UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- While communications professionals and journalists across the world build careers, or important portions of them, through freelancing, relatively little research has been done on the topic.

A team of researchers from the College of Communications at Penn State hopes to change that with its online survey about freelancing.

With the survey -- available at http://journolancing.org -- the researchers hope to learn more about the business of freelancing. For the purposes of the survey, a “freelancer” is anyone who considers themself a part-time or full-time freelance journalist. That includes cartoonists, columnists, designer, editors, photographers, reporters, or any similar positions.

Freelancers who complete the survey are eligible to win some of the $1,000 in Amazon gift cards. Respondents must complete the survey by Aug. 21.