Attachment 11 E-Mail Announcement to Site Visit Participants

Attachment 11

E-Mail Announcement to Site Visit Participants

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

_____________________________________________________________________________

National Institutes of Health

6701 Democracy Boulevard, Room 206

Bethesda, MD 20892

Dear [NAME OF SITE VISIT PARTICIPANT],

The NIH is conducting an evaluation of the Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) program. The NIH has contracted with Westat, an independent research firm located in Rockville, Maryland, to conduct the evaluation study. The purpose of the evaluation is to assess the extent to which SEPA projects are fulfilling the mission and goals of the program, how well the program has fulfilled its goal of enhancing and creating partnerships among SEPA projects, and whether the program has encouraged the use of more rigorous evidence-based evaluations.

As part of the evaluation, we will be conducting site visits with a select number of SEPA project sites. The purpose of the site visit will be to develop a detailed picture of the history, goals, organizational structure, partner contributions, implementation, strategies, outcomes, and challenges faced by the project and its individual partners. Principal investigators, project partners, the evaluator, and project staff will be invited to participate in the site visit.

Your SEPA project has been selected to take part in a site visit. For the site visit, individual interviews will be conducted with the PI, project partners, and the evaluator and a focus group interview will be conducted with project staff. The federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved the data collection instruments (OMB No.: xxxx-xxxx, Expiration Date: xx/xx/20xx). The site visit will occur in September, 2016; Westat will call you within the next three weeks with detailed information regarding participation in the site visit.

Participation in the study is voluntary and you decision to respond or not will in no way affect future NIH funding decisions. The information you provide will be kept private to the extent provided by law. Your individual responses to the site visit or any potentially personal identifying information will not be shared with NIH staff members. The information collected will be published in aggregate form only and will not identify individuals in any reports or presentations.

If you have any questions, please feel free to either contact me, Tony Beck, (contact information below) or Dr. Jill Feldman at Westat: 240-453-2905 or jillfeldman@westat.com.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Best regards,

Tony Beck, Ph.D.

Program Officer, SEPA

Telephone: 301-435-0805

E-mail: beckl@mail.nih.gov