Old Dominion University is conducting an extensive study of health care and insurance issues among Norfolk campus students. You may be one of approximately 1,500 students who have been randomly selected to participate in this survey. This research effort will help us to evaluate the scope of health care services that are available on campus, as well as how such services should be funded. The survey will also help us to determine the role (if any) the University should take in providing health insurance coverage for students who are completely uninsured or who are insured but have inadequate personal health insurance.

If you have been selected to participate in the survey, you may only complete the survey one time. If you received a letter or email message from me inviting you to participate in the survey, and you cannot access the survey using the last six digits of your Student Identification number (your Student I.D. # may be your Social Security number), please contact Ms. Nida Mickus at the email or phone numbers listed below.

Following completion of your survey, your name will be entered into a drawing to win one of 200 $10 gift certificates for use at the University Bookstore for the first 400 survey participants (awards were recently made to the first 200 survey participants). The following grand prizes will also be awarded in a drawing for for the first 400 survey participants (including recipients of the $10 gift certificates):

Four $50 University Bookstore gift certificates
One $100 University Bookstore gift certificate
One $250 Shoreline Travel gift certificate

We expect the survey will take you approximately 15 minutes to complete. The survey includes questions about your use of health care providers and ongoing health care conditions that require periodic treatment. You may preview the survey by using the Student Identification number: 123456. The only inquiries that you are required to answer are the demographic questions 1 through 12 pertaining to sex, age, ethnicity, country of citizenship, etc., and question 24 ("Do you have health insurance?"). You may leave any other question blank. When you click on the "submit" button at the bottom of each page, the survey software will call your attention to any questions you did not answer. You may then use the "back" button on your web browser to answer the question, or click on a "continue" button to bypass the question(s) you choose not to answer. If you inadvertently answer a question incorrectly, there is a button at the bottom of each page of the survey that allows you to clear all answers on that page.

We are doing everything possible to assure the confidentiality of the survey participants' responses. For example, the partial use of your Student Identification number is only used to control access to the survey and complete the drawing for selection of award recipients. Although we have taken appropriate steps relative to survey data confidentiality, such as using a secure server, there is no way to provide an absolute assurance that data transmitted over the Internet will remain secure.

At the conclusion of the survey, you will be given the option to send email to the consulting firm that is assisting Old Dominion University with this research effort, Stephen L. Beckley & Associates (SLBA). Providing SLBA with your name, telephone number, and any comments you may have about the survey is completely optional. Your contact information may be used by SLBA to ask follow-up questions, but SLBA will not have access to individual survey responses submitted using this website. Again, please note that providing information or comments to SLBA is completely voluntary.

The inquiries pertaining to health insurance may cause anxiety or other concerns if you do not presently have health insurance coverage. Information about health insurance can be obtained by visiting or calling Student Health Services (757-683-3132).

If you have questions about the survey, you may contact Nida Mickus at Student Health Services by email NVM100G@sequoia.webb.odu.edu or phone at 757-683-3132. Our survey has been approved by the University's Institutional Review Board. This Board oversees the use of research projects involving human subjects. You may contact Dr. Val Derlega, Chair of the University Institutional Review Board, by email VDERLEGA@ODU.EDU or by phone (757-683-3118) if you have any questions or concerns pertaining to the University's use of this survey..

Thank you for participating in this important research effort about the future of health care services and health insurance programming at Old Dominion University. I also want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the University Bookstore's contribution in support of this research effort.

Best wishes for good health and success in your academic endeavors at Old Dominion University this year.

Note: The survey is now closed, but you can proceed and see what the survey was all about. No further data will be added to the data base if you do take the survey as an experiment.

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