Conducting a Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault in the Context of Human Subjects Protections: A successful campus effort

In January 2014, the White House established a Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault.  One of its mandates is to provide colleges/universities with tools to increase understanding of the true depth of sexual assault problems on campuses and increase opportunities for victims to report crimes.  The White House is exploring legislative/administrative options to require colleges to conduct evidence-based surveys beginning in 2016.  With commitment and responsiveness to national and local sexual assault prevention movements, one major Northeastern public university created a campus-wide survey to be pilot-tested in spring 2015.  Though critically important, however, comprehensive research on rape and sexual assault  faces important hurdles in obtaining IRB approval.  The presentation will focus on one campus’s success in gaining IRB approval for a campus-wide online survey.  The unique collaboration of senior-level administrators, residence-life staff, public health faculty, an IRB member, and students, was critical in the effort to successfully mitigate several potential pitfalls.  Efforts included thoughtful survey design, which sought to balance invasiveness with the need to accurately measure experiences and perspectives.  IRB concerns regarding emotional distress to participants was addressed by identifying the regulatory and ethical mandates to conduct this research and an emphasis on the perpetuation of negative impacts resulting from underreporting of rape and sexual assault on campus without such research.  Further, data on participants’ assessments of the risks associated with participation were collected and will provide empirical data to inform IRB members and scholars about the risks and benefits of conducting such research in the future.