15 March 2011

St Patrick’s Day 2011 Participant Survey

Please help with research on Beat and the role of Carnival events in the community and the City.

Dear Friends and Partners of the BEAT, I write to you as a graduate student from Columbia University, currently working on my Doctoral Dissertation research on public events and performance in Belfast. I have had the great pleasure of working with the BEAT initiative in their run up to St. Patrick’s Day this year, and observing some of their workshops and programs. Now it is time for me to gather responses to the result of their recent labours with an online survey. Understanding the opnions and reactions of both specators and participants will help me to learn about the importance of the BEAT’s role in the greater Belfast community, as well as the build a broader understanding of parading and public events in Belfast in general. You can help by fowarding this email and the link below to anyone among your contacts who may have been at the parade this Thursday 17 March 2011. And if you were there, please take the time to fill out the survey yourself. I am looking forward to hearing what you think!

This research is not sponsored by the BEAT Initiative and does not necessarily reflect the opinions and interests thereof. Respondents’ personally identifying information will not be collected through the survey tool.

If at any time you have comments or concerns regarding this research or your participation, please contact Katharine Keenan, Principal Investigator at kathareenan@gmail.comkak2140@columbia.edu or +44 79 0019 0359. You may also contact the Teachers College, Columbia University Institutional Review Board /IRB. The phone number for the IRB is 001 (212) 678-4105. Or write to the IRB at Teachers College, Columbia University, Box 151, 525 W. 120th Street, New York, NY, 10027.