Surveys at the HSE

If your research requires a survey of prospective, postgraduate and other students, or HSE staff, you will need to get approval from the committee in order to carry out the survey.

A survey in this context means an online or printed questionnaire forprospective, postgraduate and other students, scientific and teaching staff, administrative staff, or managers of the HSE.

Surveys do not include:

• A collection of signatures and opinions in support of initiatives and petitions;
• A collection of information about registration at conferences, seminars, and other events;
• Subscribing to periodicals and mailing lists of departments;
• Ratings of lecturers;
• ‘Best teacher’ election;
• Student council election.

Obtaining the Committee’s decision on the survey’s reasonability includes the following stages:

1. The research supervisor submits a signed application on the survey’s reasonability and a completed table with a description of the research project. The application should be sent no later than 45 days before the proposed start date of the survey. If the research is to be carried out by a student or a postgraduate student, the application should be signed by the academic supervisor or professor who is responsible for the survey.

2. The Committee Secretary can ask for additional information about the research, and this information must be submitted before the deadline set by the Committee.

3. The Committee considers the application and makes one of three decisions:

A.   The survey at the HSE is approved.
B.   The survey at the HSE is approved provided required changes (of the object, schedule, or methodology) are made.
C.   The survey at the HSE is unsuitable or inappropriate. 

4. The final decison on the survey’s suitability and appropriateness is signed by the Committee Chairman, and is sent to the applicant by email within seven working days. A written record of the decision can be obtained from the Secretary.

When reaching their decision, the Committee will use the following criteria:

1. The usefulness of the research for the development of the HSE or in solving practical problems of the departments
2. The opportunity to get comparative data from other universities as part of the particular project
3. The relevance of the survey in terms of implementation of HSE research projects    
4. The opportunity to change or correct the survey objectives (for example, substituting students or staff members of other universities) without significant consequences for the research goals.
5. The unique character of the survey towards those research projects already implemented at the HSE
6. How closely the methodology corresponds with the research goals
7. The qualification level of the researchers
8. How closely the survey deadline corresponds with the research goals

Important: after the survey the researcher should provide the Committee Secretary with:

• the research description for publishing on the website (doc, docx or pdf)
• methodological tools (doc, docx or pdf)
• empirical research database (xls, dat or sav).