MIT Health & Wellness Surveys: Tips from Developing the 2014 MIT Community Attitudes on Sexual Assault (CASA) Survey

Survey Development

• MIT's survey was sponsored by the Chancellor, a senior academic officer reporting directly to the president, and "has oversight responsibility for graduate and undergraduate education at MIT, student life, student services, and other areas that impact student experience." The Chancellor brought together a large group to collaborate on the survey development.
• In this instance, MIT chose a stand-alone sexual assault survey, having run ACHA/NCHA in Fall 2013. Going forward, a decision will need to be made whether these questions are usually on a standalone sexual assault survey or a more general health behaviors survey. AAUDE & COFHE schools often run surveys that ask a little bit about everything, favoring a broad topic.
• For this survey, a $10 incentive was offered to each student who answered the survey, with options to donate the $10 to a campus group (41% chose this option), to receive the $10 as TechCASH (internal MIT debit card, 56% chose this option), or to opt-out of the gift (3% chose this option). Students who selected TechCASH were sent to another web site to enter identifying information.
• The group had a number of discussions on the final name for the survey. The title helps set the tone for the invitation and email communications, and should make all students feel as if the survey applies to them. (see tips from j.mp/askjag)
  
  

  Some of the survey names considered: 1. Study of Sexual Assault 2. Student Attitudes Towards Sexual Assault 3. Sex Opinions Study (SOS) 4. Student Opinions on Sex (SOS) 5. Community Attitudes on Sexual Experiences (CASE)

  6. Community Attitudes on Sexual Assault (CASA) 7. Sexual Manners and Respectful Treatment (SMART) 8. Sexual Assault Feelings and Experiences (SAFE) 9. Understanding Perceptions of Sexual Assault 10. Student Understanding of Acceptable Sexual Behaviors 11. Acceptable Behavior or Violent Experience (ABOVE)

Survey Testing

• MIT's survey was developed before the NotAlone.gov tools were available, and the sample instruments available didn't yet cover all the topics the group wanted to address. Given that, survey testing was essential to ensure students of all ages and origins could answer the questions.
• The survey was first shared in person with students in focus groups and informally for comment.
• Versions of the survey were also sent out to 300 students total, asking for early responses and feedback on the questions via a comment box available at the end of each section. Comments from students were used to iterate on the survey wording and options, and revise the flow of the final survey.

Communications

• The success of MIT's survey can be attributed in part to the open support of MIT's senior leadership, with the Chancellor engaged and driving the survey development process.
• The community was invited to a number of campus-wide focus groups.
• A number of letters on the topic went to the MIT Community:
  • Breaking Silence: A reply. President L. Rafael Reif, February 7, 2014
  • Community Update on Sexual-Assault Prevention. Chancellor Cynthia Barnhart, April 2, 2014
  • Strengthening MIT’s Response to Sexual Violence. Dean for Student Life Chris Colombo, April 2014
  • CASA survey invitations and reminders
  • Community Update on Sexual-Assault Prevention. Chancellor Cynthia Barnhart, May 20, 2014
    Picked up by Boston Globe on May 22, 2014