Assessing Research Climates Project

About our Assessing Research Climates Project

Effectively managing the academic environment requires data. A professional, principled, inclusive, and psychologically safe climate is crucial for facilitating work flow and interactions between academic leaders, faculty, staff, and students. Cultures are critical to the success of workplaces, and the resulting interpersonal climates are an important factor in research quality and integrity. The principal aims of our Assessing Research Climates project are to help leaders monitor the climates at their institutions and provide a road map for making improvements in organizational and interpersonal climates.

Our Assessment Tools

Tools include the Survey of Organizational Research Climate (SOURCE), which measures research integrity; the Climate of Accountability, Respect, and Ethics Survey (CARES), which measures interpersonal climates in the workplace; and the Behavioral, Emotional, and Social Skills Inventory (BESSI), which measures interpersonal skills. The National Center for Principled Leadership and Research Ethics helped develop tools that make it easier to measure workplace climate efficiently. We deploy our tools through our custom-built Results Analysis Engine and maintain a benchmarking database of all institutions that have administered climate surveys through our center.

Our Results Analysis Engine

We use our custom-built Results Analysis Engine (RAE) to manage the process and present findings. The Engine allows leaders to see a full summary of what areas of the research and working climates are succeeding or may need improvement. These tools are useful for addressing long-term and short-term issues within the professional academic environment, to ensure that each member of the community can thrive.

Our Data Handling Practices

We are committed to protecting participants' identities, and unless otherwise specified, survey data is anonymous. For surveys administered through the Results Analysis Engine, participant demographic data and survey response data are not linked within participants' research area or unit, and the NCPRE Assessment team has implemented rigorous security measures to prevent the identification of respondents. For instance, the moment participants submit their survey, responses are anonymized. Additionally, personally identifying information is immediately de-coupled from responses within participants' work units upon submission of the survey. Furthermore, if there are fewer than 5 people who respond within any particular category (e.g., responses by role, responses by gender, responses by educational level, etc.) all responses are redacted for analysis of that specific category. Participants can also choose not to answer any individual question.

Qualitative Interview Data Handling Practices

Qualitative interviews are recorded using Zoom and Tactiq for transcription purposes. Immediately after each interview ends, the video file processes and is securely downloaded by Dr. Julia Briskin and uploaded to a confidential, access-restricted Box folder protected under University of Illinois data security standards. Once the upload is confirmed, the raw MP4 file is deleted from Dr. Briskin’s local computer hard drive. Only study team members who are formally approved on the University of Illinois IRB protocol have access to interview data, and access is limited to those who require it for analysis. Study team members who will have access to the data are always listed on the interview consent forms. Interview data and survey data are stored separately. We take extensive precautions at every stage of data collection, storage, and analysis to protect participant confidentiality.

For more specific information about how your survey data is handled, please contact Julia Briskin, PhD, Director of Assessment at NCPRE, at jbriskin@illinois.edu

Learn more about our assessment tools and services: https://ncpreassessment.web.illinois.edu/