Summer Blogs

Everything is starting to wrap up. Dr. Showalter and I spent several hours on Wednesday going through our data. This is what we've got: -There is a significant difference between how much access people think other people have to their medical records and how much they should have. -People who are generally trusting will tend to trust people in the medical sphere with their medical and genetic information. -People really want to maintain tight control over what they consider to be sensitive information, like financial and medical information. So what do we have? We have: Reality is not ideal Trust begets trust and People like control I'll keep you posted as we find more :)

Permanent Link

Surf is moving along very nicely. The survey that I mentioned in my last blog (on genetic privacy) is up, and here's the link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=VPHpbWWPhZ5_2fWWbPD8mk3Q_3d_3d Please take this survey and feel free to forward it to anyone that you think might be interested. We're aiming for 1000 respondents, so any help is greatly appreciated. At this point, we've gotten 418 responses, which is AWESOME. Beyond that, I'm working on my literature review, which is moving along quite nicely. Have a good weekend, everyone!

Permanent Link

Well, we're moving right along with the SURF project. At this point, we've constructed our survey on genetic privacy (a link is forthcoming so that everyone can access the survey from here) and it looks really nice. It's even in Randolph-Macon colors. My lit review is coming along nicely as well. I'm very optimistic about this project. Unfortunately, everything but the school server is down right now, so I can't use anything but my email, and I can't access our survey to put it up. That's cool though, I've worked on newspaper stuff today after meeting with Dr. Showalter this morning. I'm really excited about the first issue... it looks like there's going to be a lot in it. Won't be the same without Troy and Jes, but since they are now out in the "Real World" it seems that we'll have to go on without them. This weekend is the Fourth of July, and I can't wait! I'm going to Virginia Beach, and it's going to be awesome. I'm sure that I'll come back and write about it. Have a good week everyone!

Permanent Link

... but it feels like it's taken me the last four months or so just to get packed and moved (and to take finals. Those were killer). So on to SURF. For those of you just tuning in now (I had a blog while I was in Germany in the Fall of '07), my name is Catherine Noyes, and I am a rising senior from Amesbury, Massachusetts. I am a Economics/Business, Biology, Environmental Studies triple-major. I did a SURF research project last year on economic convergence with Dr. Brat. On campus, I'm involved in the Newspaper, Residence Life and Housing, and Greek Life. This summer, I'm doing a research project on genetic privacy with Dr. Showalter, who I have had in three classes to date. We're looking at the information that can be garnered from a blood test (both genetic information and other information), current and pending legislation on the topic (both inside and outside of the United States), and the definition of privacy in general. Later in the summer, we're going to distribute surveys that will deal with how comfortable people are with different organizations (the government, insurance companies, family members, etc.) knowing their genetic information. We're also hoping to talk with some of the key lawmakers and influential people in the field of genetic privacy. This should be an interesting project, and I hope to provide a fairly detailed overview as the summer progresses, along with everything else that's going on in my life. Have a nice evening!

Permanent Link