SURVEY INSTRUCTIONS
 

I. Survey Administrator

II. Commanding Officer (CO)

Command Safety Climate Assessment Surveys Instructions


I. Survey Administrator:

1. Safety Climate Assessment Surveys - a safety assessment tool: Fourteen surveys are available (see menu option "3- SAMPLE SURVEYS"). The value of the data is directly proportional to the effort that you (the survey administrator) and your command put into conducting the surveys.

2. Best path to enter the "Safety Climate Assessment Surveys" website:      https://SafetyClimateSurveys.org

3. Anonymity of the survey respondents: This survey process will NOT succeed unless survey respondents are assured that they have complete anonymity of their responses. Please emphasize that your CO cannot connect any of the demographic data provided by the respondents to the opinions they express on the survey items.  Only the averages of the Likert survey items are viewable by the CO and anyone with whom the debrief access codes are shared.

4. Confidentiality for the CO: Only your CO will receive the access code to view his/her data. If anyone else wants the access code, they will have to get it from your CO. The access code is passed to your CO via telephone.  It is only passed to your CO by e-mail when phone contact is impractical (i.e., deployed aboard ship, in remote theaters of operation, etc).

5. How often should a squadron conduct the survey process?
  • Navy Aviation units should review CNAF Instruction 5100.5A for guidance regarding survey frequency requirements for your squadron. It shows that the surveys are required within 90 days following the Change of Command then no later than seven months following the first set of surveys. Follow-on surveys shall be completed annually thereafter for command tours greater than 18 months.
  • In addition to the survey requirements outlined in the above documents, any survey may be conducted anytime your CO feels a need to assess the safety perceptions of the squadron.

6. Who should take the surveys? Refer to the "Description" column in the table from menu option "3- SAMPLE SURVEYS." The survey description for each survey describes the respondent group.

7. How many personnel should take the survey? ALWAYS request a number of surveys equal to the total number of personnel in your unit who should take a particular survey (e.g., all aircrew for CSA, all maintainers for MCAS, all support personnel for ASPA, all hands for PMV, etc.). Then, strive to achieve participation from as many personnel as possible. If 100% participation is not achieved, refer to Table 1 below for determining an recommended level of responses for each survey.

8. How many personnel have taken the survey? The squadron survey administrator can determine how many individuals have completed the survey by going to the "SURVEY ADMIN" link on the menu at left and entering the survey ID where it says, "Please enter the Survey ID:"  This will produce a dialog box showing how many surveys have been completed.

9. Setting up the survey: To set up the survey for your squadron, select "4- SET-UP UNIT SURVEY" from the menu to the left.  Complete the forms indicating which surveys your squadron requires, how many respondents for each survey, and your squadron's contact information.  Then, to finalize your request, call the safety survey managers toll-free at:

(888) 603-3170

If phone contact is not available, please e-mail: surveys@AdvancedSurveyDesign.com.  You will receive an instructional email that contains hyperlinks directly to the survey(s) for which you've registered. Each survey will have a separate hyperlink.

11. How to conduct the survey: Conducting the survey will involve informing the various groups within your squadron (e.g., aircrew, maintainers, support personnel, etc.) of the hyperlink they'll use to access their survey. It will be important that you target each group with their specific hyperlink rather than sending all hyperlinks to the entire squadron. For those squadron members who do NOT have easy access to a computer, it is also possible to print out the QR code for their survey in which case those individuals can complete the survey on their mobile device simply by pointing at their survey's QR code.

The instructional email will also contain a link for you (not to be distributed) which will enable you to view your squadron's survey response rates in real time.

12. Taking the first survey: Recommend the squadron survey administrator take the first survey so that he/she is better informed if anyone has any questions. Have a maintenance supervisor or enlisted safety-maintainer take the MCAS for the same reason.

