Engendering Success in STEM

ProjectRISE

Inclusive Innovation Study

As of July 2023, we are no longer accepting participants for our Inclusive Innovation project. 

Thank you for your interest!

 

 

You are invited to take part in an innovative, federally funded gender equality research project on creating collaborative cultures in the workplace. Your organization and others have joined an exciting new collaborative effort with leading research scientists to conduct and assess the efficacy of a virtual workshop designed to improve workplace experiences and promote professional success by cultivating an inclusive culture. These workshops will be a 3.5-hour virtual workshop hosted over Zoom, with surveys before and after. The workshop and surveys cover topics related to organizational values, gender and ethnic diversity in teams, effective communication, and promoting an inclusive culture through allyship.

Organizational change is most likely to occur when people work together and so we ask that you and a colleague (ideally of a different gender) participate together as “research partners.” You and your research partner are invited to work together on fostering positive, inclusive norms in your teams or organization. 

To participate: 

  1. Invite a research partner to sign up (and get permission to name them as your partner).
  2. Fill out the Volunteer Sign-Up Survey.
  3. Check your email for confirmation of workshop registration and surveys.

 

Quick Links

Sign Up to Participate

Update Partner Name

Receive Study Updates

RISE Workshops

Inclusive Innovation Study

Volunteers will be randomly assigned (like the flip of a coin) to complete the workshop during either an early set of dates or a later set of dates (i.e., a waitlist control experimental design). To assess both the short and long-term impact of each workshop, attendees will be invited to complete five online surveys before and after the seminar.

Eligible Participants Must:

• Work more than half-time as a scientist, tech professional, engineer, or mathematician in an academic or organizational setting.

How to Participate:

• Click here or follow the link above to learn more about the study and how to volunteer to participate.

• This project has been reviewed and received clearance from the research ethics boards at the University of British Columbia and the University of Waterloo. You will be asked to indicate your consent to participate after you complete some basic eligibility questions.

Expected Time Commitment to Participate:

• 6 hours across 6 months.

• Your organization supports this research and has committed to having participating employees complete the workshop and surveys during work time.

• In gratitude for your participation, the researchers will offer you the opportunity to enter a draw for a $100 gift card to Amazon.ca.

FAQ

Please click on the frequently asked questions below to learn more about participating in the RISE Workshops.

 

Who is the research team?

  • Dr. Toni Schmader holds the Canada Research Chair in Psychology at the University of British Columbia and is the director of the Consortium on Engendering Success in STEM.
  • Dr. Hilary Bergsieker is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Waterloo.
  • Dr. Schmader can be contacted at rise@psych.ubc.ca or 604-822-6205. Dr. Bergsieker can be contacted at essrise@uwaterloo.ca.
  • Dr. Schmader and Dr. Bergsieker jointly lead the Project RISE team, which comprises other faculty researchers, postdoctoral and doctoral trainees, and technical staff.


Who is facilitating the workshops?

  • The workshop will be facilitated by members of our team, consisting of one Project RISE Social Science team member (either Dr. Toni Schmader, University of British Columbia; or Dr. Hilary Bergsieker, University of Waterloo), and one to two highly qualified personnel. 

Who is eligible to participate?

  • To be eligible to participate, you must work more than half-time as a scientist, tech professional, engineer, or mathematician in an academic or organizational setting. To clarify your eligibility, feel free to email us at ESSRISE@uwaterloo.ca with questions.
  • Organizational change is most likely to occur when people work together, so we ask participants to partner with a colleague/contact of (preferably) a different gender to participate in the research. Ideally, the pair already works together regularly (several times a week) in roles at a similar level. Priority for workshop spots will be given to pairs, but if space permits, individuals will be invited to participate. 

How do participants invite a colleague/contact to partner with them in the study?

  • Participants can invite and confirm a research partner (of a different gender) by forwarding the invitation shared with you by your organizational representative or by forwarding the link shared with you in the workshop invitation email. Both participants will receive a confirmation of registration via email after completing the volunteer sign-up survey. 

Can participants have more than one research partner?

  • No. Participants will partner with one person in the research study but are welcome to encourage other eligible colleagues/contacts to participate by following the same sign-up process.

Can participants partner with someone of the same gender?

  • Participants are encouraged to sign up with a different-gender colleague/contact if possible, but we also welcome same-gender pairs from the same field or organization. If space allows, we will also enrol individuals in the study. 

Can the research team provide a letter for participants to share with their employer if requested?

  • Yes, we are happy to provide participants with a letter if requested. Please email ESSRISE@uwaterloo.ca. 

What is expected of participants during and after the workshop?

  • Participants are expected to give their undivided attention during the presentation portions of the workshop, to talk with other participants during the session, engage with Q&A/brainstorming conversations, respond to survey questions/questionnaires, and agree/adhere to workshop expectations which will be outlined at the beginning of the workshop.
  • Participants are also encouraged to complete all surveys before and after the workshop takes place so that the research team can test the short- and long-term efficacy of the workshop on participants’ attitudes and actions.

How many participants are in each workshop?

  • We anticipate 15-50 participants in each workshop. 

