Rule 3349-3-105 | Administration of surveys.
(A) Purpose
The purpose of this rule is to provide guidance and oversight in the management of surveys that have NEOMED students as their target population. By requiring that these surveys be registered, the university will be better able to guard against the over-surveying of students, manage the frequency and timing of Surveys, and maintain an up-to-date catalog of all surveys being disseminated to NEOMED students.
(B) Scope
This rule applies to all persons, internal and external to NEOMED, who wish to survey NEOMED students. This rule does not pertain to: Surveys originating from accrediting bodies; course event RSVPs; polls or election ballots; intra-course or workshop instruments that are considered assignments (e.g., self-assessments, peer evaluations); or course and instructor evaluations.
(C) Definitions
(1) "Survey" refers to the gathering of information through written (electronic) questionnaires that are distributed to NEOMED students and is inclusive of IRB-approved research survey instruments.
(2) "NEOMED Community" refers to NEOMED students, faculty, and staff.
(3) "Survey registration form" refers to the online form that collects information about Surveys that target NEOMED students.
(4) "Institutional review board" ("IRB") refers to the university body that governs research in which human subjects are involved to ensure that the rights and welfare of those participants are protected while participating in such research.
(5) "Research" refers to a systematic investigation, including research development, testing and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge. Activities that meet this definition constitute research for purposes of this rule, whether or not they are conducted or supported under a program that is considered Research for other purposes. For example, some demonstration and service programs may include research activities. (Language taken from the NEOMED IRB procedure manual).
(D) Procedure statement
(1) Survey registration
(a) For surveys that have the potential to involve human subjects research, those wishing to conduct a survey must confer with the NEOMED IRB for review and approval. If the survey study constitutes research, the party must forward evidence to the office of institutional research that IRB approval was granted.
(b) Completion of the survey registration form is required for surveys being administered to NEOMED students. Information entered into the survey registration form will become part of a catalog of all surveys administered to NEOMED students.
(c) College-specific review of survey registration forms must be completed before any survey can be disseminated to NEOMED students. The institutional research office will coordinate the review with the colleges whose students are the target audience of the survey.
(d) Review of survey registration forms by institutional research and the respective college(s) will be done within five business days from the submit date. Parties wishing to conduct surveys should therefore complete the survey registration form as early as possible before the desired launch date. The institutional research office will communicate the results of the review to the party submitting the survey registration form.
(e) Review of prospective surveys are done to ensure they are not an unnecessary burden on the target population whether from redundancy of content or conflicts with other events in the academic calendar. The review will consider, at a minimum, the following matters:
(i) The purpose of the survey;
(ii) The target recipients to the survey;
(iii) The timing of the survey administration;
(iv) The frequency of survey re-administrations; and
(v) Whether recent surveys had overlapping purpose(s).
(2) Survey administration
The institutional research office provides overall administrative oversight for campus survey use. Although parties seeking to conduct surveys are expected to build their own survey instruments, the institutional research office is available for advice and consultation on survey development. College-level personnel will also respond to survey-related questions from members of their college.
(a) NEOMED community members, except in exceptional circumstances, are expected to build their surveys in qualtrics, which is the university-designated survey platform. Having a single survey platform allows for consistency in data collection and analysis, saves time and resources, improves data security, and allows for more efficient monitoring of survey traffic on campus.
(b) All NEOMED community members, who have NEOMED email accounts, can get a free qualtrics account by contacting their college-level qualtrics administrator, or the institutional research office if the community member is not affiliated with a college.
(3) If incentives are offered, the survey tool should acknowledge to all survey recipients that the incentives do not compromise the confidentiality or anonymity of the response.
Failure to adhere to the terms of this rule may result in the inability to conduct future surveys on NEOMED students. Research misconduct as well as any other survey-related misconduct will be handled in accordance with rule 3349-20-62 of the Administrative Code, the university faculty bylaws, the employee handbook and the student handbook, as appropriate.
Last updated April 22, 2024 at 8:35 AM
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