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This document contains the questions and options from the 2018 Demographic Survey copied verbatim from the Google Form. A back of of the questions is saved in the file menu. Changes can be made to this document, but please flag them in bold.

Each section is a specific section (a page) in the overall survey as one would see while taken the survey. Each section will start on its own page for separationg purposes. In each section, the subsection title is the question with a lists giving the options. The type of response is also indicated.

2018 SDSS-IV Demographics

Welcome! Once again, the SDSS is surveying the basic demographics of the Collaboration’s membership and leadership. Building off the 2014, 2015 and 2016 SDSS-IV Demographics Surveys (Lundgren et al. 2015 and Lucatello et al. in preparation), the goal is to track changes in SDSS-IV’s makeup over time. In addition, a few new questions have been added to this 2018 Demographics Survey in response to feedback from SDSS-IV members. The results of these and future surveys will (1) assist the Collaboration in understanding the involvement of its members, and (2) assist all members in taking maximum advantage of the opportunities offered within SDSS. We welcome and appreciate the help of ALL SDSS-IV participants, regardless of level of involvement, in sharing their experiences and gathering a large sample!

For the purposes of this survey, we intend “leadership” and “leadership role” to refer to any role whose tasks or responsibilities include making decisions that affect other people and the survey, organizing regular project discussions or meetings, professional mentoring, or influencing/directing others in their tasks.

ALL QUESTIONS ARE OPTIONAL, but each will help address specific concerns of the Sloan Foundation and the SDSS-IV’s leadership and project committees. We also emphasize that, the only information besides the responses provided in this survey is the timestamp, and no identifying or personal information is transmitted. All the information provided is strictly confidential. Statistical considerations based on the aggregate data from the survey will be shared with the collaboration, but access to the anonymous responses will be strictly limited to the members of COINS (Committee on INclusion in Sloan), who have committed to utmost confidentiality on the matter.

The survey has a total of 40 questions and should take about 10 minutes or less to complete.

Thank you for your help!

Career information

  1. My current career position is best described as:

    [Multiple Choice]

    • Undergraduate student

    • Graduate Student

    • Postdoc

    • Junior faculty (less than 10 FTE years as a faculty/staff member)

    • Senior faculty (more than 10 FTE years as a faculty/staff member)

    • Research scientist

    • Emeritus

    • Administration

    • Prefer not to answer

    • Other

  2. I received my highest professional degree __ years ago

    [Multiple Choice]

    • Still in degree program

    • 0-5 years

    • 6-10 years

    • 11-15 years

    • 16+ years

    • prefer not to answer

    • Emeritus

    • Administration

    • Prefer not to answer

    • Other

Experience with SDSS

  1. Compared with last year (2017), my general involvement with SDSS has:

    [Multiple Choice]

    • Decreased

    • Remained roughly the same

    • Increased

    • Prefer not to answer

  2. My participation in SDSS has been helpful for the advancement of my career:

    [Multiple Choice]

    • Strongly Disagree

    • Disagree

    • Neutral

    • Agree

    • Strongly Agree

    • Unsure

    • Prefer not to answer

  3. I have missed all or part of a telecon or collaboration meeting because it conflicted with family constraints:

    • Never

    • Rarely

    • Frequently

    • Prefer not to answer

  4. The SDSS fosters an inclusive climate:

    [Multiple Choice]

    • Strongly Disagree

    • Disagree

    • Neutral

    • Agree

    • Strongly Agree

    • Unsure

    • Prefer not to answer

  5. Do you have any suggestions for how the climate of SDSS could be improved?

    [Long answer text]

  6. How often do you ask questions at SDSS collaboration or team meetings?

    [Multiple Choice]

    • All or most sessions

    • Some sessions

    • Only a few sessions

    • I never ask questions

    • Prefer not to answer

  7. At the collaboration or team meetings, how comfortable are you ASKING questions in the following situations? 1 to 5 is very uncomfortable to very comfortable.

    [Each item below has a space for responding with 1 to 5]

    • During an informal, 1-1 conversation

    • While presenting a poster

    • While reading a poster

    • In a small (topical) session

    • In a large (conference-wide) session

    • When speaking with someone at the same professional level

    • When speaking with someone at the more senior professional level

    • When speaking with someone at the more junior professional level

  8. At the collaboration or team meetings, how comfortable are you ANSWERING questions in the following situations? 1 to 5 is very uncomfortable to very comfortable.

    [Each item below has a space for responding with 1 to 5]

    • During an informal, 1-1 conversation

    • While presenting a poster

    • While reading a poster

    • In a small (topical) session

    • In a large (conference-wide) session

    • When speaking with someone at the same professional level

    • When speaking with someone at the more senior professional level

    • When speaking with someone at the more junior professional level

  9. At the collaboration or team meetings, would you feel comfortable asking a question through one of the following means? 1 to 5 is very uncomfortable to very comfortable.

