Protocols for Phone Interviews

ATTACHMENT B.4.1: PROTOCOL FOR Phone Interview WITH EARLY INDEPENDENCE Principal Investigator

Last Name First Name: Title: Date:

AGREEMENT TO PARTICIPATE IN PHONE INTERVIEW

The Common Fund of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is doing a process evaluation of its Early Independence Award (EIA) program. An independent company, XXX, has been contracted to conduct the process evaluation. The purpose of this evaluation is to assess how the program is being implemented, assess progress being made by the Early Independence Principal Investigators, and assess support being provided to the Principal Investigators by the host institution.

Given that the EIA is a new program, it is very important to document the implementation of the program at the host institutions. The phone interview is an opportunity to share your experiences and accomplishments as an Early Independence Principal Investigator. Also, it is an opportunity to provide feedback about the program. To get different perspectives, we anticipate conducting phone interviews with the Principal Investigator and the Point of Contact at his/her Host Institution at the end of the first year of the award. The information gathered will be used to improve the program and guide future strategic and management decisions.

Your participation is entirely voluntary- You are under no obligation to interview with us, but we strongly encourage you to do so. A successful evaluation of the EIA program depends on a high response rate to gather as much information and as many perspectives as possible. There are no consequences or risks for participating. Refusal to participate will involve no penalty or loss of benefits to which you are otherwise entitled, and you may discontinue the interview at any time without penalty or loss of benefits to which are otherwise entitled.

Your responses will be kept private- Your participation is voluntary and non-participation will have no impact on you or your institution. If you choose to participate, your responses will be kept private under the Privacy Act, and will not be disclosed to anyone but the researchers conducting this study, except as otherwise required by law. You will not be identified by name and information from the study will only be reported in the aggregate. Your responses will be combined with those of other respondents in the final report.

Whom to contact for additional information- For additional information about the study you may contact: XXXXXX