Hi,
I am a doctoral student at Texas Tech University (and a type 1.5). I am studying communication in diabetes education. I’m interested in forming online focus groups with members of Tu Diabetes to talk about their experience with the web site as an educational tool.
These focus groups will take place using the audio capabilities of a free computer-based call software, Skype, at a time convenient for the focus group participants. Two weeks prior to the
focus group meeting time I will send participants information about creating a Skype
account. Two days prior to the session I will contact all participants via email to get their Skype contact information. At the designated time I will place a conference call to all participants and initiate the focus group meeting. To participate you will need to be logged in to Skype at the time of our meeting and accept the call. Your computer will need audio and a mic to fully participate.
The sessions will be audio recorded and will take approximately 1-2 hours.
The final product of the study will be my dissertation. If the study is presented or published, I will not use any names. A transcription of any audio would be used for any presentation or publication rather than the actual audio.
Participating in this research is strictly on a volunteer basis. Participants must be 18 years or older and have diabetes. You will be compensated for your time with a gift certificate of $10 from Amazon.com.
It is not expected that you will be exposed to any risk by being in this research study. Participants can skip any question and quit the study at any time.
Information about you will be kept private by limiting access to research data to the research team, by not including your name on the written record of the audio comments, keeping research data on a password protected computer, by keeping consent documents separate from the master list of participants and ID’s, and by keeping notes and original audio records in a locked file cabinet. Your information will be kept in the co-PI’s office for 3 years. If the data from this research study is published, you will not be identified by name. Agents of the University of Cincinnati or Texas Tech may inspect study records for audit or quality assurance purposes.
If you are interested, please contact me at lora.arduser@uc.edu or 513-556-1896. My faculty advisor, Dr. Amy Koerber, can be reached at amy.koerber@ttu.edu or 806-742-2500, ext. 251.
Thanks so much for your help!
Lora Arduser