Dear colleague:

We are a university research team studying the perceived trustworthiness of
internet web sites. In more detail, we are conducting a nation-wide study of
opinions about whether websites that focus on financial investments are seen as
trustworthy.

Due to the growth in the use of the Internet as a means of completing a variety
of financial transactions (I.e. banking, eBay auctions, book purchases), we are
sure that you will see this as a serious matter that needs careful study.
Therefore, we hope that you will assist us in our brief survey. We have no other
agenda, and if you assist us, we will treat your responses with total
confidentiality.

To gather such opinions, we are contacting members of several electronic mailing
lists to request participation in a brief questionnaire. Our central interests
are the factors that might influence the level of trust you place in the
information and transactions you might make through a web site that is dedicated
to providing access to Initial Public Offerings. Therefore, we are contacting
you as a person who may be a potential investor or have interest in such a
service.

We hope that you will be willing to assist us by navigating to the website link
below and completing the online questionnaire. Please note that the
questionnaire is very brief. Once again, we assure you that your personal
responses will be kept completely confidential and all returned questionnaires
will be discarded once the results have been compiled. Completing the online
questionnaire is considered consent to participate in this valuable research
project and your responses will be kept confidential to the extent allowed by
law.

We hope that you will be willing to assist us. This is a truly important issue,
and no clear answers currently exist. You can contact us via email with
comments or questions if you wish, at the following email address:
jonathan.adams@...

Please follow this link to complete our online survey:
http://www.surveyz.com/TakeSurvey?id=41267

Sincerely,
Jonathan Adams & Bernhard Schmid

Jonathan Adams, EdD
Associate Professor
Florida State University
Jonathan.adams@...
850.644.3416

*If I have questions about my rights as a subject/participant in this research,
or if I feel I have been placed at risk, I can contact the Chair of the Human
Subjects Committee, Institutional Review Board, through the Office of the Vice
President for Research, at (850) 644-8633.
HUMAN SUBJECTS COMMITTEE 2035 E. Paul Dirac Drive Box 15 Tallahassee,
FL 32310







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