    [Each item below has a space for responding with 1 to 5]

    • Interrupting a speaker during a talk to ask a question

    • Asking a speaker a question at the end of their talk

    • Asking a speaker a question in person before or after a science session

    • Emailing a speaker a question before or after a science session

    • Posing a question through social media that may be answered during a science session

    • Posing a question anonymously that may be answered during a science session

  10. When you do not ask questions, or if you are uncomfortable asking questions during a SDSS meeting, what are the typical, main reasons why?

    Or, if you usually don’t ask questions, what are the typical, main reasons you don’t ask questions?

    [Check all that apply.]

    • Don’t have a question.

    • General anxiety or nervousness.

    • Not enough time or too many other people asking questions

    • Feel underappreciated.

    • Attempted, but was not recognized.

    • Worried question is stupid

    • Feel too young/early career or new member

    • Feel too old or out-of-date with the topic

    • Prefer not to answer

  11. If you feel uncomfortable asking questions during a SDSS meeting, what would help you feel more confident to ask a question?

    [Long Answer Text]

  12. Have you read the SDSS Code of Conduct, Code of Conduct FAQ and Best Practices documents?

    Code of Conduct: https://www.sdss.org/collaboration/the-sloan-digital-sky-survey-code-of-conduct/

    FAQ: https://trac.sdss.org/wiki/CoCo/CodeofConduct/FAQ

    Best Practices: https://www.sdss.org/collaboration/coins/coins-best-practices

    [Multiple Choice]

    • Yes

    • Partially

    • I read an older version some time ago

    • No

    • Prefer not to answer

  13. Do you have any suggestions for reducing occurrences of bullying and harassment within the collaboration?

    [Long Answer Text]

  14. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve mentoring within SDSS?

    [Long Answer Text]

Demographic Information

  1. My primary home institution is located in:

    [Multiple Choice]

    • Africa

    • Asia

    • Austrailia / Pacific Islands

    • Europe

    • North America (Canada, USA)

    • Meso/Central America (including Mexico)

    • South America

    • Prefer not to answer

  2. I identify my ethnicity (or nationality, if more appropriate) as:

    [Short Answer]

  3. I consider myself to be a racial/ethnic minority at my current institution:

    [Multiple Choice]

    • Yes

    • No

    • Unsure

    • Prefer not to answer

  4. I identify my gender as

    [Multiple Choice]

    • Female

    • Male

    • Non-binary

    • Prefer not to answer

  5. I consider myself a member of the LGBT+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community:

    [Multiple Choice]

    • Yes

    • No

    • Prefer not to answer

  6. I identify as having a sensory, physical, or mental disability:

    [Multiple Choice]

    • Yes

    • No

    • Unsure

    • Prefer not to answer

  7. I consider my partnership status to be:

    [Multiple Choice]

    • Single

    • Married

    • Unmarried partnership

    • Prefer not to answer

  8. I have children:

    [Multiple Choice]

    • Yes

    • No

    • Prefer not to answer

  9. The highest level of education completed by my parent or guardian:

    (Please select for parent with highest level of education)

    [Multiple Choice]

    • Did not complete primary school

    • Primary school

    • High school

    • Some college

    • College graduate

    • Master’s degree

    • Professional degree

    • PhD / Doctoral degree

    • Prefer not to answer

Leadership in SDSS

  1. I was/am also involved in SDSS-III:

    [Multiple Choice]

    • Yes

    • No

    • Prefer not to answer

  2. If “Yes” to the above question, I considered myself to be in a leadership or decision-making role (official or unofficial) within SDSS-III:

    At any level – overall project, committees, and/or within BOSS, SEGUE-II, MARVELS, and/or APOGEE. For the purposes of this survey, we intend “leadership” and “leadership role” to refer to any role whose tasks or responsibilities include making decisions that affect other people and the survey, organizing regular project discussions or meetings, professional mentoring, or influencing/directing others in their tasks.

    [Multiple Choice]

    • Yes

    • No

    • Prefer not to answer

    • N/A

  3. I currently consider myself to be in a leadership or decision-making role (official or unofficial) within SDSS-IV:

    At any level – overall project, committees, and/or within eBOSS, TDSS, SPIDERS, MaNGA, and/or APOGEE-2. For the purposes of this survey, we intend “leadership” and “leadership role” to refer to any role whose tasks or responsibilities include making decisions that affect other people and the survey, organizing regular project discussions or meetings, professional mentoring, or influencing/directing others in their tasks.

    [Multiple Choice]

    • Yes

    • No

    • Prefer not to answer

  4. Compared with last year (2017), my involvement with SDSS leadership activities has:

    [Multiple Choice]

    • Decreased

    • Remained roughly the same

    • Increased

    • Prefer not to answer

  5. The primary role in which I lead others is officially recognized within the survey:

    e.g., a named position on an org chart

    [Multiple Choice]

    • Yes

    • No

    • Unsure

    • Prefer not to answer

  6. Which activity(ies) best describes your leadership role?

    [Check all that apply.]

