My name is CarrieLynn D. Reinhard, Ph.D. and I am a Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences at Dominican University.  I am conducting a research project as part of a larger study on the overlaps between fandoms, politics, and religions.  I am requesting your voluntary participation in my study surveying people’s political and religious beliefs along with their fandoms and fan activities. 

Participation in this study involves first completing a  questionnaire containing items on your fandom, political, and religious beliefs, feelings, and behaviors, as well as some demographic questions to be used for statistical purposes. Completing this questionnaire should last from 15-30 minutes.

Use this link to access and start the questionnaire: https://dom.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1z5EYJxP5DsMRtY (Please do not share this link, as only those who access the study from this website will be able to participate.)

You will then be asked for your email address if you would like to be a) entered in a raffle (see below), and/or b) interviewed regarding your experiences on the connections between your fandoms and your political and religious beliefs. The interview should require 30-60 minutes of your time and will be conducted via Zoom or similar videoconferencing technology at your convenience. The interview will be recorded for transcription purposes. After the transcriptions are complete, the recordings will be erased. At the end of the interview, you will be entered into another raffle (see below).

The questionnaire raffle consists of 10 $20 Amazon gift cards When you submit a completed question, where every question is answered with sincerity, you will then receive one entry. If you recruit others to similarly complete the questionnaire, and they provide the same email address you did, then you will receive additional entries: each completed questionnaire linked to your email address will result in one more entry. Each participant may only win one of the gift cards from the questionnaire.

If you also complete an interview, you will be entered into a raffle to win 1 $100 Amazon gift card. The same participant could win a $20 gift card and the $100 gift card.

At no point will your email address be linked to your answers to either the questionnaire or interview. Your email addresses will be kept in a separate spreadsheet, under password lock, strictly for the purposes of the raffle.

Please note that your participation is completely voluntary and you are free to withdraw your participation at any time.  Likewise, your participation or non-participation will not affect your class grade. In addition your survey responses are designed to be completed anonymously. Anonymity cannot be guaranteed, however, and in the unlikely event an identity becomes known, all information will be held as completely confidential. You only have to provide responses to the extent that you are comfortable doing so in both the questionnaire and the interview. You may complete this study at your own pace, dictating how to approach the answers.

If you choose to participate in this study, please follow this link to the questionnaire. You will first see the informed consent form reiterating information provided here. Please review that information and indicate if you consent to allow your answers to be included in this study.   

If you have questions about the research you may contact me at the email address below.  If you have further questions, you may contact the Dominican University Institutional Review Board (IRB), which is concerned with the protection of volunteers in research projects. If you prefer not to, you may contact the Dominican University Institutional Review Board (IRB) which is concerned with the protection of volunteers in research projects. You can reach the IRB Administrator by email at irbadministrator@dom.edu, or by mail at IRB Administration, Office of Research and Sponsored Projects, Dominican University, 7900 W. Division Street, River Forest, IL 60305.

If you would like to know the results of this study as it progresses and once it is completed, please follow this website, www.playingwithresearch.com. 

Thank you in advance for your participation.  

Sincerely, 

CarrieLynn D. Reinhard

Communication Arts and Department, Dominican University 

7900 W. Division Street

River Forest, IL 60305 

Email address: creinhard@dom.edu