Parent Survey - Research Study

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Dear 's List members,

Tritschler, a graduate student at Barry University is researching the educational placement and service preferences by parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). While substantial research has been conducted regarding the parental preferences of children with disabilities, limited research has focused on the parental preferences of children with ASD. Your voluntary participation in this study is vital in the continuing research of children with ASD. Attached you will find the cover letter explaining more information regarding your participation in this study.

Please follow the link below to direct you to the survey. The survey should take no longer than 15 minutes to complete. Below the link is information pertaining to your participation in the study if you choose to do so. We thank you in advance for your time.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Q6ZMXPX

Dear Research Participant:

Your participation in a research project is requested. The title of the study is Educational Placement and Service Preferences of Parents of Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The research is being conducted by Tritschler, a doctoral student in the Education Department at Barry University, and is seeking information that will be useful in the field of special education. The aims of the research are to investigate the type of educational placement and services preferred by parents of students with ASD. In accordance with these aims, the following procedure will be used: A questionnaire called the Educational Placement and Service Preferences by Parents of Children with ASD Inventory, which follows this letter, will be completed by parents of students with ASD. I anticipate the number of participants to be 300.

If you decide to participate in this research, you will be asked to do the following: Answer the questions on the parental survey by following the link to the Survey Monkey. The questionnaire is estimated to take no more than 15 minutes to complete.

Your consent to be a research participant is strictly voluntary and should you decline to participate or should you choose to drop out at any time during the study, there will be no adverse effects. Upon completion of the survey, Survey Monkey will ask your permission to enter your email address into a drawing for one $50 gift card to Amazon.com. Your email will remain anonymous to the researcher if you choose to participate in the drawing.

There are no risks involved in your participation of this study. The following procedures will be used to minimize these risks: You can skip any questions you do not want to answer. There are no direct benefits to you for participating in this study; however, your participation will contribute to research in the area of autism and special education. All data collected will be destroyed after five years (2016).

As a research participant, information you provide is anonymous, that is, no names or other identifiers will be collected. SurveyMonkey.com allows researchers to suppress the delivery of IP addresses during the downloading of data, and in this study no IP address will be delivered to the researcher. However, SurveyMonkey.com does collect IP addresses for its own purposes. If you have concerns about this, you should review the privacy policy of SurveyMonkey.com before you begin.

By completing and submitting this electronic survey you are acknowledging that you are at least 18-years-old and that you voluntarily agree to participate in the study.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the study or your participation in the study, you may contact me, Tritschler, by phone at or by email at lisa.tritschler@.... You may also contact the Institutional Review Board point of contact, Barbara Cook, by phone at or by email at bcook@....

Thank you for your participation.

Sincerely,

Tritschler