Evidence classification | Findings should identify source type, geography, product pathway, perspective, confidence and follow-up required. |
| Neutrality | Research and education outputs must present risks, uncertainty, no-adoption logic and unresolved gaps. |
| Review before publication | Any primary-research-derived content must be reviewed for privacy, commercial sensitivity and reputational risk before entering docs/. |
Interview Streams
| Stream | Objectives | Evidence sought |
|---|---|---|
| Growers and non-adopters | Understand farm-gate economics, agronomy, risk, adoption barriers and reasons not to proceed. | Gross margins, input needs, labour, machinery, compliance, buyer access, failure points, product-pathway interest, comparator enterprises and evidence needs. |
| Post-harvest processors | Test whether processing services exist and what service conditions would apply, without assuming processors buy or take ownership of crop material. | Service type, ownership model, fee basis, minimum throughput, intake timing, equipment, quality requirements, waste or co-products and freight constraints by pathway. |
| Raw and post-harvest material buyers | Verify whether there is demand for harvested or intermediate material and what would be required for supply to compete. | Material form, source geography, specifications, volumes, price bands, certifications, purchasing terms and competition with imported or established supply by pathway. |
| Manufactured and wholesale product buyers | Test demand and requirements for finished, manufactured or wholesale hemp products. | Buyer type, product category, specifications, certifications, volumes, price bands, supply reliability and pathway-specific purchasing conditions. |
| Landcare leadership | Assess governance, mission fit, evidence thresholds, organisational role and reputation or brand risk. | Role appetite, decision thresholds, risk controls, member-organisation considerations, project identity and conditions for involvement. |
| Partners and stakeholders | Test partner appetite, funding fit, governance needs and conditions for involvement. | Possible roles, funding or program alignment, collaboration requirements, risk controls, evidence needs and delivery constraints. |
| Community and consumers | Understand public baseline knowledge, stigma or confusion, consumer awareness and likely reaction to New England Landcare Network involvement. | Understanding level, product awareness, perceived risks, communications needs, stories or examples and pathway-specific consumer familiarity. |
| Agronomists, researchers and advisers | Test regional suitability, agronomy, environmental comparators and technical evidence gaps. | Water, frost, soil, pest, weed and disease issues; harvest timing; inputs; adviser confidence; comparator enterprises; trial transferability and follow-up evidence needs. |
Regulators, policy advisers and political stakeholders may still be contacted for targeted clarification where needed, but they sit as specialist follow-up contacts rather than a separate survey stream.
Publication Rule
Primary research can be published only as reviewed, combined, anonymised and consent-appropriate summaries. Aggregate summaries may be shared back with participants where useful for benchmarking and project learning, but they must not identify individual growers, processors, buyers, advisers, organisations, demographic profiles or commercially sensitive positions unless explicit permission has been given. The publishing layer must not include raw contact sheets, raw interview notes, personal details, private comments or commercially sensitive information.