[Editor’s Note: I received a request from Candy to post this call for participation for her thesis research.  Please contact Candy with any comments or questions (jenkins114@comcast.net).  — Michelle Corbin] 

Hello.  I am currently pursuing my Master’s Degree in English, with a concentration in Professional Writing and Editing, at George Mason University.  My thesis is titled “From Technical Writer to Professional Communicator: The Evolving Model of Documentation Departments within IT Companies.”  I will be examining Documentation or Tech Pubs Departments and Technical Communicators and how their role is changing and needs to continue to change in order to remain a viable entity in the future of the IT Industry.

As part of my thesis, I have developed a questionnaire for tech writers, specifically in the IT industry.  The questionnaire is a 5-page MS Word form, and it should only take about 15 minutes to complete.  The process is completely anonymous, and no names or company names will be used in the report.  Once you download and complete the form, simply return it to me at cjenkin5@gmu.edu.  Once the form is received, I will print a hard copy and delete the email, so no information can be connected with a particular email.

If you have any questions regarding completion of the questionnaire or need to contact me regarding any other matter, please feel free to contact me at jenkins114@comcast.net.

Click on the link below to access the web site containing the questionnaire.  Completed questionnaires must be received by April 20th.  Thank you in advance for helping me with my research.  I hope the results
will prove to be useful to Technical Communicators in providing insight on how to prove our value within our organizations.

http://home.comcast.net/~jenkins114/

Thank you,
Candy Jenkins
Documentation Manager
Northrop Grumman IT, Health Solutions