    • Making decisions that affect other people’s tasks

    • Making decisions that affect funding or operations

    • Professional mentorship of junior colleagues

    • Organization of regular scientific or technical meetings or discussions

    • Prefer not to answer

    • I don’t consider myself in a leadership role

    • Other…

  7. I ended up in this role via:

    [Check all that apply.]

    • Was explicitly encouraged to apply for position

    • Responded to open call for applications

    • Was asked to fill position without a formal applications

    • Position was defined around work I was already doing

    • Was asked by others to take on tasks that ended up defining this role

    • Prefer not to answer

    • I don’t consider myself in a leadership role

    • Other…

  8. This role is an SDSS-funded position:

    (Full or partial salary)

    [Multiple Choice]

    • Yes

    • No

    • Prefer not to answer

    • I don’t consider myself in a leaderhip role

  9. My decision to take on this leadership role has been beneficial for my career:

    [Multiple Choice]

    • Strongly Disagree

    • Disagree

    • Neutral

    • Agree

    • Strongly Agree

    • Unsure

    • Prefer not to answer

    • I don’t consider myself in a leaderhip role

  10. I have been offered or explicitly encouraged to fill a leadership or decision-making role in SDSS-IV:

    At any level – overall project, committees, and/or within eBOSS, TDSS, SPIDERS, MaNGA, and/or APOGEE-2. For the purposes of this survey, we intend “leadership” and “leadership role” to refer to any role whose tasks or responsibilities include making decisions that affect other people and the survey, organizing regular project discussions or meetings, professional mentoring, or influencing/directing others in their tasks.

[Multiple Choice]

  - Yes

  - No

  - Unsure

  - Agree

  - Prefer not to answer

  1. If you do not hold a leadership position or decision-making role in SDSS, which statement describes why this is the case?

    [Multiple Choice]

    • I did not know what roles were available and/or how to fill them.

    • I applied for a role or roles and was unsuccessful.

    • I was offered a role but turned it down because I do not have time.

    • I was offered a role but turned it down because it would not benefit my career.

    • I did not seek out a role because I do not have time.

    • I did not seek out a role because it would not benefit my career.

    • I am new and do not feel qualified/experienced enough to take on a leadership role

    • Prefer not to answer

    • N/A

  2. Do you have any suggestions for how to make leadership opportunities more inclusive and be more encouraging for early career scientists?

    [Long Answer Text]

Education and Public Outreach involvement

  1. Thinking about public engagement with, and communicating about, science, roughly how many times in the past 12 months have you done each of the following?

    [Options for each row: never, once, 2-3 times, 4-5 times, 6 or more, prefer not to answer]

    • Worked with teachers / schools (including writing educational material)

    • Participated in an institutional open day

    • Given a public lecture, including being part of a panel

    • Taken part in a public dialogue event / debate

    • Been interviewed on radio

    • Been interviewed by a newspaper journalist

    • Written for the non-specialist public (including for the media, articles and books)

    • Engaged with policy-makers

    • Engaged with non-Governmental organisations (NGOs)

    • Worked with science centres / museums

    • Judged competitions

    • Engaged with the non-specialist public at skygazing events (with or without telescopes), such as star parties or similar

    • Managed or co-managed social media profiles that primarily focus on engaging with the non-specialist public on astronomy or science topics (select number of social media profiles you managed or co-managed)

    • Other

  2. In relation to the other things you have to do in your working life, how important is it to you that you find time to engage with the non-specialist public?

    [Multiple Choice]

    • Not at all important

    • Somewhat important

    • Very important

    • Extremely important

    • Prefer not to answer

  3. Would you like to spend more time, less time or about the same amount of time as you do now engaging with the non-specialist public about science?

    [Multiple Choice]

    • I would like to spend more time

    • I am content with the amount of time I spend on this now

    • I would like to spend less time

    • Not sure

    • Prefer not to answer

  4. What is stopping you from getting (more) involved in activities that engage the non-specialist public in your science? Please mark all that apply.

    [Check all that apply.]

    • I am already involved enough

    • I just do not want to

    • I am too junior

    • I work in an institution/country where EPO activities are carried out in a language I am not fully comfortable speaking

    • I feel that I am encroaching on the Press Office work

    • I do not have the training

    • There is no senior level support

    • Fear of negative reaction/self-promotion issues

    • Not enough funding

    • I need to spend more time on research

    • I need to spend more time on teaching

    • I need to spend more time on administration

    • I need to spend more time getting funding for my research

    • I would have to do it on my own time

    • It is not a good use of my time

    • Other…

Submission

Last page that lets one review answers before submission