Richard Parry Letter

Dear Sir/Madam,

My name is Richard Parry and I am currently completing my Honours degree in Psychology at the University of the Witwatersrand. As part of the requirement for the year we are expected to complete a Research Project in an area of our choice. The project I have chosen is an investigation of the somatosensory processing of the relatives of those living with schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders. Somatosensory processing refers to our ability to process sensory stimuli such as touch, temperature, and positional sense. The reason for following this particular avenue of investigation is to hopefully shed light on the genetic mechanism involved in schizophrenia and to open up a line of enquiry that has been under-investigated in the South African context. This somatosensory processing is investigated using a simple weight discrimination task and another task involving estimating the size of a wooden block using one’s hands. Both procedures are non-invasive, carry no risk at all, and will take up approximately 10-15 minutes of participants time.

The project is supervised by a counselling psychologist and has been given ethical clearance by the university. The University of the Witwatersrand takes the ethical treatment of all participants in research carried out under its programmes very seriously and to that end applies very strict criteria before giving a proposed project ethical clearance. Myself and my supervisor see this work, and any subsequent work in this area, as empowering those living with schizophrenia and the relatives of these people by providing insight into the mechanisms of schizophrenia.

I would cordially like to invite you to participate in my research project. I would like to assure you that participation is COMPLETELY voluntary and that any refusal to participate will in no way prejudice you. I would also like to assure you that you may withdraw from the research project at ANY time during proceedings. Further, I can assure you that all information collected will be treated with the utmost confidentiality – it will be used in my project and will kept confidentially by my supervisor, Mr Patrick Connolly, for use in his PhD.

If you would be interested in taking part in this study, please can you complete and sign the Informed Consent form attached overleaf and return to me by fax on 0117061517 or, alternatively, email me at richardparry77@gmail.com to indicate that you consent to participate. Please do not hesitate to contact me on 079 527 6813 if you require any further information or would like anything clarified.

Yours Sincerely,

Richard Parry

Cell: 079 527 6813

Email: richardparry77@gmail.com

Supervised by:

Patrick Connolly

Lecturer/Counselling Psychologist

Tel: 011 717 4547

Email: Patrick.Connolly@wits.ac.za

Return to Newsletter