Study Purpose
This national study is conducted by the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and is funded by National Science Foundation ADVANCE-IT Program. The purpose of this study is to chronicle the daily experiences of faculty (ALL genders) with microaggressions, both witnessed and experienced, and their relationship to employees’ job satisfaction and well-being.
Procedure and Duration
If you decide to participate in this research, you will be asked to provide your institutional email address on the next page to verify your eligibility to participate this study,
Once you submit your institutional email address, you will be:
1. Sent a link to a baseline questionnaire. On the first page of the baseline, you can decide if you would like to use a non-institutional email to receive the daily reminders and any other study materials.
2. The baseline survey will take approximately 20-30 minutes to complete and will consist of questions measuring factors such as: the degree of subtle gender bias at your institution, facets related to your job satisfaction, your general wellbeing, etc.
3. The day following your completion of the baseline, you will receive an email link (to the email address of your choosing) with the first daily questionnaire at the time you specified as most convenient during baseline (5pm, 7pm, 9pm, or 11pm EST). The daily questionnaire will take 2-4 minutes to complete and will ask you whether you experienced or witnessed a slight at work, how it made you feel, and what you may have done about it. We ask that you please complete these questions about your day's events before going to bed that evening.
4. Every day thereafter for 29 additional days (including weekends), you will receive an email at the same time (specified by you) with a NEW link for that day's reporting. Once again, we ask that you please complete these questions about your day's events before going to bed that evening.
5. After completion of the 30-day survey, you will receive an email with a link to a debriefing survey. This debriefing survey will take 2-3 minutes to complete and will ask you about your general experiences and feelings about the baseline and daily surveys.
Note: You will be easily able to complete these daily surveys on any electronic device of your choosing, including a laptop, cell phone, tablet, etc. However, we strongly recommend using a desktop or a laptop to complete the baseline questionnaire.
Potential Risks and Discomfort
With any type of research participation there is the risk for stress or disclosure. It is always possible that you may feel discomfort when asked to reflect on their experiences of—–or witnessing someone else’s—feeling slighted or devalued at work. However, we do not expect that participating in the study will exceed the discomfort people may experience in their everyday lives. You do not have to answer any question that makes you feel uncomfortable and you have the right to withdraw from the survey at any time without any consequences. Please note, that while you are able to complete the survey anywhere using an electronic device, should you decide to do so in your workplace, there is the possible risk that one of your colleagues will notice your participation. If you find that you become distressed because of your participation—or for any reason—-please contact the Principal Investigator.
Incentives/Compensation (if any)
As a token of our appreciation for your time and effort, if you are one of the first 100 participants in academic year of 2019-2020, you will be eligibel to receive an Amazong gift card in the amount of up to $50.
Specifically, you will receive:
- $5.00 for completing the baseline survey.
- An additional $1.00 for every completed daily survey.
- You will receive an addtional bonus of $15.00 if you complete at least 90% of the daily surveys.
Within 30 days of compleion of the last daily survey, you will receive an email notifying you of the amount of the Amazon gift card you will revieve. You will receive the gift card by the end of the 2019 Fall semester.
Anticipated Benefits to the Participants or to Non-participants
Therer are no direct benefits to you however answering these questions about the academic work environment may enhance your awareness of your experience of your work setting. Information gathered from this study will be used to inform improvements within the academic work environment.
Right to Refusal or Withdrawal of Participation
Participating in this study is voluntary. You are free to participate or not without any penalty. As noted above, you do not have to answer any question that makes you feel uncomfortable and you have the right to withdraw from the survey at any time without any consequences. You will, however, only be eligible to receive an Amazon gift card that reflects the payment structure listed above for completed responses. Refusal or discontinuation in the research will have no negative consequences.
Assurances of Privacy and Confidentiality
Since this is a national study and data will be reported in aggregate, it is very unlikely that anyone could identify an individual that has participated.
We require you to provide an institutional email address in order to verify your eligibility to participate this study. However, you have the option of providing a non-institutional email address on the first page of the baseline survey. If you choose to do so, your institutional email address will be deleted within 24 hours, along with any and all links to the data you provide.
The information you provide will remain absolutely confidential. Any identifying information provided will be removed during data processing to assure confidentiality. Your responses to the baseline survey and the daily questionnaires will be linked by the email you choose upon entry during the data collection phase (in order to track your responses over time). During the data analysis stage, we will assign each person a numerical code that will replace the email identifier. All email addresses will be stripped from the original data file and held in a separate database.
Additional Information (Include contact information for researchers)
If you have any questions about this study, please contact the Principal Investigator, Michelle Haynes-Baratz, PhD at (978) 934-3925, or email Michelle_HaynesBaratz@uml.edu. If you have questions about your rights as a research participant, concerns, or complaints you may contact the UMass Lowell Institutional Review Board at IRB@uml.edu or at (978) 934-4134.