My name is Nicole Hiebert and I am an undergraduate Psychology Honours student at the University of Manitoba. I am sending you this email to inform you of my current ongoing psychology thesis under the supervision of Dr. Melanie Glenwright, a faculty member in the Department of Psychology at the University of Manitoba. My study is investigating sarcasm comprehension among Deaf and hard-of-hearing adults who sign American Sign Language (ASL). I am looking for individuals who know ASL that are interested in participating in my study.
I was wondering if you would be able to assist me with recruitment of participants by informing your colleagues and community members of my thesis. Your assistance with this process would be greatly appreciated. Any individual that is interested should contact me at hieber20@myumanitoba.ca or text me at 204-782-8931 and I will send them a link to the online version of the study. I will be available to answer any questions they may have, and individuals may also feel free to contact my advisor, Dr. Glenwright at Melanie.Glenwright@umanitoba.ca at any time. For your reference, I have attached the Ethics approval certificate for this thesis as well as the informed consent.
Participation in my thesis will involve completing an online self-report questionnaire regarding the participant’s hearing status, primary language, frequency of signing, as well as their likelihood to use sarcasm in different situations. Participants will then be presented with a series of twelve 30 second video clips of a deaf adult signing 12 stories. After each video, participants will answer three questions about speaker belief, speaker attitude, and speaker humor. As compensation, all participants will receive a $5 Tim Horton’s gift card if they supply a mailing address.
I am fluent in ASL and I am an active hearing signer involved with the Winnipeg Deaf community. In 2012 I graduate from Red River College’s Deaf Studies Program (DSP). My future aspiration is to complete a Counselling Psychology graduate degree and work with both hearing and Deaf children and their families.
Below is a link to an interview with CBC Winnipeg news about my thesis:
