Recruitment and Reminder Materials

Appendix F: Recruitment and Reminder Materials

Email - Survey Invitation to S-STEM Principal Investigators
Subject: RE: Your S-STEM award from NSF
Dear Dr. [LastName of S-STEM PI]:
On behalf of the National Science Foundation, we invite you to participate in a study of the Scholarships
in Science Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) Program. As a current or former
Principal Investigator of an S-STEM project at , your participation is vital to this study.
Please click on the link below to begin the survey now. The survey will take you approximately 20
minutes to complete.

(You may also copy and paste this link into your web browser. Please do not forward the link, as it is
unique to you.)
NSF has contracted with Abt Associates, an independent research firm, to evaluate the S-STEM Program.
As part of this evaluation, we would like to learn about the S-STEM project implemented at your
institution, including how you identify and select scholarship recipients and what types of educational
opportunities or support services provided to these recipients. We have worked hard to minimize or
eliminate any overlap between this survey and the information that you already provide for the S-STEM
Monitoring System.
Participation is voluntary. You may pause the survey at any time and return to it later. Choosing to
participate or not will not affect your current or future receipt of NSF funding. We will protect your
privacy by separating the responses you provide on the survey from your name, contact information
and other identifiers (e.g., your computer’s IP address, your institution’s name). Your survey results will
be summarized along with the responses of other S-STEM PIs (from the 2006 through 2010 award
cohorts) in statistical form only.
The study also includes a survey of a sample of S-STEM scholarship recipients, which will be fielded from
. We ask that you encourage your current and former students to complete the survey if
they are invited to participate.
For more information about the study, steps we take to safeguard your privacy or your rights as a
research participant, please visit . Or you may call toll-free, 888-xxx-xxxx
Thank you for supporting this study with your participation in S-STEM PI Survey.

Sincerely,
Alina Martinez
Study Director, Abt Associates Inc.
Study Toll-free Telephone

Study Email Address

Reminder Email - Survey Invitation To S-STEM Principal Investigators
Subject: RE: Your S-STEM award from NSF - Reminder!
Dear Dr. [LastName of S-STEM PI]:
This is a follow-up to an e-mail you should have received last week inviting you to participate in a web
survey about NSF’s Scholarships in Science Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM)
Program. Our records indicate that you are a current or former Principal Investigator of an S-STEM
project at .
It appears that you have not yet completed the survey, and we would like to encourage you to do so at
your earliest convenience to ensure that your program is represented in this national evaluation. This
survey will give NSF information about the scholarship and programmatic support of undergraduate
students and help NSF improve programs intended to foster an engaged scientific and engineering
workforce. Since you were a Principal Investigator (PI) of an S-STEM award, your perspective is especially
important.
Please click on the link below to begin the survey now. The survey will take you approximately 20
minutes to complete.

(You may also copy and paste this link into your web browser. Please do not forward the link, as it is
unique to you.)
Participation in this survey is voluntary and will have no impact on you or your institution. You may
pause the survey at any time and return to it later. We will protect your privacy by separating the
responses you provide on the survey from your name, contact information and other identifiers (e.g.,
your computer’s IP address, your institution’s name). Your survey results will be summarized along with
the responses of other S-STEM PIs (from the 2006 through 2010 award cohorts) in statistical form only.
For more information about the study, steps we take to safeguard your privacy or your rights as a
research participant, please visit . Or you may call toll-free, 888-xxx-xxxx
Thank you for supporting this study with your participation in S-STEM PI Survey.
Sincerely,
Alina Martinez
Study Director, Abt Associates Inc.
Study Toll-free Telephone
Study Email Address

Email - Survey Invitation To S-STEM Scholarship Recipients
Subject: re: Your National Science Foundation “S-STEM” Scholarship
Dear ,
We would like you to participate in a study we are conducting on behalf of the National Science
Foundation (NSF). NSF is a federal agency created to promote the progress of science by supporting
research and education in all fields of science and engineering. As a former student at
and recipient of a prestigious scholarship, you are very important to this study. Between 2006 and
2010, received a grant from NSF’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering,
and Mathematics (S-STEM) program. With this grant money, has
provided “S-STEM” scholarships to selected students like you. Of the 95 million or so students who
enrolled in college between 2006-2010, fewer than 25,000 have received one of these scholarships.
Please click on the link below to begin the survey now. The survey will take you between 15 and 25
minutes to complete.

