Surveys

The CSSANZ Research Support Committee (RSC) is a CSSANZ sub-committee. The Committee's charter is to lead and promote research within the Society, including the review of surveys submitted for distribution to the CSSANZ membership. The RSC is made up of three CSSANZ members plus an additional CSSANZ Councillor who sits on the committee when there is a conflict of interest for one of the other members.

Enquiries can be forwarded to the CSSANZ Office +61 3 9853 8013.

 

Guidelines For Surveys

The following is a set of guidelines to direct decisions about the distribution of surveys to the CSSANZ membership.

Survey objectives

Surveys for the purpose of research projects and audits are an important CSSANZ activity. Surveys assist in the education of trainees and further education of other researchers. They can help guide quality assurance activities and ascertain information about current opinions and practice in the Australia and New Zealand colorectal surgical community.  For these reasons, surveys promoted and distributed by CSSANZ must be well-designed, promote high quality patient care and respect the privacy and confidentiality of participants. The RSC will not approve poorly constructed surveys with unclear objectives or which may not be of a publishable standard.

Eligible Applicants

It is preferred that surveys are sponsored by, or involve as researchers, a member of the CSSANZ. The RSC will approve 4-6 surveys per year with preference given to CSSANZ members and ANZTBCRS Fellows. Eligible applicants for surveys are:

  1. CSSANZ Members - CSSANZ Ordinary Members, Fellows and Provisional Members. (Terminology: Please note that Fellows refers to Fellows of CSSANZ; ANZTBCRS post fellowship trainees are included with Provisional Members).

  2. Non-Members – Researchers who are external to CSSANZ may be required to have their survey involving, or be sponsored by, a CSSANZ Member. 

  3. National/International Organisations – In the interest of collegial relationships, surveys may be approved for distribution to CSSANZ members from affiliated organisations. These surveys may be promoted once with no targeted reminders and will be approved at the discretion of the CSSANZ President or CSSANZ RSC.

Survey Requirements

  1. Surveys should not be of excessive length; a guideline for the time to complete the survey is ten minutes.

  2. Researchers should be aware that CSSANZ is a binational organisation, and it is easy to overlook certain jurisdictional, indigenous and local issues that are of a sensitive nature and can cause offence if not included and contemplated when constructing surveys. The Research Support Committee supports inclusivity and recognition of both countries when relevant in survey construction. Surveys may be sent to only one country but this must be specified in the application process.

  3. CSSANZ has different levels of Membership. All surveys are reviewed and approved with the distribution to Ordinary Members and Fellows in mind. If a researcher would like Provisional members to be included in their survey, this must be requested in their application.

  4. The researcher should include a space for a ‘CSSANZ Code’ which will be allocated to each member at the time the survey is distributed. This allows for the researcher to identify which codes have responded and reminder messages to be sent to those who have not replied.

  5. All surveys must have local Ethics Committee approval. The Ethics Committee may be hospital based, area or regional based, or University based. Ethics approval is required by most jurisdictions for the conduct of any research, and provides reassurance for all CSSANZ members that any projects submitted to them for response has been properly assessed and vetted.

Application Process

All relevant documentation should be sent via email to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) .  This includes, but is not limited to: a copy of the survey, the participant information and a copy of the ethics submission including approval letter (if already approved).

Approval

  1. RSC Review – After the survey has been received by CSSANZ, it will be reviewed by the RSC Chair. From here it will be either approved to go to the full RSC, rejected, or further details requested. If sent to the full RSC, it may be approved, rejected or further details requested. The RSC will approve 4-6 surveys per year. Surveys that do not require reminders or are sent on behalf of affiliate organisations may be exempt from this number.

  2. Ethics Committee Review – As per item 3.e above, all surveys must have local ethics committee approval before distribution. This may be in submission at the time of application to the RSC, but the project must have approval and the approval letter must be received, before the survey is queued for distribution to CSSANZ members.

Distribution

To maintain the integrity, privacy and respect for the CSSANZ membership, tight control over the addresses of members is maintained. It is a privilege to have access to the membership for the purposes of research.

  1. Electronic – surveys may be created on web-based platforms such as Survey Monkey. The researcher should provide CSSANZ with the link to the survey, and on the landing page of the survey, include all of the required participant information and consent details. The survey will be distributed by CSSANZ.

  2. Reminders – there is one follow-up reminder sent per survey. This is usually scheduled for 2-3 weeks after the initial survey is sent out.

  3. Timelines – Surveys will be approved to be sent on a particular date. They must be sent on this date as there is a direct impact on following surveys and their impact on membership. If there is any problem meeting the timelines set out in the approval, the researcher must let CSSANZ know as soon as possible. CSSANZ reserves the right to reschedule surveys as required.

Survey Results and Publication

Collection and analysis of data and reporting of results is the responsibility of the researcher. Researchers are required to report to CSSANZ on any publications and research outputs on their survey. Surveys that are facilitated by CSSANZ and are published or presented at a scientific meeting must acknowledge the cooperation of CSSANZ.

 

Download a copy of the Guidelines for Surveys 

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