Reference / Templates
Templates and checklists
Print these and take them with you
The written agreement, consent script, session plan, debrief sheet, portfolio log and escalation card.
Six templates. Copy them into the study file and fill them in. Each one exists because its absence caused a problem in a real study.
1. The written agreement
Link worker agreement: the nine items
Study: [title], funder [name], reference [ref] Partner organisation: [name], contact [name, role, phone] Link worker: [name], community [as the person describes it] Role title: Community research link worker Tasks: [list]. Not in scope: [list]. Hours: [per week or per session, and the period of the post] Rate: [GBP per hour or per session], paid by [route], on [date each month] Expenses: travel [rate], childcare [policy], phone and data [policy] Training: [content, dates, paid at the working rate] Supervisor: [name, role, contact], supervision [frequency and format] If the study changes, pauses or ends: [notice, payment, handover] Authorship and acknowledgement: [what is agreed] Concern route: [who, how, by when] Signed: [link worker] [supervisor] [partner organisation] Date: [ ]
2. The consent script
Spoken consent, in the order it works
1. Who I am and who runs the study. 2. What the study is for, in one sentence. 3. What you will be asked to do, and how long it takes. 4. That taking part is your choice, and no is fine. 5. What happens to what you say, and who can see it. 6. The limits: if you tell me someone is being hurt, or that you plan to hurt yourself or someone else, I must tell the person responsible for safety. I would tell you first. 7. Payment and expenses. 8. That you can stop at any time, and ask for your data to be removed within [the window the study allows]. 9. Your questions. 10. The written form: read it aloud, or offer to read it with them. 11. Signature, date, and a copy for the person.
3. The session plan
One page per session
Study / session ID: Date, start and end time, venue, access notes: Facilitators, interpreter, note taker: Participants: number expected, number confirmed, identifiers: Purpose of this session, in one sentence: Topic guide questions, in priority order (mark the three that matter): Materials: consent forms, recorders, topic guide, water, food, payment Recording plan and backup: Safeguarding contact on the day: Who debriefs with whom, and when:
4. The debrief sheet
Fill this in within 24 hours
Session ID and date: What went well: What I would change: What I noticed in the room that is not in the recording: Anything for the team (safeguarding, data, protocol, logistics): Anything for supervision: One thing I learned about the community, or about the method: Signed: [link worker] [co-facilitator]
5. The portfolio log
One line per task, six entries minimum
Date | Task | Criterion | What I did | What I noticed | Evidence held 12/11 | Invitation conversation, role play | C8 | Explained the study, answered two worries, offered a call back | I spoke too fast at the start | Observer note, 12/11 ...
The middle two columns are the assessment. A log of tasks alone is a diary. A log of what you noticed is a portfolio.
6. The escalation card
Carry this, filled in, from day one
Study lead: [name] [number] Supervisor: [name] [number] Safeguarding contact: [name] [number] Data or information governance: [name] [number] Out of hours: [number or instruction] If I cannot reach anyone: [the written default] Emergency services: 999. Non-emergency police: 101. NHS urgent care: 111.
7. The recruitment log
The sheet that shows drift
Date | Channel | Who was invited (group, not names) | Invited | Interested | Consented | Attended | Notes
Review it weekly with the supervisor. If every row is the same channel, or every name is known to you, the sample has drifted.
8. The observation form, for trainers
Behaviour notes, not impressions
Criterion | Mark 0-3 | Behaviour note (what the person did or said) | Feedback given A1 | 2 | Explained purpose in 40 seconds, no jargon, checked understanding by asking for a repeat | Yes B5 | 1 | Did not state confidentiality limits before questions began | Yes, at end
A mark without a behaviour note is not a mark. It cannot be defended to the person or to a moderator.
Check your understanding & apply it · 3 questions, 2 essays
1Which template protects the link worker when the study asks for more hours than were agreed?
Answer A. The agreement states hours, the period and how extra time is agreed. Without it, the exchange is a conversation between a paid sessional worker and a member of staff, and memory decides.
2Which record proves that a session happened as described if the recording fails?
Answer D. The audit trail records date, venue, people, consent, device and what happened. The debrief records what was observed. Together they describe the session, which is not the same as its data but is defensible.
3A trainer marks a person 2 on a criterion and writes no behaviour note. What is wrong?
Answer C. A mark without a behaviour note cannot be moderated or appealed. The note is the evidence, and the number is its summary.
4Essay Fill in the escalation card for a study running only during office hours, and say what you would do at 19:00 on a Saturday if a participant disclosed a safeguarding concern.
The card would name the study lead and number, the supervisor, the safeguarding contact with the organisation's number, the information governance contact, and the out of hours instruction, which states the organisation's duty line or, where none exists, directs the link worker to the local authority safeguarding number. At 19:00 on a Saturday: if a person is in immediate danger, call 999. If not immediate, call the local authority's out of hours safeguarding number, record what was said in the person's words, and tell the study lead first thing on Monday, with the record made the same evening. The gap this exposes is that a card with an office-hours contact is not usable at weekends, so the written default must exist before the first session.
5Essay Write the session plan for a first observed practice session, where a link worker will co-facilitate a mock group of four colleagues on a benign topic, and say what the observer must record.
Plan: date and room with access notes; facilitator and observer named; four participants briefed that this is practice, not a real study, with one playing a dominant voice and one playing a hesitant participant; a topic guide on a benign subject such as how people choose where to shop for food; consent replaced by a verbal agreement to take part in practice; fifteen minutes of facilitation, ten minutes of feedback. The observer records each criterion it covers with a behaviour note: whether the guide was covered, how airtime was distributed, how the dominant voice was managed, whether silence was tolerated, and how the session closed. The note must quote or describe what the person did, and each mark must be given back to the person with the note attached.