diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5e80075..63ac76c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ This script bootstraps the existing Chosen plugin without making any modificatio
 
 ## How to Use
 
-This plugin exposes a new jQuery function named `ajaxChosen` that we call on a `select` element. The first argument are the options passed to the jQuery $.ajax function. The `data` parameter should be omitted, and the `success` callback is optional.
+This plugin exposes a new jQuery function named `ajaxChosen` that we call on a `select` element. The first argument are the options passed to the jQuery $.ajax function. The `data` parameter can be used to send parameters to the service, except `term` that is used to send the search string, and the `success` callback is optional.
 
 The second argument is a callback that tells the plugin what HTML `option` elements to make. It is passed the data returned from the ajax call, and you have to return an object where the key is the HTML `option` value attribute and the value is the text to display. In other words:
 
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ becomes:
 $("#example-input").ajaxChosen({
 	method: 'GET',
 	url: '/ajax-chosen/data.php',
+	data: { user_id: 23 },
 	dataType: 'json'
 }, function (data) {
 	var terms = {};
diff --git a/lib/ajax-chosen.js b/lib/ajax-chosen.js
index 1035239..ec21421 100644
--- a/lib/ajax-chosen.js
+++ b/lib/ajax-chosen.js
@@ -12,9 +12,8 @@
         if (this.timer) clearTimeout(this.timer);
         $(this).data('prevVal', val);
         field = $(this);
-        options.data = {
-          term: val
-        };
+        options.data = options.data || {};
+        options.data.term = val;
         if (typeof success === "undefined" || success === null) {
           success = options.success;
         }
@@ -41,9 +40,8 @@
         val = $.trim($(this).attr('value'));
         if (val.length < 3 || val === $(this).data('prevVal')) return false;
         field = $(this);
-        options.data = {
-          term: val
-        };
+        options.data = options.data || {};
+        options.data.term = val;
         if (typeof success === "undefined" || success === null) {
           success = options.success;
         }
@@ -68,4 +66,4 @@
     };
   })(jQuery);
 
-}).call(this);
+}).call(this);
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/ajax-chosen.coffee b/src/ajax-chosen.coffee
index 04109cf..ec82ddf 100644
--- a/src/ajax-chosen.coffee
+++ b/src/ajax-chosen.coffee
@@ -38,7 +38,8 @@
         
         # I'm assuming that it's ok to use the parameter name `term` to send
         # the form value during the ajax call. Change if absolutely needed.
-        options.data = term: val
+        options.data = options.data || {}
+        options.data.term = val
         
         # If the user provided an ajax success callback, store it so we can
         # call it after our bootstrapping is finished.
@@ -91,7 +92,8 @@
         val = $.trim $(this).attr('value')
         return false if val.length < 3 or val is $(this).data('prevVal')
         field = $(this)
-        options.data = term: val
+        options.data = options.data || {}
+        options.data.term = val
         success ?= options.success
         options.success = (data) ->
           return if not data?