Prius research questionnaire help for college student

Dear Prius Owners,
My name is George Neill and I am a graduate student in the Environmental Science and Policy Program at the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg, Florida. I am conducting a short survey as part of a larger research project that is following the trend of Prius sales in the U.S. Ostensibly, I am attempting to find a correlation between Prius ownership and environmental values based on owner responses. Included in this research are responses from Prius owners, interviews with dealers and Toyota representatives.
I would first like to thank you all for your hospitality and allowing me to post on your forums. Furthermore, I would appreciate your feedback by filling out this twenty question survey at the following link: Prius Owner Questionnaire Survey
You can rest assured that your responses will remain totally anonymous and though your responses may be included in this research, they will not be published. This website is secure and I can vouch that there is no security (virus) danger involved.
I am grateful for your response and will openly answer any questions that you may have, with the understanding that I cannot influence the outcome of the survey. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Humbly and sincerely,
George Neill

Note: If any administrators see fit, please feel free to "sticky" this thread. The more responses included, the more accurate this data will be.

 

Dear Chap,
This project is a requirement for a particular course in our program (one of two due in the first semester!) As I am a first semester student, the graduate student roster probably has not been updated with our names and profiles, but I can certainly appreciate your interest and can assure you that I am indeed a student and not affiliated with any outside organization.
I will post this in just a moment, but this research cannot officially be published because the survey was not reviewed by an ethics committee. However, I will post the data and the project itself once it is compiled later this week on this forum for the participants. I see no ethical issues with making it available to the respondents.
Addressing the term 'ostensibly' - it might have been more pertinent to use the word 'essentially.' However, I hope you all can understand my brain is quite fried at this point in the semester and my vocabulary has suffered as a result.

Sincerely,
George Neill

 

Dear Prius owners,
Thank you for your expedient responses. After addressing the concerns of one of the members of the forum, I would like to further clarify the scope of this research. Though I cannot release the survey data until the project itself is complete this week, I will be happy to post both the statistical data compiled (from this forum and outside sources) as well as a copy of the report itself. I must stress that this research cannot and will not be published because the survey would need to be presented to an ethical review committee for such intent. However, I do feel that it will provide an objective perspective on Prius ownership and I intend to uphold that very focus.
I apologize if the format seems biased in any way or seems to portray Prius owners in any specific light. I can assure you that it has only been tailored to provide objective (as much as possible) reasons for purchasing a Prius while remaining short and relevant to this research. Any biases and/or limitations will be included in the final report. Again, thank you for your time and participation.

Sincerely,
George Neill

 

Dear Chap,
You are correct, it is a project for the Perspectives course. The course is taught by Dr. Rebecca Johns at USF St. Petersburg and is a core requirement in our curriculum. The course deals with a wide range of spatiotemporal issues and has progressed in chronological order throughout the semester. I can say that I highly recommend it, it has been quite the adventure thus far and Dr. Johns has a very unique, well-prepared approach to teaching. Additionally, if you are interested, her research is listed on the campus website as well, which I would recommend reading.

I have to clarify with Dr. Johns what exactly I will be able to post on the forum, but I believe at least the data gathered will be ok. We have talked about the IRB implications in the past, but further clarification would definitely be a good idea. I'll keep everyone updated as much as possible.

Thanks again.

Sincerely,
George Neill