Your Town Focus Group Consent Form

OMB Control No. 3135-0130

Expires 4/25/2014

Your Town Focus Group Consent Form

Evaluation Study of the NEA Your Town:
The Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design Program

NEA Q+A Contact: Steve Shewfelt, Program Analyst, National Endowment for the Arts, 202-682-5663, shewfelts@arts.gov

RMC Project Director: Kim Streitburger, Senior Research Associate, RMC Research-Portsmouth, NH, 1000 Market Street, Building 2, Portsmouth, NH 03801 603-422-8888 or 1-800-258-0802 kstreitburger@rmcres.com

NEA Project Director: Jason Schupbach, Director of Design, National Endowment for the Arts, 202-682-5786, schupbackj@arts.gov

RMC Research Corporation is conducting an evaluation study of the Your Town: The Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design Program of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The purpose of the study is to examine and report on the fit between Your Town processes and models and community characteristic in order to improve the program’s cost effectiveness and community impacts. The study will address the different models Your Town has employed, workshop impacts on individual participants and target communities, and the efficacy of program elements such as participant materials and workshop delivery.

As a workshop participant you have been invited to participate in a teleconference focus group with other participants from the workshop. The focused discussion will be led by a RMC Research Corporation staff member. The focus group last approximately 45 minutes and will not exceed 60 minutes. Your participation is voluntary. You will not be compensated for participating. You may excuse yourself from the interview at any time during the session and may decline to answer any questions. No individuals will be identified by name in interview notes or in subsequent data summaries, although towns and/or neighboring communities that were the focus of Your Town workshops may be identified.

RMC Research Corporation will prepare a report for the NEA summarizing findings from interviews and focus groups conducted with Your Town coordinators, speakers, partners, and participants from December 2011 to February 2012.

The focus group may be recorded to ensure thorough data collection. However, the recorder may be turned off at any time during the discussion at your request. The RMC interviewer will use the audiotape as a check on the handwritten notes taken during the interview. The audio file will be kept secure and destroyed no later than March 1, 2012, the due date of the study report to NEA.

Your reply email to this consent form serves as your agreement to participate in the interview and to have the interview recorded. You authorize RMC Research Corporation to use the interview information to provide feedback to NEA staff for the purpose of improving the Your Town workshops. NEA staff may incorporate information from the summary report into documents they make available to other federal agencies, arts and education organizations, grantees, and others interested in NEA programs.

If you have any questions about the evaluation, please contact Steve Shewfelt at NEA 202-682-5663 or shewfelts@arts.gov

Upon receiving your agreement email, one of the RMC Research evaluation team members will contact you to schedule a convenient time and provide you with interview questions in advance of the phone call.