Supporting the Association’s commitment to advancing academic scholarship in the field of conduct administration, ASCA permits researchers to conduct studies of the Association’s membership with approval following an application process (detailed below). “Membership” can include individual professionals who have membership with ASCA, their home institutions, and/or to request access to students at their institutions. Researchers must be current members of the Association. Researchers who are granted access to the membership are expected to share their findings and outcomes with ASCA in a timely manner.
Typical Options for Studying ASCA Membership
- Web-based survey of the ASCA membership: If approved, the ASCA Central Office will contact the Association membership via e-mail with an invitation crafted by the researcher that contains a link to the actual study instrument hosted online by a provider such as SurveyMonkey. Generally, ASCA will permit no more than two (2) total contacts per study via e-mail and the Association assumes no responsibility for the membership’s willingness to participate. The invitation emails for all studies must designate that participation is both voluntary and anonymous for all respondents. The emails must also provide IRB information as applicable (IRB approval is required for research requesting access to students at member institutions). In some cases, the ASCA Central Office may be able to direct the Request to Study the Membership to a portion of the membership based on a specific demographic. Communication to the membership might also occur via the weekly newsletter, Association Update. The frequency of inclusion in the newsletter will vary depending on the number of studies being promoted and overall content limits.
- Contact from Central Office seeking volunteers: Researchers seeking permission to conduct studies of ASCA membership may request no more than two (2) e-mails be sent to the ASCA membership soliciting participation in a study. The email invitation must be crafted by the researcher and contain the contact information of the researcher along with relevant study and IRB information. Communication to the membership might also occur via the weekly newsletter, Association Update. The frequency of inclusion in the newsletter will vary depending on the number of studies being promoted and overall content limits.
- Interviews or focus groups at ASCA Annual Conference: With approval from the ASCA Research Committee, researchers may receive permission to conduct studies of attendees at the Annual Conference. Researchers are expected to pay all expenses associated with their attendance and research conducted at the annual conference, including room reservation costs. Based on the needs of the researcher, the Central Office can provide details to conference attendees, adding limited material in online/app-based Annual Conference guides, and assisting the researcher in scheduling room(s) for the interviews. Any recruitment communication by the researcher must be included in the Request to Study ASCA Membership and follow the above communication guidelines. Requests to conduct research at the annual conference should be submitted no later than four (4) months prior to the Annual Conference.
General Procedures
The ASCA Research Committee’s permission to study the Association’s membership is in no way an endorsement of the study or its merits. The Association takes no responsibility for the utilization of study results by individual researchers nor ownership of said data. Invitation emails sent to ASCA membership will not contain an indication that the study is from the Research Committee – researchers must sign their own name(s) or, in the interest of confidentiality, state “Anonymous Doctoral Student” or the like.
The ASCA Research Committee is judicious in its approval of requests to study the membership, based on the characteristics identified herein.
To submit a formal request, researchers should complete the “Request to Study ASCA Membership Application” and submit as a single PDF document to the ASCA Central Office at asca@theasca.org.
Decisions as to whether a request to study ASCA membership will be accepted or denied are made by the Chair or Co-Chairs of the ASCA Research Committee in consultation with other members of the Committee. Determinations as to whether a study application will be accepted are guided by the following characteristics of the study:
(a) advancement of ASCA’s mission,
(b) contribution to basic knowledge in the field of conduct administration,
(c) potential to not compromise the ethics of ASCA members,
(d) timeliness of the topic, and
(d) appropriate use of research design.
Upon receipt of a request to study the membership, the ASCA Research Committee co-chair emails the Research Committee membership indicating that there is a new request, a deadline for review, and requesting volunteers. Typically, the first three individuals who respond to the request will serve as the reviewers. The co-chairs may also act as reviewers if there are not sufficient responses to fill a three-member review group.
The ASCA Research Committee members will evaluate requests based on the following areas and criteria:
Abstract:
- Clearly identifies a problem of practice or underexplored phenomenon and justifies a need to study.
- Topic is timely and of interest to the membership.
- Abstract is clear and well-organized.
Population to be studied:
- Proposal is presented with enough detail to understand choice of author’s research methodology.
- Author describes the relevance and/or significance of selected population to the proposed study.
- Timeline for study invitations.
- Timeline for reviewing data and presenting results.
- Timeline is reasonable given the date of application.
Contribution to research literature:
- Demonstrates the potential to advance ASCA’s mission to advance the student conduct profession.
- Describes the study’s benefit to the ASCA membership.
- Addresses a research gap or duplicates existing study with potential to uncover new findings.
Research protocol:
- Protocol follows general rules of ethical study of human subjects.
- Promotes confidentiality and/or anonymity.
- Describes consent process.
- Identifies criteria for selection and non-selection of participants.
- Describes process used to develop instruments and/or interview questions.
Overall effectiveness of proposal:
- Recruitment email clearly describes the focus of the study, target audience for participation, voluntary nature of study.
- Thoughtful articulation of preparation, interest and ownership of project, investment and skills, and expected outcomes.
The ASCA Research Committee Co-chair will collect feedback from the reviewers and share it with the researcher as collated, de-identified responses.
Applications are reviewed one at a time on a rolling basis, and the ASCA Research Committee reserves the right to work with the researcher(s) of accepted study applications to determine an appropriate date for the initiation of the study. The acceptance of study requests depends on the committee’s response to the above mentioned characteristics. Regardless of the committee’s decision, researchers should expect to receive feedback from the committee. While the ASCA Research Committee will generally communicate with researchers who have submitted a study request within three weeks, that timeline may be extended as necessary.
Outcomes from a request include:
- APPROVED - Approved studies are ready for data gathering.
- CONDITIONALLY APPROVED - There may be significant adjustments that the reviewers would like to see the Researcher make. This does not require that they resubmit their study, but instead work with the Research Committee Co-chair to complete these changes for approval.
- REVISE AND RESUBMIT - These are likely studies with significant issues that cannot be easily remedied. The Research Committee Co-chair will provide guidance for how to resolve these, but a revise and resubmit requires the researcher to make significant changes that may require new IRB review before being shared again with the Research Committee membership.
- DENY - These studies either have major issues or are not appropriate for ASCA membership.
Individuals whose study requests are denied by the ASCA Research Committee may work with the Research Committee to revise their application and resubmit for review.
Researchers who are granted access to the membership are expected to share their findings and outcomes with the Association in a timely manner based on their research timeline. This can take the form of:
- Presentation at the Annual Conference
- ASCA Blog or Podcast
- ASCA Journal submission
- Webinar for ASCA membership
- Other formats at the discretion of the Research Committee
Last updated October 2024