Happy 2013! I received this request from a doctoral student who needs subjects from her study. Please share as you find appropriate. Subject: Dissertation help Hi! I hope this email finds you well. I'm sure you're extremely busy now that we are beginning a new semester. I noticed you are a professor for African American Studies at OU and I was wondering if you could help me. I’m a current doctoral student at University of Missouri and need help recruiting Black students as participants for my dissertation. I am hoping you can forward this message along to your students. I am currently conducting my dissertation that aims at examining personal, social, and environmental factors that influence Black students’ academic persistence at Historically Black Colleges or Universities and Predominantly White Institutions. I am writing to sincerely ask you to forward the following message to any students or any listserv you may know. I’m not sure if you would be willing to offer your students “extra credit” as an incentive for participating in my study. At this point, I need to find ways to increase participation in my study beyond offering them to enter a raffle where they can win a gift card. I would appreciate any way you can help me with this. At the end of the survey they are prompted to print off the last page which includes their unique response ID number which they can print off to show you as proof that the completed the survey in case you decide to offer extra credit. Each person will have a different ID number. Should you decide to offer your students extra credit to participate, I want to give non-Black students an opportunity to participate for extra credit too. Therefore, they can enter the survey and complete it but please have them indicate that they are “Other” and type in their race on the Demographic form so that I can filter out their responses. I really hope you can forward this to any students. Thank you for any assistance, Jacquelyn Francisco ***************************************************************************************** Dear students, Are you interested in a chance to win a $20 gift card for 15 minutes of your time? Below is an online survey link that asks questions related to your university environment, your social support experiences, and your self-beliefs about your academic abilities. This will take only about 15 minutes to fill out. To participate in this study, you have to be: 1. at least 18 years old 2. self-identify as Black (e.g. African American, West-Indian, Jamaican, etc…) 3. a sophomore, junior, or senior currently enrolled and attending college. By filling out the survey https://umissourieducation.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_79RB7dLaFhibCeg you will have an opportunity to win a raffle prize (one of ten $20 dollar gift certificates). For more information about my study, please refer to the link provided. Please feel free to forward this survey link to friends or acquaintances that are eligible for the survey as well. Thank you!! Sincerely, Jacquelyn Francisco Doctoral Candidate Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology Department University of Missouri-Columbia Meta G. Carstarphen, Ph.D., APR Associate Professor & Graduate Director Gaylord College of Journalism & Mass Communication University of Oklahoma 395 W. Lindsey Blvd-Room 3120B Norman, OK 73019 PH: (405) 325-5227 * FX: (405) 325-7565 http://www.ou.edu/content/gaylord/home/Audience/graduate-program.html www.metagcarstarphen.com 2005-12 Gaylord Family Professor