Dear Resident of Tybee Island,
You are cordially invited to participate in a research study entitled Residents’ Receptivity to Sea Level Rise Adaptations on Tybee Island. The purpose of this study is to determine residents’ receptivity and preferences for sea level rise adaptations that may be undertaken in the future.
Your participation will involve taking an online survey and should take about 20 minutes. Your involvement in the study is voluntary, and you may choose not to participate or to stop at any time without penalty. If you decide to stop or withdraw from the study, the information/data collected from or about you up to the point of your withdrawal will be kept as part of the study and may continue to be analyzed.
All of your responses will remain confidential and will be kept on a secure server. Your responses will not be tied to you through any personally identifiable information. The results of the research study may be published, but your name or any identifying information will not be used. In fact, the published results will be presented in summary form only.
This research involves the transmission of data over the Internet. Every reasonable effort has been taken to ensure the effective use of available technology; however, confidentiality during online communication cannot be guaranteed.
The findings from this project may provide information for the City of Tybee Island’s government for future planning and policy purposes. There are no known risks or discomforts associated with this research.
I am a graduate student in the College of Environment + Design at The University of Georgia, working under the direction of Dr. Jon Calabria. If you have any questions about this research project, please feel free to send me an e-mail at catherine.sauer25@uga.edu, or to contact Dr. Calabria at (706) 542-1816. Questions or concerns about your rights as a research participant should be directed to the Institutional Review Board (IRB) Chairperson at (706) 542-3199 or irb@uga.edu.
By reading this letter and proceeding to the survey on the next page, you are agreeing to participate in the above described research project, and confirming that you are 18 years of age or older.
Thank you for your consideration! Please keep this letter for your records.
Sincerely,
Catie Sauer