What time of day will the workshops take place?

  • The workshops will take place during the first half of the day. 

Will participants have a break during the workshop?

  • Yes, there will be two 10-minute breaks.

What is the total time commitment for the study?

  • The total time commitment for participants is estimated to be approximately 6 hours (inclusive of surveys and workshop participation) across 6 months. 

How long is recruitment open?

  • Recruitment—except for waitlist participants replacing participants who are unable to attend—should close approximately 2 weeks prior to the workshops so that we can confirm with participants in advance which workshop seminar dates they are expected to attend. 

Is there a deadline to sign up for the workshop?

  • Approximately two weeks before the date of the first workshop.

Why might some participants be placed on a waitlist?

  • There are three main reasons participants might be placed on a waitlist:

    • If your organization has far more people of one gender who register to participate in the workshop, some individuals may be placed on a waitlist to achieve greater gender balance in each workshop. These participants will be contacted from the waitlist if spots open up.
    • If we have reached the maximum number of participants who can be accommodated in a scheduled workshop [max 50 for virtual workshops], additional people who wish to register may be placed on a waitlist. In the event that a workshop participant is unable to attend/withdraws or additional workshops are added, waitlist participants will be contacted with an invitation to participate.
    • If employees sign up to participate without partnering with a colleague of a different gender, they may be placed on a waitlist. Workshop spots are reserved first for pairs and if space permits, individuals will be contacted to participate. 

Is there a difference between the early and late workshops? How are participants assigned?

  • Participants will be randomly assigned to attend a virtual workshop on Inclusive Innovation during an early or later workshop date (4-6 months apart). Assignment to the early or late workshop is determined at random (with constraints for eligibility) using a process known as “waiting list control design.” This method allows the research team to test whether participants in the workshop have different experiences and outcomes than those with no workshop initially (i.e., those in the late workshop), while still allowing all interested and eligible individuals the opportunity to participate in the workshop. To conduct a true experiment, we randomly assign people to the early or late workshop to minimize any systematic reason that participants in one workshop would be different from the other workshop. Random assignment is the hallmark of rigorous science when testing interventions.
  • Both workshops incorporate identical evidence-based materials and tools designed to improve participants’ success in the workplace. They differ simply in their timing. You will be randomly assigned (like the flip of a coin) to a workshop at an early or later date. The workshop will be a 3.5-hour highly interactive virtual session hosted over Zoom.

On which videoconferencing platform are the workshops hosted?

  • Each virtual seminar is hosted on Zoom. Participants will receive an invitation and link to join the session 2-3 days in advance of their scheduled workshop.

Is Zoom secure?

  • To ensure your security, all meetings will be hosted using Personal Meetings IDs (PMI) and require a password to enter the meeting. This allows us to ensure that only invited participants will ever have access to join the session.
  • Screen sharing is restricted to the hosts, and the meeting will be locked 15 minutes after the session start time. Thus, it is important that you arrive on time to each session. You will be free to exit the session at any time if you so choose. We ask that you refrain from sharing meeting links, PMI, or passwords on social media or any public outlets.
  • Zoom servers are located in Canada, and Zoom stores users’ names and usage data in Canada.
  • We may record some portions of the session for analysis purposes only; all participants will receive an automatic notification when recording is enabled and only the research team will ever have access to these recordings. Your private conversations with other participants during the session will never be recorded. All recordings are stored on the host’s password-protected and encrypted computer after which they will be transferred to a secure NAS server. Out of consideration for other participants’ privacy, we ask that you do not screenshot or record any portions of the study session.
  • If you prefer not to use Zoom for any reason, please inform the research team by emailing ESSRISE@uwaterloo.ca.

How is confidentiality maintained in the workshops and follow-up surveys?

  • Expectations of confidentiality will be established at the beginning of each workshop session.
  • No content of any discussions occurring during the workshops will be shared with your employer or with anyone else at your organization.
  • Only qualified members of the research team will have access to your survey responses or any other data that may be linked to your identity. No information that could potentially be used to identify you will ever be shared outside of the research team. For more information on the types of information that may be shared from this study, please see “Who will have access to the data that is collected?” below.
  • Once you have signed up via the Project RISE Screening Survey and your eligibility has been confirmed, you will be contacted at the email address you specify with each survey link (the survey links will not go through your employer). The only information relating to your identity that your employer might receive is a list of employees who participate, but only for those organizations who provide an estimate of employee time spent on the research as an in-kind contribution to the partnership project.
  • Once all data for the project have been collected and saved to the Project RISE repository at UBC, the research team will permanently delete all responses to the survey from the server. To ensure that all information potentially necessary for analyses has been obtained, we will apply a 90-day period from the close of data collection for data verification and cross-checks before deleting the data from the server.
  • If your email address changes or you leave your organization during the study, you will have options to update your contact information.

Do participants need to do anything to prepare ahead of time?

  • Participants will be asked to complete one to three brief (15-20 minute) surveys before the workshop, depending on their assigned date. More information about these surveys, and a link to participate, will be sent to participants by the RISE team.
  • To protect the security of all participants, we also ask that you carefully review the Zoom guidelines and participant expectations prior to attending the workshop.

