Focus Group Invitation Phone Script

Attachment 17a:

Focus Group Invitation Phone Script – Evaluators, Faculty, K-12 Leaders, and Program Coordinators

Script for Contacting Non-Respondents for Noyce Evaluation Focus Group Participation: Evaluators, Faculty, K-12 Leaders, and Program Coordinators

**Start Call

Introduction

WKC: Hello, this is [NAME] from WhitworthKee Consulting and I’m calling on behalf of the National Science Foundation. May I please speak with [NAME]?

Potential Participant: Yes, this is [NAME].

WKC: Great! Hi [NAME], I hope you’re doing well.

Purpose

I’m reaching out to follow up on an email we recently sent you. We want to thank you for your participation in our evaluation of the Noyce Program thus far. In addition to the demographic questionnaire that you recently completed, we would like you to participate in a 60-minute focus group. We haven't heard back from you yet and wanted to check if you’re interested in participating.

Importance

Your participation in the focus group would be incredibly valuable to us, as the evaluation findings are going to be shared with National Science Foundation staff so that they can reflect on what is going well and potential growth opportunities to ultimately refine the Noyce Program in future iterations.

Details

The focus group will last about 60 minutes. During the focus group, you will have the opportunity to discuss the Noyce Program with other individuals who have been similarly involved with Noyce. We are scheduling focus groups for [INSERT DAYS OR DATE RANGE].

Would you be interested in participating?

Handling Responses

**If yes: That’s great news! I can schedule you for a focus group timeslot right now. The available times are [LIST VIRTUAL AND IN-PERSON TIMES/DATES, AS APPLICABLE]. Which time is best for you? [Add participant to selected focus group.]

You will receive a confirmation email momentarily and another reminder email the day before the focus group. If you have any further questions or need more information, please contact the WKC Evaluation team at [email protected]. We look forward to speaking with you.

**If no, ask the following as appropriate:

Are there any questions that you have that I could answer?

**If yes: Jump to ‘if maybe or need more information’ section.

Are there any other times you’d be available for a focus group?

**If yes: Schedule participant for a timeslot 1-2 weeks in the future based on participant and facilitator availability.

**If respondent still says no: Okay, thank you so much for your time. I will make a note of that, and you will not receive any more emails or calls from us. If you have any further questions or change your mind and would like to participate, please contact the WKC Evaluation team at [email protected].

**If maybe or need more information, pull from following text as needed:

You may remember recently completing a demographic questionnaire for the evaluation. The focus groups we are conducting are the second, and final, stage of the evaluation.

Noyce: The Noyce Program provides funding to higher education institutions via (a) scholarships, (b) stipends, and (c) other means of programmatic support to recruit and prepare science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors and other professionals to become K-12 STEM teachers and teacher leaders. Projects funded by the Noyce Program may be called different names at different schools or institutions.

Evaluation: The purpose of the Noyce Program evaluation is to (a) understand overall perceptions of the Program from both individuals who have applied for and/or received a Noyce award and those who have never applied and/or been awarded, and (b) identify what is working well and opportunities for growth. Information from our evaluation will help support the overall goal of increasing diversity within the STEM teacher education field. In addition, NSF may use the information from this evaluation to inform other NSF or government agency efforts.

Confidentiality: We take privacy seriously, and data related to identifiable characteristics of individuals, institutions, and schools will be used for evaluation purposes only to provide the National Science Foundation information about what is working well and potential growth opportunities. Information shared with us in the evaluation will be stored on a password-protected cloud drive. WhitworthKee Consulting will not disclose or release identifiable information to anyone (including NSF staff or other Noyce project members) outside of the WKC Evaluation Team.

Do you have any other questions I can answer?

Closing

Have a great day!

**End call.

Voicemail Script for Contacting Non-Respondents for Noyce Evaluation Focus Group Participation: Evaluators, Faculty, K-12 Leaders, and Program Coordinators

Hello! This message is for [NAME]. This is [NAME] from WhitworthKee Consulting, and I’m calling on behalf of the National Science Foundation.

I’m reaching out because we recently sent you an email inviting you to participate in a focus group for our evaluation of the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program. We would like to thank you again for recently completing the demographic questionnaire and hope that you’ll consider participating in our focus group.

Your perspective is incredibly valuable to us, as the evaluation findings are going to be shared with National Science Foundation staff so that they can reflect on what is going well and potential growth opportunities to ultimately refine the Noyce Program in future iterations.

If you’re interested in participating or have any additional questions, please call us back at 202-339-1473 ext. 2009 or email us at [SPELL OUT] [email protected], again that’s [email protected].

Have a great day!