My name is Gene DiPaula and I am a graduate student in the Department
of Mass Communication and Communication Studies at Towson University.
As part of the research for my master's thesis, I am conducting a
survey to determine how people feel about their favorite professional
athletes. If you choose to participate in my project, you will be
asked to complete a short survey (it should take about five minutes).
It is not necessary to answer every question, and you may discontinue
your participation in the project at any time. The survey can be found
at http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB2265ZG8BJQG.
If you choose to participate in the study, your participation will be
completely confidential. Neither anyone reading the results of the
survey nor I will be able to identify you. Please do not put your name
on the survey form. As an incentive to participate, you will be
eligible to win a $100 gift card to your choice of [censored]'s Sporting
Goods, The Sports Authority or espn.com. One winner will be chosen at
random. In order to be eligible, you must provide an e-mail address at
the end of the survey. We assure you that the e-mail address will only
be used to notify you in the case that you are the winner of the gift
card. It will not be attached to your answers in the survey, or
otherwise be used to identify you. Your e-mail address will not be
sold or given to anyone and will be immediately deleted from our
database once the winner of the gift card has been determined.
If you have any questions about the project, you may contact me at
(410) 402-2063, my faculty advisor, Dr. Sean Baker at (410) 704-5856,
or the Chairperson of Towson University's Institutional Review Board
for the Protection of Human Participants, Dr. Patricia M. Alt, at
(410) 704-2236. A copy of the results of the survey, reported in
aggregate form, will be available to you upon completion of my
project, if you would like to see it.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Gene DiPaula
Graduate Student, Towson University, www.towson.edu