My apologies for making my first post an off topic one but I have not had much luck with PMs, so I need to make a public appeal.

I am an associate professor of technical communication at North Carolina State University, and I am conducting research on help forums and their role in providing user support and help documentation. I am particularly interested in speaking directly with forum moderators and prolific forum contributors. More precisely, I have a few interview questions that I would like to ask and would be perfectly happy to do so via email, PM, or voice. I anticipate needing about 15-20 minutes of your time.

If you are willing and able to assist me in this research please let me know in this thread or by PM.

Best,

Jason Swarts

I participated in the survey and it was completely painless. There were three simple and basic questions asked in the email.

Professor Swarts informed me that the research results will be available for all to see. I'm very interested in seeing the survey results.

Greetings,

Can you explain to us the steps you take to ensure privacy and anonymity? For example, will you need our real names or email addresses? If so, why?

Also, what is the goal of the research and how will the data ultimately be used?

Who funds the research?

Thanks!!

Thanks for your interest. Regarding the confidentiality of the information you provide, here is the relevant passage from the informed consent that I share with each participant prior to beginning the interview:

"The information in the study records will be kept confidential to the full extent allowed by law. Data, including the audio recordings of our interviews, will be stored securely in a password-protected folder on the PI's laptop. No reference will be made in oral or written reports that could link you to the study. You will NOT be asked to write your name on any study materials so that no one can match your identity to the answers that you provide. All data, including audio recordings, will be destroyed within a year of the study's completion."

This study has been approved by my university's research ethics board.

The object of the research is to understand how "help" documentation is provided via community forums such as this one. My specific interests have to do with the role of technical writers in the context of community-based help. This is why I am interviewing moderators and frequent posters, in order to understand the roles those people play in producing and managing the information that is posted here. I will be writing up the results of these interviews for a journal article, a conference presentation, and possibly a future grant application.

This current research project is not funded.

Jason:

I sent you an email expressing interest. In all honesty, I can't say that I am a prolific poster on this specific forum, rather more so across the entire GIMP community.

Thanks, mahvin. I just responded to your email.

Just to be clear, a participant is asked to give their real name, email address and phone number, as well as permission to have their phone conversation recorded. Is that correct?

If a participant wishes to conduct the interview via phone, then yes. I would need the participant's phone number. As for needing an email, I will need an email at which a participant could receive the informed consent as an attachment (but a disposable email would be perfectly suitable for this purpose). Then, if a participant wished to keep his/her real name private, the informed consent could be "signed" with a screen name.

Thanks for the clarification. I just want to ensure that Gimp Chat members understand the extent of personal information that could be exposed if they choose to participate in your survey.

Good luck with your research.

Thread closed.