I was thinking over the course of the past week that it may be a good idea to think about establishing a baseline for how COSIMA is doing with regards to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.
One way to do this is through a Diversity Survey (as ACEAS conducted last month), where a sense of the makeup of the COSIMA community can be obtained. Do people have ideas on how we can understand and keep track of metrics related to gender, cultural and linguistic diversity, and other key markers of diversity in the community?
I think once we establish a ‘baseline’ (entirely voluntary, of course), we could then use that information to identify key areas of strength and weakness in the community.
Keen to hear your thoughts and ideas, and of course best practices!
For the non-ACEAS peeps, could you share the ACEAS survey questions? If you don’t have access to it, just from memory – it doesn’t have to be exactly what the ACEAS survey was.
Thanks for your patience as I developed a list of reasonable questions for this survey. We have whittled down the list of possible questions to 17. I would like to get the broader community’s take on these questions, so I have opened a poll where you can vote for the questions you think are most relevant for the survey. Please comment if you think there are some major omissions. I will take the top 10 questions for the final survey.
I am hoping to present the results at the COSIMA/NRI meeting in September.
Please vote below for the questions you think are most relevant for the COSIMA Diversity Survey
On a scale of 1 to 10, how diverse and inclusive do you think COSIMA is?
Do you feel as if you are included and able to be yourself in COSIMA?
Do you think you have the same opportunities to advance in your career as other team members?
Does COSIMA make you feel comfortable with your sexual identity?
Have you witnessed or experienced bias or discrimination based on diversity within COSIMA?
How effectively do you think COSIMA promotes a culture of inclusion and belonging?
How comfortable do you feel discussing diversity and inclusion issues with your colleagues and supervisors?
Have you witnessed or experienced instances where COSIMA didn’t treat members fairly?
Have you ever felt that your voice or contributions were not valued or considered due to factors such as gender, race, or other identities?
Do you feel that all members have equal access to leadership opportunities and roles within COSIMA?
How effectively does COSIMA handle complaints or grievances related to equity issues?
I feel comfortable reporting any issues or challenges and I know they’ll be taken seriously
Do you feel a sense of belonging and inclusion within COSIMA
Have you observed or experienced instances where certain individuals or groups were excluded or marginalized?
Rate from 1 to 10 how well you feel your individual strengths and talents are recognized and utilized within COSIMA
How effective do you think COSIMA is in creating an environment where all voices are heard and valued, regardless of their background or identity?
Are there any specific diversity and inclusion events or activities you’d like to see implemented within COSIMA?
I am confused by “the workplace” in the top 2 questions. Will people interpret that as COSIMA? Or as the institution where they work? Can we replace “workplace” with “COSIMA” ?
Similarly I’m not sure about “Do you think you have the same opportunities to advance in your career as other team members”. There’s a lot of factors affecting career advancement that COSIMA has little control over. Like university opportunities for teaching / supervision, national/international awards, grants etc. Perhaps could be reworded to something like: “Do you think you have the same opportunities for {collaboration, leadership, sharing science, model development, XXX} within COSIMA as other COSIMA members?”
Great! Are there any of these categories that are more important? I think we cover leadership in another question. I would suggest collaboration or model development personally.
I would be less specific here and go with “participation” or something similar. Given the loose structure of COSIMA, I’m wary of being overly prescriptive in the questions.
More generally, there are a few that feel very closely correlated to me, e.g.
“Do you feel as if you are able to be yourself in COSIMA?” and “Do you feel a sense of belonging and inclusion within COSIMA?” I know survey design often includes correlated questions like that as a way to test internal consistency, but if we’re trying to shorten it, we probably want to avoid them.
The final question is an open ended response question. I think it’s important to provide people with a space to give us this feedback, but it’s quite different from the other questions which are mostly yes/no or 1-10 style questions.