TV Reporters and Viewer Critiques

* 1. We invite you to consider participating in a research study investigating viewer comments about television broadcasters’ appearance and how broadcasters handle them. Following your consent to participate, you will be asked to complete a 5- to 10-minute survey.

The survey is provided through a secure online site. Following completion of the survey, we may follow up with particular participants via phone or Skype and ask more detailed questions about the survey results, but only if you have indicated willingness to do so. You may also just fill out the survey and decline further comment.

Participants’ identities will be kept anonymous, both in their survey and/or interview comments, in any published results. A summary of the results will be shared via RTDNA’s e-newsletter, which goes out to more than 17,000 people in the broadcast industry.

If you do not wish to answer a question during the survey, you may skip the question. You may also withdraw from the study at any time without penalty. If you do so, any information you have supplied will be immediately removed from the data and destroyed.

You will have the opportunity to participate in a drawing for a $50 Amazon gift card for participating in this survey. The drawing will take place Feb. 10, and you will be notified via email if you are the winner. The gift card will then be mailed to you. If you choose to withdraw from the study, you can still participate in the drawing by sharing your contact information at the end of the survey document.

There are not any risks associated with this study beyond occurrences of everyday life. You may contact the researchers if you have questions or concerns regarding the study: Dr. Teri Finneman: teri.finneman@sdstate.edu or 701-866-5301; Joy Jenkins: joyjenkins@mail.missouri.edu or 918-398-3330. You may also contact adviser Dr. Yong Volz: volzy@missouri.edu or 573-882-2159.

For more information on your rights as a research subject, contact the IRB at 573-882-3181.