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

In late Spring 2014, MIT's Chancellor sponsored a survey to understand how sexual assault affects the MIT community. The survey was sent to all current MIT students and a sample of recent alumni. The aim of this survey was to collect information on some social and cultural aspects of MIT culture, attitudes and opinions on different types of social behavior, and experiences in different types of sexual situations, including those that are nonconsensual.

The content of the survey was developed through the efforts of many people in offices across MIT, including:

• Office of the Chancellor
  Cindy Barnhart (Chancellor)
• Office of General Counsel
  Mark DiVincenzo (Deputy General Counsel)
• Division of Student Life
  Aideen Doneski (Senior Project Director for Assessment),
  Sarah Rankin (Title IX Investigator),
  Barbara Baker (Senior Associate Dean for Students)
• Community Wellness at MIT Medical, and Violence Prevention and Response
  Maryanne Kirkbride (Clinical Director for Campus Life),
  Kate McCarthy (Senior Program Manager), and
  Kelley Adams (Program Manager)
• Institutional Research, Office of the Provost
  Jag Patel (Associate Director of Institutional Research)
• Many MIT students who attended discussion sessions as well as answered early versions of the survey to offer their comments.

This site is written with the needs of AAUDE & COFHE schools in mind, but may apply more broadly to other institutions in higher education.