Dear Central Piedmont Community College Student,

My name is Deninne Pritchett and I am an instructor at Central Piedmont. I am working as a student researcher under the direction of Dr. Nancy Bridier in the College of Doctoral Studies at Grand Canyon University.  I am conducting a research study to explore first-generation college students (FGCS) experiences with social involvement and what role this plays upon their persistence in higher education. For this study, understanding FGCS persistence in higher education will allow stakeholders to know why FGCS describe social involvement as influencing their persistence, provide a platform for FGCS experiences with social involvement, and prompt the discussion for what community colleges can do to maintain or increase social involvement opportunities at the college to support FGCS.

You may be eligible to participate in this study. The investigator of this study can determine your eligibility. Participation in this study is voluntary and no compensation is provided. The participant must be 18 yrs. or older, identify as FGCS, enrolled in a degree-seeking program with no more than one semester off to complete the 22-question questionnaire to determine FGCS social involvement experiences at community college. The results of the questionnaire will be downloaded, and participants will be assigned a numerical identifier, which means your identity will remain confidential. I would like to notify you in advance, there are no foreseeable risks or discomforts to participants.

All participant responses will be strictly confidential. No personal identifiable information will be attached to the interview data since each record will be coded and labeled with an identification number rather than personal or organization names. While the results of this study may be used in reports, presentations, or publications, no names will not be used in these media and will only be used in the collective form. The recorded media files and any field notes of the participant’s interview will be data encrypted and reside on secured password protected digital media and locked in a fireproof safe that only I, as the researcher, will have access to for 3 years and then destroyed.

Thank you in advance for your consideration. If you have any questions concerning this research study, or participation in it, please contact me, Deninne Pritchett, at dpritchett01@my.gcu.edu. If you have any questions about the rights of subjects/participants in this research, you can contact the Chair of the Human Subjects Institutional Review Board, through the College of Doctoral Studies at (602) 639-7804.

If you would prefer not to participate, please disregard this message and do nothing.

If you agree to participate, please click on the link below to be directed to the informed consent page of the questionnaire.

Deninne Pritchett, Doctoral Candidate/Research Investigator

Click here: Survey Monkey Research Questionnaire Link