Email Invitation Letter - Telephone Interview - Affiliated Partners

Attachment 18

Email Invitation Letter – Telephone Interview – Affiliated Partners

18. E-Mail Invitation to Participate in Telephone Interview

Affiliated Partners

Dear <NAME>:

I am contacting you today because of your role as an affiliated partner collaborating with a university-based team of scientists as part of the State and Community Tobacco Control Research Initiative (SCTC). Affiliated partners include representatives at state or local tobacco control programs, public health and community based organizations, Federal or State agencies, organizations hired to consult on SCTC projects or workgroups, as well as other academic institutions.

On behalf of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), we invite you to participate in a telephone interview for a process evaluation of the State and Community Tobacco Control Research Initiative (SCTC). We expect the interview to take approximately 40 minutes.

NCI established the SCTC Research Initiative as part of its effort to reduce tobacco use and its associated health burdens. It is intended to support innovative research that will yield immediate, actionable findings for state and community tobacco control programs and practitioners.

NCI is working with Westat, a nationally recognized independent research organization, to examine how the SCTC initiative is perceived and experienced by stakeholders directly involved in the project as well as those collaborating as Affiliated Partners. As a <ROLE¹>, your feedback is critical to understanding the program, its challenges and successes.

Please propose 2 or 3 dates and times between now and <DATE> when you are available. A member of our research team will follow-up with you (via e-mail or telephone) to schedule a mutually agreeable time for the interview.

Participation in the interview is voluntary, but your involvement will help ensure that SCTC and similar future efforts are successful. Information shared in the interview will be kept private to the extent provided by law. Data will be reported thematically in the aggregate and will exclude personal identifiers.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation in this important study.

Keith MacAllum, Ph.D.

Senior Qualitative Researcher

Westat NCI SCTC Evaluation

301-610-8854

[email protected]

Important Contact Information

If you have questions about administration of the interview or the overall evaluation, please contact Dr. Keith MacAllum. This communication, and all components of the evaluation, have been reviewed and approved by Dr. Elizabeth Ginexi at NCI at (240) 276-6765- or [email protected]. If you have questions about your rights as a participant in this evaluation, please call the Westat Human Subjects Protections office at 1-888-920-7631.

The federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved this interview (OMB No.: 0925-xxxx, Expiration Date xx/xx/20xx).

1 Describe project and role for the Affiliated Practice Partners