How do I register for the workshop?

  • If you received information about the study from an organizational representative, please register using the organization-specific link provided by your organization’s liaison. If you are responding to an open-call for participants, please register using the link shared with you in the workshop invitation email. If you are unable to locate the email/link, you can email us at ESSRISE@uwaterloo.ca. 

Can participants partake in the workshop without completing any surveys?

  • Our expectation is that participants in the workshop will want to participate in the baseline survey and follow-up surveys; however, each part of the study is voluntary. For us to evaluate the effectiveness of the workshop, we need to collect data from attendees. 

Can participants complete surveys without completing the workshop?

  • Yes, eligible individuals or pairs who cannot attend a workshop (e.g., due to scheduling constraints) but are willing to complete the Project RISE surveys are welcome to participate as a very valuable comparison group. 

What happens if I miss the window to complete a survey?

  • If you miss the deadline, please complete the survey as soon as possible. If you try to do so and see a message that it is closed, please complete the next survey when it is shared with you.

Whom can participants contact with any concerns about their rights as a research participant?

  • This project has been reviewed and received clearance from research ethics boards at both the University of British Columbia and the University of Waterloo. If you have any concerns or complaints about your rights as a research participant and/or your experiences while participating in this study, contact the Research Participant Complaint Line in the University of British Columbia Office of Research Ethics by e-mail at RSIL@ors.ubc.ca or by phone at 604-822-8598 (toll free: 1-877-822-8598) or the University of Waterloo Office of Research Ethics at 519-888-4567 ext. 36005 or ore-ceo@uwaterloo.ca. If you have further questions about the goals of this study, please contact Dr. Schmader by email (rise@psych.ubc.ca) or phone (604-822-6205).

How will participants' accessibility needs (e.g., visual/hearing impairments) be accommodated?

  • Arrangements for participants’ accessibility needs for the surveys and virtual seminars should be reported in the sign-up survey (which is screen reader-compatible) for interested participants and/or communicated to our team at least two weeks prior to the workshops. 

    • Most of our survey measures are screen reader compatible by default; a few are not because the scientific best practice for these metrics is a format that is not yet screen reader compliant. [Unfortunately, changing the default format for these questions to be compatible with the universal design principles would introduce extra error/noise, decreasing their empirical value.] Our team can provide screen reader compatible versions of each survey for any employees who request them. 
  • If you need information of additional materials to meet accommodations, please notify our members of our team (essrise@uwaterloo.ca) two weeks in advance of workshops.

How is the content for this workshop likely to be different from standard diversity training?

  • Project RISE places a strong emphasis on evidence-based practices. Each component of the workshop is either based on established research by our team or fellow scientists and/or on best practices for promoting inclusion. Some elements are new and have not been used in this setting before, these elements are based on cutting-edge social and psychological research. 

What if my workshop partner or I are available to participate on only one of the days when workshops are being held?

  • Where possible, we will accommodate availability constraints. Please report any such constraints in the Project RISE Sign-Up Survey (link provided by your organization’s liaison or in your workshop invitation email). If you do sign up with a colleague/contact, you will both need to attend the same workshop.

Who will have access to the data that is collected?

  • If you are participating through your organization, your employer will receive only aggregate statistics (e.g., means, frequencies) for their employees who participate in the study. No individual-level data will ever be shared with your employer.
  • Anonymized quantitative data from this research study may be made available to qualified academic experts only (e.g., journal editors) for purposes of publishing. For the purposes of reproducible statistical analyses, we will publish the covariance matrices and the means for each workshop condition (averaged across all organizations) in an open science data repository (osf.io). Please note that it is not possible to identify either participants or organizations from this aggregate-level information.

If something comes up and I cannot attend, what should I do?

  • Please notify the research team (at essrise@uwaterloo.ca) and your organization’s liaison (if applicable) immediately so that they can update the workshop assignments and notify any waitlist participants. 

Will the short- or long-term findings of the workshop be shared with me after I participate?

  • If you would like to sign up to receive a report on the general Project RISE findings once the project is complete, you will have the opportunity to do so when a feedback letter about the research is emailed to each participant at the end of their participation.

What do I do if my contact email for the study has changed before the study is completed?

  • If your contact information changes, please update your contact information by emailing essrise@uwaterloo.ca. 

Can I remain enrolled in the study if I leave my organization, change positions within the organization, or leave the STEM field?

  • Yes, definitely! Please email essrise@uwaterloo.ca to make sure your contact information is up to date so that we can follow up with you. We would like to track your experiences even if you have left your organization, have a new position within your organization, or have left the STEM field. 
  • If you leave your organization during the course of the study, your original employer will not be notified of your participation past the end of your employment period.

Can participants recommend another organization that might be interested in participating in these workshops?

  • Absolutely! We would be happy to receive your recommendation.

Where can I find more information?

  • You can read more about Project RISE on the participant portal: ProjectRISE.ca.
  • If you have additional questions about participating in this study, please contact essrise@uwaterloo.ca.