Attachment 21 E-Mail Invitation Letter Partner Telephone Interview

Attachment 21

E-Mail Invitation Letter – Partner Interview

Dear <NAME OF PROJECT PARTNER>:

On behalf of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), we invite you to participate in a telephone interview for an evaluation of the Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) program. Your participation in the interview will help NIH better understand the extent to which projects are aligned with the goals of the SEPA program, the outcomes associated with SEPA projects, the types of contributions made by partners, issues impinging on the quality of the evaluation, and the extent to which projects and their partnerships are being sustained. The NIH has contracted with Westat, an independent research firm located in Rockville, Maryland, to conduct the interviews.

As a partner of a SEPA project, your feedback is critical to understanding the SEPA program, its challenges, and successes. We expect the interview to take approximately an hour.

We expect the interview to take about an hour and a quarter.

Please propose 2 or 3 dates and times between now and <DATE> when you are available. A member of our research team will follow-up with you (via e-mail or telephone) to schedule a mutually agreeable time for the interview. Please provide us with these dates by July 31^st if possible.

Participation in the interview is voluntary, but your involvement will help ensure that SEPA and similar future efforts are successful. Information shared in the interview will be kept private to the extent provided by law. Data will be reported thematically in the aggregate and will exclude personal identifiers.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation in this important study.

Jill Feldman, Ph.D.

Project Director

Westat SEPA Evaluation

240-453-2905

jillfeldman@westat.com

Important Contact Information

If you have questions about administration of the interview or the overall evaluation, please contact Dr. Jill Feldman at Westat: 240-453-2905 or jillfeldman@westat.com. This communication, and all components of the evaluation, have been reviewed and approved by Dr. Tony Beck at the NIH at 301-435-0805 or beckl@mail.nih.gov. If you have questions about your rights as a participant in this evaluation, please call the Westat Human Subjects Protections office at 1-888-920-7631.

The federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved this survey (OMB No.: xxxx-xxxx, Expiration Date: xx/xx/20xx).