David and Helen wrote " that they wanted to know how others persuade people
to participate. This is what I have done and I have had only 2 people turn
me down out of 17.
First I tell them that there is no health information, that it is strictly
genealogy. That is important because it says that you will not learn
anything that they might want to keep private, and I generally follow that
up with a link to the Family Tree DNA site. I also tell them that the test
takes only 2 minutes (scrape one cheek for one minute and then the other for
one minute). I also tell them that am paying for the test (but they will
need to pay the return postage). However, all the people that I have
approached are known family and I generally send out a Rosh HaShanah letter,
which has a paragraph about the family genealogy. For the last couple of
years, I have included some very general results as to what has been learned

from the study. I also ask there, who wants to participate. In the

beginning I had mentioned the costs of the tests - and had some interest

from some of my cousins who could not afford to do it. Now I approach

people one on one, generally on the phone, although sometimes by email. I
think that the two sisters who turned me down really did not understand the
fact that there was nothing personal about them (other than their genealogy)
that I could learn >from this test. I also try to let them know if I have
something specific that we could learn >from the tests.

Sarah L M Christiansen
Georgetown TX
http://genealogy.smcactuary.net