PROFESSIONAL LETTER:
Dear Dr. Smith, Graduate Research Advisor,
I am writing you this letter to let you know about the current situation I am finding
in my research planning to investigate racist hiring practices in the High-Tech
industry specifically in the area of Silicon Valley in California. It would be
extremely difficult to get a buy in from any company and organization in this area
and industry to conduct this type of research if we approach them with the actual
focus of “racist hiring practices.” Public Relationships (PR), reputation with
Customers, external optics are very important aspects for these companies in the
marketplace, and if there is any sense that a research is being conducted to
investigate racist hiring practices in their offices, that fact can impact their market
value and reputation. Nowadays these companies are investing large budgets in
their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), which opposes to any racist hiring
practice. Therefore, it is most likely that they won’t be willing to participate in the
research with this explicit focus. In addition to the PR part, it is highly possible that
participants observed bias behaviors if they know the actual focus of the research.
It would be natural that participants tend to hide any racist behavior during the
entire hiring process; from selecting resumes from candidates, to make an initial
call, scheduling and conducting interviews and making an offer which includes
salary ranges, etc. Because of these factors, I am proposing to apply a deception
research approach, disguising the focus of racist hiring practices and position the
research to investigate timing on the steps of the hiring process and body
language during the interviews. The potential data collected from the study is very
significative and valuable in the marketplace, academia and science that otherwise
would be impossible to gather. Additionally, the research is NOT expected to
cause physical pain or severe emotional distress to participants. It is my
understanding that an alteration of the required elements of consent must be
requested in the IRB application to waive the element of consent associated with
the deception, but I would need more guidance regarding the informed consent
process.
I look forward to discussing in more details this research position with you in
person or over the phone. If any additional information will help to clarify anything,
please let me know, Thanks for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
