Greetings!
You are invited to participate in a research study being conducted by investigators from The University of Iowa. The purpose of the study is to determine the state of perceptions and action of managers tasked with local and statewide decision-making related to road salt and freshwater salinization.
This study is comprised of a series of in-depth interviews. If selected to be interviewed, you can anticipate a 60-90 minute in-person interview within the next 90 days. In order to be selected, we ask that you complete the brief questionnaire by following this link: https://uiowa.qualtrics.com/jf
If you are chosen to be interviewed, you can anticipate questions related to your knowledge and experience with winter road maintenance, road salt applications and related practices You are free to skip any questions that you prefer not to answer. No personal information will be collected as part of this study. Your privacy is important to us, and you can rest assured your name or any identifying information about you will be included in any final documentation produced as a result of this study. It will not be possible to link interview responses to individuals due to data encoding to protect your personal privacy.
Taking part in this research study is completely voluntary. If you do not wish to participate in this study, you are under no obligation to complete any questions included.
If you have questions about the rights of research subjects, please contact the Human Subjects Office, 105 Hardin Library for the Health Sciences, 600 Newton Rd, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242-1098, (319) 335-6564, or e-mail irb@uiowa.edu.
Thank you very much for your consideration of this research study.
Rebecca Kauten, PhD Candidate
University of Iowa
Department of Geographical & Sustainability Sciences
217 Jessup Hall
Iowa City, Iowa 52242
319-610-7507