(You may also copy and paste this link into your web browser. Please do not forward the link, as it is
unique to you.)
Your college or university may have given the scholarship a different name than “S-STEM,” and you
may or may not recall receiving this scholarship. The scholarships are given to help academicallytalented students interested in math, engineering, or the sciences with the costs of college. Even if
you do not remember receiving one of these scholarships, and even if you are not currently interested
in any of these fields, you are still eligible for this study.
Participation is voluntary. You may pause the survey at any time and return to it later. The National
Science Foundation provided us with your name and the name of your college (). We
will protect your privacy by separating the responses you provide on the survey from your name,
contact information and other identifiers (e.g., your computer’s IP address). Your survey results will
be summarized along with the responses of your peers in statistical form only.
For more information about the study, steps we take to safeguard your privacy or your rights as a
research participant, please visit . Or you may call toll-free, 888-xxx-xxxx.
Sincerely,

Alina Martinez
Study Director, Abt Associates Inc.
Study Toll-free Telephone
Study Email Address

Reminder Email - Survey Invitation To S-STEM Scholarship Recipients
Subject: re: Your National Science Foundation “S-STEM” Scholarship – Reminder!
Dear ,
This is a follow-up to an e-mail you should have received last week inviting you to participate in a web
survey about the National Science Foundation’s Scholarships in Science Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics (S-STEM) Program. Our records indicate that you were a recipient of this prestigious
scholarship as a former student at .
It appears that you have not yet completed the survey, and we would like to encourage you to do so at
your earliest convenience. This survey will give NSF information about the scholarship and
programmatic support of undergraduate students and help NSF improve programs intended to foster an
engaged scientific and engineering workforce. Of the 95 million or so students who enrolled in college
between 2006-2010, fewer than 25,000 have received one of these scholarships, which makes your
perspective especially important to our evaluation.
Please click on the link below to begin the survey now. The survey will take you between 15 and 25
minutes to complete.

(You may also copy and paste this link into your web browser. Please do not forward the link, as it is
unique to you.)
Participation is voluntary. You may pause the survey at any time and return to it later. The National
Science Foundation provided us with your name and the name of your college (). We
will protect your privacy by separating the responses you provide on the survey from your name,
contact information and other identifiers (e.g., your computer’s IP address). Your survey results will
be summarized along with the responses of your peers in statistical form only.
For more information about the study, steps we take to safeguard your privacy or your rights as a
research participant, please visit . Or you may call toll-free, 888-xxx-xxxx.
Thank you in advance for your help with this important evaluation!
Sincerely,

Alina Martinez
Study Director, Abt Associates Inc.
Study Toll-free Telephone
Study Email Address

Phone Script - Survey Non-Responders
Hello [First Name], my name is [Study Team Member Name] and I am calling from Abt Associates on
behalf of the National Science Foundation. As you may know, we are conducting a national evaluation
study of the Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics – or S-STEM – Program.
We recently sent you an e-mail asking you to participate in a survey about your experience as [principal
investigator/recipient of an award] at [Institution Name], and I was wondering if you had a chance to
take a look at it yet. In order to learn about how the S-STEM scholarship awards have affected students
around the country, we want to ensure we have full participation from [PIs/scholarship recipients in our
study sample]. If you need more time to complete the survey or have any questions about the survey or
the study, please email [Study Email Address] or call our toll-free number at [Study Toll-Free Number].
Thank you!

