Development and Validation of the SafeSpaces Survey: a Unique Measure of Interpersonal Work Climates in Research Settings

How do we know if a research climate is a safe space for its members and supports the highest quality of science and integrity? Organizational climate is an observable expression of the culture of a place. Members of our team (BCM, CRT) have previously developed and validated the Survey of Organizational Research Climates (SOURCE) to assess research integrity climates in academic research settings. In ongoing work, we have developed and are in process of validating a new module to this instrument asking about directly observable, and report-able, aspects of research climates, including perceptions of policies, practices, procedures, and leadership behavior related to multiple dimensions of interpersonal relations in work climates.

We have found no instrument designed specifically to assess academic research climates that includes psychological safety, civility, and misuses of power including, but not limited to, bullying, harassment, and assault. Instruments exist that assess sexual assault and harassment in academia, and at least one survey measures, broadly defined, "lab health," asking about some forms of non-sexual power abuse and misuse. These instruments, on the one hand range well beyond organizational climates (e.g., querying direct personal experiences), and on the other, lack complete coverage of important dimensions of these climates.

Through an extensive literature review, team-based question item development, and further vetting through review by a panel of 18 subject matter experts, we have developed a new climate module comprised of 46 question items. In August 2020 we will conduct a large-scale fielding of this module, along with the SOURCE, in a U.S. based sample of American Geophysical Union members. This fielding will yield the input data for conducting initial quantitative psychometric validation analyses to establish this revised organizational climate assessment instrument. We anticipate that this new iteration of the SOURCE tool will be ready and available for applied use as early as mid 2021.