Surveys

• Demographic Questions: If the student consents to reading their records, then there is no need to ask demographic questions nor their name (ex: ethnicity, gender, declared major, graduation year, etc.). The research team can pull these from Slate, as long as you get their NetID. Only ask demographic questions if the student does not consent.
• Google Forms vs Qualtrics vs Slate: We recommend the use of Google Forms unless you have more advanced needs. Please ask them for their email by going to Settings > Defaults > Form Defaults > Collect email addresses by default and choosing “Verified”. If you are using Qualtrics or Slate, please ask them for their NetID.
  • Do I need Qualtrics or Slate? Use the following questions to know if you need Qualtrics or Slate:
    • Tracking Recruitment Channel: Sometimes you want to track where and how your participants accessed your survey (ex: through the QR code, through the email, through a text, etc.). Qualtrics and Slate have functionality to automatically help you track this.
    • Reaching Specific Students: Sometimes you want your survey to reach only specific students (ex: from a specific demographic or year or major, etc.), then Slate will help you find and a reach these students.
  • Slate tutorials: You learn more about slate by reading the Slate docs.

IRB

Here are some links that will help you fill the IRB:
- UCR’s Office of Research Compliance (ORC)
- UCR’s Institutional Review Board (IRB)
- Additional Resources
See if your research is IRB-exempt. Your research can be expedited if it presents minimal risk, that is, that “the probability and magnitude of harm or discomfort anticipated in the research are not greater than those ordinarily encountered in daily life or during the performance of routine physical or psychological examinations or tests” [45, CFR 46, 102(j)].

Data Confidentiality

Please follow the following procedures to ensure data confidentiality:

• If you are going to share the data among coworkers, create a new folder in Google Drive or a new Teams channel in Microsoft. Invite only colleagues who have completed their CITI training.
• Depending on the nature of the project and the IRB application, you will have to destroy or de-identify the data. We usually destroy the data right before we publish the results of the study. For long-term projects, we may keep the data for the duration of the “life of the project”, which may include after the publication of the initial data. If you are conducting a longitudinal analysis, we usually de-identify the data.
• We recommend you using password managers such as those provided by Chrome, Firefox, Apple, or Bitwarden. We recommend you not using personal information in your password (ex: SofiaHernandez1999-01-02, I-Love-Batman-1989) because social hackers will often guess your password based on your personal information and social media posts.