Research Process

Thank you for your interest in conducting research in the Springfield City School District! Our district highly values research for its ability to improve education as well as aid future generations of students and educators. All research, which involves Springfield students, parents, and/or district personnel, or the sharing of data regarding these individuals, must be pre-approved by the district. To that end, the district has enacted the following processes for researchers, contingent upon the circumstances and information requested:

Classroom Projects

Projects to be completed for a single class may be expedited based upon the interactions with participants, anonymity of the results (district, staff, student, and IP address), and other factors. A Statement of Agreement must be completed. Please contact the Coordinator of Research for more information. 

Observational or Experimental Studies of Staff and/or Students

(not previously collected, available through research participants, requires interactions with staff and/or students)

1. Researcher emails Request for Research (Google Doc, PDF or Word version) to the Coordinator of Research. The researcher should request access to the exact resources that are needed as any discrepancies between the resources requested and those needed may cause the request to be delayed or denied.

2. In addition to the above request, the researcher is required to also send the following documents:

   1. Statement of Agreement

   2. Thesis, proposal dissertation, or other research project paper that describes the research study more fully

   3. Consent and assent forms (please see this guidance document for more information)

   4. Questionnaires, surveys, assessments, etc that will be requested of staff and/or students

   5. Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval

   6. For studies that require interaction with students, the researcher’s agency or university must provide a letter to the district stating that they have conducted a current state and federal fingerprinting background check and the researcher is fit to conduct the study based upon the results.

3. The Coordinator of Research will confirm receipt of the Request for Research and supporting documents and then route them to the appropriate administrator for approval. This approval process may take 1-2 weeks or more depending on the time of the school year (requests sent in August and May will not be approved until September and June, respectively). 

4. The Coordinator of Research will communicate the status of the request with the researcher once determined.

5. If the request is approved, the Coordinator of Research will work with the researcher to facilitate their study. Key benchmarks will be determined such as:

   1. Communication of the study to the participants by the researcher and Coordinator of Research

   2. Sharing of copies of consent and assent forms with the Coordinator of Research once obtained

   3. Communication of the conclusion of the study by the researcher

   4. Sharing of the findings once complete

6. Once the researcher completes their study, they will send a copy to the Coordinator of Research.

Requests for Staff and/or Student Data

(collected prior to the research study, available in data systems, does not require data collections and/or interactions with staff and/or students)

1. Prior to requesting data access, researchers should first check to see if the data are accessible through the Ohio Department of Education. 

2. Researcher emails Request for Research (Google Doc, PDF or Word version) to the Coordinator of Research. The researcher should request access to the exact resources that are needed as any discrepancies between the resources requested and those needed may cause the request to be delayed or denied.

3. In addition to the above request, the researcher is required to also send the following documents:

   1. Statement of Agreement

   2. Thesis, proposal, dissertation, or other research project paper that describes the research study more fully

   3. Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval

4. The Coordinator of Research will confirm receipt of the Request for Research and supporting documents and then route them to the appropriate administrator for approval. This approval process may take 1-2 weeks or more depending on the time of the school year (requests sent in August and May will not be approved until September and June, respectively). 

5. The Coordinator of Research will communicate the status of the request with the researcher once determined.

6. If the request is approved, the Coordinator of Research will work with the researcher to facilitate their study.

7. Once the researcher completes their study, they will send a copy to the Coordinator of Research.