I notice that e-mail addresses have been added to the IDR Contact Sheet (ARS-570) format. Is it OK to use e-mail for IDR factfinding?
E-mail addresses were added to the ARS-570 on the RPES Advisory Committee’s recommendation, after numerous suggestions to do so were received from scientists and panelists across ARS. The primary reason for adding e-mail addresses was to provide an alternative to “telephone tag” as a tool for scheduling telephone interviews with contacts. So, it is certainly OK to use e-mail to arrange mutually convenient interview times. It is not OK to conduct factfinding interviews by e-mail. E-mail was never intended as a substitute for oral interviews. Neither e-mail nor any other form of written communication should ever be considered as a primary means of factfinding. There are two reasons for this. First, the RPES confidentiality principle can be easily breached when questions are asked and answers given via e-mail. Second, and perhaps more importantly, e-mail based factfinding is almost certain to be less useful than a personal interview. Spontaneity and flexibility in directing the interview
