AHEAD Supported Research

 AHEAD supports scholarship that is consistent with the mission and values of the organization and offers researchers the opportunity to survey or otherwise engage the membership in empirical pursuits. The following protocol supports the formulation of research proposals and details the process by which proposals are approved for dissemination to the AHEAD membership by the organization. In reviewing proposals, AHEAD may give priority to those received from Association members. In addition, AHEAD reserves the right to limit the number of members to whom a research instrument is submitted and/or the number of proposals accepted so as to reduce possible issues of survey fatigue. Summary information on research proposals accepted by AHEAD for dissemination to members is available on the AHEAD website.

• Research must clearly align with the mission and values of AHEAD and be relevant to the field and the AHEAD membership.
• All research proposals must ensure the confidentiality and anonymity of individuals who participate in the study.
• Proposals should in most cases include approval from the researcher’s Institutional Review Board (IRB). Proposals not having IRB approval need to include a clear and supported rationale  for acceptance.
• Research should be specifically directed to the AHEAD membership, not to those with whom they interact (e.g., students). AHEAD will not approve proposals intended to survey students with disabilities. Researchers interested in surveying students with disabilities should contact the AHEAD central office to be referred to professional staff to discuss strategies for reaching this population.
• Research must be conducted and concluded within a reasonable time frame, typically one calendar year.
• Research may reflect quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methodologies.
• In keeping with AHEAD’s commitment to electronic access, survey or other instruments distributed to members must be useable and fully accessible. Note that many commercially available instruments such as Survey Monkey have some features that are not accessible to persons who use screen readers. 

• Researchers must submit a completed application for research requests. It may be helpful to review required components before beginning the application. 
• Abstracts of accepted proposals will be posted on the AHEAD website. 
• As part of the application process, researchers must agree to submit a summary of results and implications of the study once it is completed.

• Proposals will be reviewed by the AHEAD Research Review Panel on a rolling basis. Researchers should expect a reply within four to six weeks of submitting the proposal.
• Researchers will be notified via email of the status of their requests.

• Invitation to participate. AHEAD will be responsible for disseminating electronic invitations from researchers to the membership. The Association will not publicly release email addresses to researchers. The schedule for dissemination will be determined by AHEAD based on the Association’s calendar of priority activities and initiatives.
• Summary results. To ensure that researchers honor their agreements to share summary information of their research, AHEAD will collect a $200 refundable deposit before research announcements are disseminated. This deposit will be refunded to the researcher in full when AHEAD receives the required one to two-page summary of research results and implications.

• Application for Research Requests
• Research Review Panel Members
• Approved Research Projects