Sunday, August 2, 2009

Seeking USA offspring for study on searching

Just realized it's August and I've been very bad and updating here!!  Not that my lack of posts should be excused, but between school and working now 3 JOBS I'm a very busy girl!!!

Finished summer classes...thank god!!  Still working at the library....hours cut drastically, boo!!  Got a job as a nanny for a 3 month old baby....good pay, cute kid, tough job!!  AND I've started interning at Case Western's Medical School library.....still looking for that single medical student;o)

So yes, that's been my life lately!!  I will try to update soon on the world of donor conception.  

In the meantime, an American graduate student and DC offspring is looking for USA donor offspring for her dissertation study on searching mechanisms of donor conceived for their donor and/or siblings.  Please email me for more information!!  

Here's a brief synopsis:

I am conducting research about the search experience of sperm donor offspring who search for information about their donor and/or genetic origins. Currently, there is little research available about the search experience of populations to which the search process is deeply meaningful and can have a lifelong impact. In addition, there is even less research available about the characteristics of a sperm donor offspring search for genetic information. It is expected that findings from this study will inform the information science community about the nature of deeply meaningful search as well as all individuals involved with donor insemination. 

As many members of the listserv are sperm donor offspring, I hope that some of you will considering being interviewed for my study. To qualify for the study, you must be a donor offspring in the United States who is currently residing in the United States and has conducted a search or are currently conducting a search for information about your donor and/or your genetic origins and are 18 years of age or older. If you volunteer for the study, I will correspond with you over email and ask you a few screening questions in order to obtain a representative sample. If you move forward from there I will send you more detailed information about the study and if you agree, we will schedule a time for the 60 minute phone interview; you will not incur any charges from calling me. With your permission, the interview will be audiorecorded. My goal is to interview 10-20 sperm donor offspring who have searched for information about their genetic origins and that have been searching for different lengths of time. Know that I am also a donor offspring and understand the sensitive nature of this information for some people. I believe that what I learn from this research can assist other donor offspring as they search for information about their genetic heritage and/or their donor. As a thank you for participating, you will receive a $10 amazon.com giftcard.

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