Consent Form

Information Sheet and Consent Form 1 April 2023

Study Title: Understanding Soldier Experiences with Sexual Harassment and Gender Discrimination

OMB Control Number: 0704-0644

Expiration Date: 01/31/2026

INFORMATION SHEET AND CONSENT FORM

STUDY TITLE: Understanding Experiences with Sexual Harassment and Gender Discrimination

The public reporting burden for this collection of information, OMB Control Number 0704-0644, is estimated to average 60 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding the burden estimate or burden reduction suggestions to the Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services, at whs.mc-alex.esd.mbx.dd-dod-information-collections@mail.mil. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

We are conducting focus groups and discussions with active-duty Army members to learn about soldiers’ experiences with sexual harassment and gender discrimination in the Army. The findings from this study will help the Army to revise existing sexual harassment and gender discrimination training curricula and prevention programming, and where necessary, to develop new training and programming. This study is funded by Army G-1.

VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION

Participating in this focus group or discussion is voluntary. You may choose not to answer any question, and you may leave the room at any time. It is possible that our discussion may elicit difficult feelings. We will not report your participation or non-participation to anyone in the Army. We expect this discussion to take roughly 60 minutes.

CONFIDENTIALITY

The research team will treat the information you provide as confidential. We will not disclose the individual responses you provide to anyone outside of the research team. Information from the discussion will not be attributed to specific individuals and will be reported in aggregate in project briefings and reports. We will be taking notes on the discussion today but will not include names or any other information that might identify you in our notes. We do plan to use some comments/quotes from the focus groups and discussions in reporting our findings, which will not contain any information that would lead you to be individually identified.

POTENTIAL RISKS

It is possible that someone may feel obligated to report information discussed in the group or that one will face retaliation for speaking negatively about a supervisor through an official reporting channel. It is also possible that some people may become upset recalling or discussing sexual harassment and gender discrimination experiences. To minimize these risks, there should be no discussion of open cases or investigations so as to respect the privacy of the individuals involved. Please also do not include names of individuals or supervisors or provide any information that could put yourselves in jeopardy. We also ask that you all respect one another’s confidentiality and not discuss what is mentioned today after the discussion. Although we are asking everyone in the group to keep each other’s answers confidential, we cannot guarantee that the other participants will do so. You can also submit responses privately to our research team’s email alias, XXXX@rand.org.

BENEFITS

No specific benefit to participants has been identified.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

If you have questions about your rights as a research participant or need to report a research-related injury or concern, you can contact RAND's Human Subjects Protection Committee toll-free at (866) 697-5620 or by emailing hspcinfo@​rand.org​. If possible, when you contact the Committee, please reference Study ID 2022-N0227.

RESOURCES

Please note that the discussion you attend is not an official channel for reporting abuse, discrimination, or misconduct. If you would like to talk to someone about any abuse, discrimination, or misconduct you may contact the installation:

1. Military Equal Opportunity (MEO) Hotline [phone number/other contact info as relevant]

2. Sexual Harassment and Assault Response (SHARP) Hotline [phone number/other contact info as relevant]

3. Victim Advocate Hotline [phone number/other contact info as relevant]

4. Chaplain Hotline [phone number/other contact info as relevant]

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

If you have any additional comments that you would like to share privately, please send them to XXXX@rand.org. This information will not be shared outside the research team.

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