Email Request for Contact Information - To S-STEM Principal Investigators
Subject: Update on the NSF S-STEM Evaluation
Dear Dr. [Last Name of S-STEM PI],
As you may already know, NSF has contracted with Abt Associates, an independent research firm, to
evaluate the S-STEM Program. One component of our study is an online survey for current and former
S-STEM scholarship recipients. Unfortunately, we have experienced some difficulty in locating one or
more of your S-STEM scholarship recipients. To help us maintain high response rates and maximize the
information we glean from our survey, please take a moment to provide us with the most up-to-date
contact information for your S-STEM scholarship recipient(s). When possible, please include their
current email address, phone number, and mailing address.
[First and Last Name of Recipient 1]
[First and Last Name of Recipient 2]
[First and Last Name of Recipient 3]
If you have any questions about this task, or the evaluation in general, please contact Abt Associates
project staff at [Study email address] or toll free at [Study toll-free phone number].
Thank you in advance for you cooperation!
Sincerely,
Alina Martinez
Study Director, Abt Associates Inc.
Study Toll-free Telephone
Study Email Address

Introduction to Study Email - To S-STEM Principal Investigators Selected for Site Visit (From NSF)
Subject: NSF Study of the S-STEM Program
Dear Dr. [Last Name of S-STEM PI],
NSF thanks you for your commitment to STEM higher education and to graduating more students in
these fields as a principle investigator for NSF’s Scholarships in Science Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics (S-STEM) program. As the S-STEM program enters its sixth year, NSF has engaged Abt
Associates and its partners SageFox Consulting group and Abt SRBI to conduct an evaluation of the SSTEM program. This evaluation team has a proven track record of rigorous program evaluation and a
depth of knowledge in the field of STEM higher education.
Program evaluation is a critical touchstone in ensuring that NSF’s investments in STEM education lead to
intended outcomes and ongoing programmatic improvements. This includes quantitative analysis of
student outcomes and also one-on-one exchange between grantees and evaluators. To this last point,
the S-STEM evaluation team will be visiting approximately six sites a year for the next three years to
understand how the S-STEM program is being implemented at a range of institutions. NSF has have
recommended your program to be included in the first round of site visits to be held this spring. This
visit is not an audit or evaluation of your S-STEM program, but rather an opportunity to understand how
the S-STEM program is taking shape on the ground.
This first year of site visits will be an important step in understanding the different contexts in which SSTEM is implemented. The evaluation team will gather information about the implementation of your SSTEM award, and specifically seek information on recruitment, outreach and student selection and in
order to document promising practices in these areas. Based on our understanding of your program we
think your site will be a valuable place for the evaluation team to visit and conduct a case study on this
theme.
I want to reiterate that this visit is to learn about what is going on in the field, and is not an evaluation of
your program. Information learned from the visit may be of interest to other S-STEM current or future
grantees and will help NSF better administer the program. Evaluators will be on campus for one-and-ahalf days and will meet with the program and institution representatives, as well as scholarship
recipients. The team will include two evaluators from the Abt/SageFox team and one or two external
expert visitors. No NSF employee will be present during the visit.
In the coming week, a representative from the evaluation team will be in contact with you to officially
invite you to host a site visit of the S-STEM program at your institution. The evaluation team will also
provide information about the logistics of the visit. We hope that you will accept their invitation and
agree to host a site visit for this important evaluation.

If you have any questions concerning the study or your participation, please don’t hesitate to contact
me.
Connie Kubo Della-Paina
NSF Program Officer S-STEM program
Division of Undergraduate Education

Email Introduction for Site Visits - To S-STEM Principal Investigators (From Abt Associates)
Subject: RE: Your S-STEM award from NSF – Site Visit
Dear Dr. [Last Name of S-STEM PI],
You recently received correspondence from the National Science Foundation (NSF) regarding the
current study of the S-STEM Program. NSF has contracted with Abt to conduct the study, which is
designed to learn about the program implementation and impacts. As a piece of the study, we will be
visiting several institutions to learn more about their specific program implementation, and hope to visit
yours. These site visits will provide valuable perspective for our evaluation and we would greatly
appreciate your help with our evaluation efforts. During the site visit, our study team will conduct
interviews and focus groups with PIs, other STEM faculty, college or university administrators, and
currently enrolled S-STEM scholarship recipients.
We hope that you will be willing to host a site visit. I would like the opportunity to talk with you about
the site visit. Are there some dates/times in the next week that would be convenient for a phone call to
discuss what the site visit would entail? If you are willing to participate, we would then begin to
schedule the details of the visit, as well as provide you with more detailed information as to what you
can expect.
I look forward to speaking with you.
Sincerely,
Alina Martinez
Study Director, Abt Associates Inc.
Study Toll-free Telephone
Study Email Address