Frequently
Asked Questions (FAQs)
 Who
we are
Becoming
a panelist
More
about our prizes
More
about your privacy
Change email, get password, unsubscribe
FAQs
by Cities & Towns
Who we are
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Q: Who are the people running eTownPanel?
eTownPanel is a project of the Survey Research Unit at the School
of Public Affairs, Baruch College, New York. The founder and director
of the project is Gregg Van Ryzin, PhD, associate professor and
faculty director of survey research at the School of Public Affairs.
Staff members of the Survey Research Unit and graduate students in the
School of Public Affairs help run the project. The project is
supported financially by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Q: Why are you a .com, not a .org?
Most people type “.com” when trying to find a website -- and we
want people to find us! We also have rights to the domain name
eTownPanel.org, which will also direct you to our website. eTownPanel
is a university-affiliated, nonprofit project run as a public service
and research resource for communities and researchers. We are not a
private business.
Q: Who funds eTownPanel?
eTownPanel is a university-affiliated, nonprofit project funded by
a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Grants and sponsorships
support all general operating costs of the project. eTownPanel also
generates revenues from fees it earns from designing, setting up, and
hosting custom surveys. Contributions and sponsorships are always
welcome. Please contact info@etownpanel.com
Becoming a
panelist
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Q: Who can become a panelist?
Anyone 18 years of age or older who lives in the United States can
become a panelist.
Q: My city is
not in your surveys, can I still sign
up?
Yes -- we encourage you to become a panelist even if
eTownPanel surveys do not focus on your city or
town. Most of our surveys include a national
sample for comparison purposes, so we’ll still
invite you to participate in most of our surveys
-- and you’ll still get a chance to win prizes.
Plus, by joining, you’ll help build the panel
membership in your area – which is what your city
or town needs to conduct its own eTownPanel survey.
Q: How do I sign up to be a panelist?
Just go to the Sign
Up page on our website, complete the form, and click the submit
button. You will then receive an email message asking you to confirm
your membership. When you respond to the confirmation email, you are
then added to our list.
Q: How often will I get a survey sent to me?
eTownPanel surveys all panelists at least once
a quarter or as often as once a month, depending on the area you live in.
And you’ll get a chance to win a prize with each survey. Of course,
as a panelist, you always have the right to choose whether or not to
participate in any particular survey.
Q: What kinds of surveys will you send me?
eTownPanel surveys focus on issues that matter to your community.
Many of our surveys deal with the performance of local government --
things like police protection, public schools, road maintenance, and
so on. Other surveys may focus on an important public issue in your
community -- like a proposed highway expansion or an environmental
issue. All of our surveys are sponsored by legitimate public,
nonprofit, or academic organizations. And,
all of our survey are short -- typically requiring
only 5-10 minutes to complete. We will not send you any
political, religious, or marketing surveys. And you always have the
right to choose which surveys you want or don’t want to complete.
Q: Can I get friends or neighbors to join eTownPanel?
Of course -- feel free to let others know about eTownPanel. The
more people who join from your area, the sooner we can include your
city or town in our survey results page. (However, please do not send
any unsolicited email or SPAM).
More about our prizes
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Q: How do you award prizes?
eTownPanel awards prizes in the form of Amazon.com
gift certificates. Several respondents to each
survey are selected at random as winners, and the
gift certificates are sent to them via email
several weeks after the survey closes. The gift certificates are
sent to the email address associated with the completed questionnaire
-- so please use your real email address and type carefully.
Q: How big are the prizes, and how many do you award?
With each survey we award multiple prizes of various sizes.
Typically, we send about fifteen awards of $20
each, although we may award more or larger prizes
for some special surveys. The specific awards for each survey are described in
the survey invitations you will receive or the survey welcome page.
More about
your privacy
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Q: What will you do with my personal information?
The information you provide when you sign up,
or when you participate in a survey, is for
research purposes only. When you sign up, we
collect only limited identifying information that we need to invite you
to participate in our surveys -- such as your name (so we can
personalize our messages to you), email address, and zip code. This
information is never given to outside individuals or organizations,
even organizations sponsoring a survey. When you complete
our surveys, we
may collect additional demographic information from you such as age,
gender, race, and income (in broad categories). This information is
used only to classify and compare responses to survey questions and
not to identify you individually. We maintain a strict privacy and
confidentiality policy in accordance with the highest standards of
ethical survey research.
Q: Who has access to my information?
Only the researchers and staff of eTownPanel will have access to
your sign up information, such as your name and email address.
We keep this information in a separate database from the one that
contains your answers to survey questions. If a nonprofit or
government agency uses our survey data, they will not know the email
addresses or any other identifiers of the people who completed the
survey. Outside groups that use eTownPanel to do a survey receive only
the anonymous answers to survey questions. Your sign up information
will always remain confidential.
Change your email, get password, or unsubcribe
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Q: How do I change
my email address?
If your are already a member, go to our
signup page to update
your email address or other information.
Click on the "Already registered?" link, sign in,
and look for the "Profile" link. Then simply
update your profile with your new email address.
Q: I forgot my
password -- what should I do?
Go to our signup page
and look for the "Forgot password?" link.
Enter your email address, and we'll send you your
password.
Q: How do I unsubscribe?
If you are already on our list and wish to
unsubscribe, simply send an email to
info@etownpanel.com with unsubscribe in
the subject line. Please be sure to send
this message from the email address in your
current Profile. (See "How do I change my
email address?" above for directions on how to
check or change the email address in your
Profile.) Or you can simply reply to any of
our survey invitations with unsubscribe in
the subject line.
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