SSBOS FAQ

Who is expected to complete the self-paced training or attend the live training session?

The only affiliate staff members that are required to complete the training are the SSBOS administrators, who receive their unique survey links upon successful completion. Some affiliates like to have their most involved staff members that also facilitate the process take the training, and some like to facilitate a training session on their own that also covers affiliate-specific procedures.

Are there any “tech tips” for navigating using all the devices during survey day(s)?

We recognize access to devices and reliable internet continues to be a challenge for many affiliates. We encourage you to work with your community/site partners as early as possible to collaborate on, for example, using your school's Chrome cart or computer lab, sharing the survey link to get is placed on their 'safe' list and not blocked by firewall. Though not ideal, participants can now access and complete the survey on their personal mobile devices, if that's a better option for your team.
Below are some best practices shared by affiliates over the past few years. 

• Bookmark the survey link

• (if at a school) Make sure the site isn’t blocked & request to use their tech cart or computer lab

• Make sure everything is charged the day before

• (if possible) Have extra staff member dedicated to tech troubleshooting

• Test the Wi-Fi with many devices in advance, have backup plan for low bandwidth (Can staff hotspot their phones or do you have a portable Wi-Fi hub you can bring?)

• If internet is unreliable, can your affiliate purchase a few month's worth of service for a hot spot? Examples here from Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile.

Are we able to track which students have taken the survey?

Yes and no. You can use either a manual process (shared spreadsheet) or Compass360 to track 1) whose, if any, guardians have opted them out of the survey and therefore shouldn't participate and 2) who is present during scheduled survey sessions and therefore should be considered "complete" for 2024. It is strongly not recommended to track, in any way, who finished their survey and who opts out during the (first) assent question. 

Are we allowed to provide incentives or rewards to participants for taking the survey?

Per our IRB guidelines, no incentives may be provided to participants as a means of recruitment or as reward for submitting responses. This means you're welcome to provide (and advertise) fun items you will have available on survey days, pass out certificates, or plan some other type of survey celebration - but ALL group members should be included in those offerings, including anyone whose guardian opted out of the survey or girls who answered "no" to the assent question.

How do we receive our affiliate's survey link?

Survey Administrators will receive their unique survey link within 2 business days of completing the required training. Affiliates should not share links with one another, since they are unique to each affiliate and Survey Administrators are welcome to share their survey link with anyone else who needs it at the affiliate - the R&E team will simply only send them to Administrators to streamline communications.

The short link and/or QR code provided by R&E is giving me a weird error. What should I do?

Occasionally your security settings on your device or internet service provider (ISP) don't allow certain links. While there are a myriad of reasons why, the best course of action is to clear your browser data and restart your machine.  If this doesn't work, you may need to let your affiliate's IT department know about the issue as it may be an issue with your VPN.

We only have 30 minutes to meet with our groups on survey days - will that be enough time?

45 minutes is recommended for the full amount of time to welcome the group, get settled, read instructions, and complete the survey...but 30 minutes should be sufficient for MOST survey participants. Those who have difficulty with the survey vocabulary may be rushed to finish within the time, but it's perfectly okay for participants to do as much as they can in the time allotted, skipping any questions they would like and clicking through to the end of the survey to submit it when their time is up. 

When will we get our results back? Will they include the open-ended question responses?

Affiliate Power BI reports and the aggregate Network Report are all expected to be released in September 2024. Affiliates will not automatically receive their qualitative responses, but can request them anytime by contacting research@girlsinc.org.

Does Passive Consent mean girls have to take the survey?

No, passive consent only means that guardians do not need to provide explicit consent for their child to participate in the survey. You may still notify families about your plans to administer the SSBOS, and choose to give them an opt-out form if you’d like to provide that option. Otherwise, all members ages 9-18 have the option to participate in the 2024 SSBOS, with the first question confirming their wish to participate and the ability to skip any individual questions.

Can Survey Administrators or Proctors take a practice version of the survey before our survey day (as a preview)?

While there is not a practice survey link, you can find PDF files of the survey, with all questions and response options, for your team to review ahead of survey days and become familiar with the questions.

If a girl accidentally selects “No” to the assent question or gets disconnected in the middle of the survey, can she start over?

Yes. Since the survey link is not unique to individual members, if a member accidentally answers the assent question incorrectly or loses internet connection mid-survey, she should be able to visit the original survey link and start over. 

*Note: this approach should not be used if girls express after their survey they wish to change their responses AND members may need to clear their browser cache or use incognito mode to re-start the survey.

Does the survey have pausing capabilities? If a girl wants to take a break and come back to it are they able to? Or do they have to finish in one sitting?

While it would be ideal to finish in one sitting, we understand it's a long survey and encourage breaks as proctors see fit. However, the survey does not save progress along the way, so if participants do take breaks during the survey, they should not close their browser or device. Rather, they should minimize their screen or cover it with a piece of paper to retain privacy, take their break to stretch or use the bathroom, then return to their device to resume the survey where they left off.