Social Belonging and Group Identity on Academic Outcomes
Monash University researchers are recruiting student participants who engage with Disability Support Services (DSS) to complete an anonymous online survey to explore the barriers to student with accessing the various support programs at Monash and how these can be overcome.
What Does the Research Involve?
Social belonging is the “psychological sense that one is a valued member of the college community” and has been shown to positively impact student retention and correlates with academic success and career ambitions, but is influenced by factors like race, ethnicity, and gender.
Targeted interventions have proven successful in improving outcomes, especially for marginalized groups, but these studies primarily focus on single-discipline contexts.
If you are interested in participating in this research, you are invited to complete a short 20 minute survey that aims to explore your initial perceptions of university life and your sense of belonging.
The survey is:
- Completely voluntary
- Shouldn’t take longer than 20 minutes to complete
- Your responses will remain confidential, only de-identified information will be reported.
- Your responses will never be shared with your lecturers or unit coordinators.
Consenting to Participate in the Project and Withdrawing from the Research
Completion of the online survey will constitute consent. You can choose not to participate in the study by simply not completing the online survey.
Since all survey responses are anonymous, it will not be possible to remove your responses once the survey is submitted.
There will be no consequences to your study or grades if you choose not to participate.
Possible Benefits and Risks to Participants
The results of this project will better inform the Australian tertiary sector about the influence of a student’s sense of belonging on their academic performance at retention at University. This could lead to improved transition programs for science students or social inclusion interventions that could improve the University experience for subsequent cohorts.
When completing the surveys, some of the questions are of a personal nature. If uncomfortable with these questions, you may skip or select “prefer not to say”. There are no risks for completing the surveys other than the time spent completing them.
Confidentiality
Only collective data will be analysed and reported. The survey is anonymous, no identifiable information will be collected.
Access and Storage of Data
Electronic data will be stored on Monash owned computers and servers in line with university policy. Computer access is limited to a single locked office and all data will be password protected. Data will be destroyed when it is no longer required or 5 years after the publication of the project’s findings.
Only the chief investigator and other investigators listed on this explanatory statement will have access to the data.
Use of Data for Other Purposes
Only aggregate de-identified data may be used for other projects where ethics approval has been granted by the Monash Human Ethics Review Committee.
Results
Results of the publication will be made available to participants upon request, once the initial data collection and analysis has taken place to reveal the experimental findings. The findings of this project will be made available through publicly available peer-reviewed journals or conference proceedings, which will be published at the conclusion of the study.
Complaints
Should you have any concerns or complaints about the conduct of the project (Project number: 41466), you are welcome to contact the Executive Officer:
Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee (MUHREC)
Room 111, Chancellery Building D,
26 Sports Walk, Clayton Campus
Research Office
Monash University VIC 3800
Here is the link to the online survey.
For More Information:
Chief Investigator: Dr Thomas Hiscox
School of Biological Sciences
Faculty of Science
Phone: (03) 9905 9986
Email: Thomas.hiscox@monash.edu