If you've been working as a freelance journalist for 5 years or less -- or if you graduated from a Canadian journalism school in the last 5 years -- you may be eligible to participate in a research study being carried out at Ryerson University.

The study is looking at both freelance journalists who have completed journalism school and emerging freelancers who have not attended journalism school to understand and compare their professionalization practices. These include freelancers' journalistic values, transition and preparedness for the workforce, methods of securing paid work, difficulties in obtaining paid work, and the role of personal branding and social media in finding paid work.

Participants of both types must be currently either looking for work or working as freelance journalists. Full-time journalists who are currently employed by an organization are not eligible for this study.

The study's participants will be asked to participate in one 45-minute interview either in person at Ryerson University, or via Skype or Google Hangouts. Participants will receive a payment of $20 for their time.

All participants in the study will be anonymized when the results are published. The results of the study will be made available to the public.

For more information or to volunteer for the study, contact Maggie Reid at margaret.reid@ryerson.ca. You can see more details about the study on this Facebook page.