13. Minimum survey responses: Unit survey administrators should strive to obtain the maximum possible participation. Table 1 at the bottom of this page shows the participation levels necessary to achieve 95% confidence that the survey results are within 5% of what they would have been had the entire unit population been surveyed. If a unit participates at a lower level than the figures given in Table 1, we will advise the CO/OIC during debrief that the statistical confidence in the available results could be better, possibly substantially better. Debrief is possible at any level of participation, but whether the data offers meaningful results is largely determined by what percentage of the unit provides survey responses. The more participants, the more confidence the CO/OIC will have that the results truly reflect the opinions of the unit. We do NOT monitor survey submission rates; that is the responsibility of the unit survey administrator. Once the administrator believes maximum participation is attained, contact us (see Instruction #14 below) and we will contact the CO/OIC to offer a debrief of the results.

14. What to do after completing the survey process: When the command has achieved maximum participation, contact the safety survey managers (888-603-3170 or surveys@AdvancedSurveyDesign.com). They can verify your command's level of participation and then call your CO with the CO's access code(s) to view the survey results. If you are deployed aboard ship or in a location where phone access is impractical, your CO will receive the access code(s) via e-mail.




II. Commanding Officer (CO):

1. Safety Climate Assessment Surveys- a safety assessment tool: Fourteen surveys are available (see menu option "3- SAMPLE SURVEYS"). The value of the data is directly proportional to the effort that you and your command put into conducting the survey.

2. Anonymity of the survey respondents: This survey process will NOT succeed unless survey respondents are assured that they have complete anonymity of their responses.  It is in the interest of the command to ensure that the survey respondents understand the you (the CO or OIC) cannot and will not see demographic information about the respondents.  You can see only numeric averages for the various safety survey items and any open-ended responses that were provided.

3. Confidentiality for the CO: Only the CO will receive the access code to view the survey results. If anyone else wants the access code, they will have to get it from the CO. The access code is passed to the CO via telephone.  It is only passed to the CO by e-mail when phone contact is impractical (i.e., deployed aboard ship, in remote theaters of operation, etc).

4. CO Access: After entering the Safety Climate Assessment Surveys" website, "6- VIEW RESULTS" is the sixth item in the menu to the left. Enter here. Then, enter your "COs ACCESS ID" (provided to you by a survey administrator), and press "SUBMIT." This opens the Survey Summary webpage; continue from here.  If you have the codes from your squadron's last survey cycle, you may enter it in the bottom text box labeled "Option" - this gives a CO the ability to compare the current survey results from those of the last cycle.

5. How often should a squadron conduct the survey process?
  • Navy Aviation units should review CNAF Instruction 5100.5A for guidance regarding survey frequency requirements for your squadron. It shows that the surveys are required within 90 days following the Change of Command then no later than seven months following the first set of surveys. Follow-on surveys shall be completed annually thereafter for command tours greater than 18 months.
  • In addition to the survey requirements outlined in the above documents, any survey may be conducted anytime you, the CO (or Det OIC), feel a need to assess the safety perceptions of the squadron.

6. Who should take the surveys? Refer to the "Description" column in the table from menu option "3- SAMPLE SURVEYS." The survey description for each survey describes the respondent group.

7. How many personnel should take the survey? Recommend everyone eligible to take the survey, actually take it. Trying to develop a statistically representative sample of your squadron (e.g., appropriate ranks, day/night crew, every maintenance section, CDIs/QARs, etc.) takes significant statistical skills. Not done correctly, you have an inaccurate representation of the organization being surveyed. Refer to Table 1 at the end of these instructions for determining a recommended sample size.

8. Comparing your data with your organization's earlier data: For those organizations that have taken the survey process more than once, COs can compare their unit's current survey results with the unit's prior survey results on a single screen. This feature is available on the "6- VIEW RESULTS" login webpage. Enter the current Access ID code in the white block provided. Then, click on the word "here" (hyper-linked) just below the "Login" button. This will open a second white block to input your prior Access ID code. Then, click on the "Login" button. On the Summary Graph, a white hash mark will appear on each survey item. The hash mark is the survey item average from your prior survey results. On the Single Item Graph, the blue bars are the current survey's values; the gold bars are the prior survey values. If you do NOT have the access code(s) for your previous survey cycle and it was given to your predecessor, you will need to contact that person to provide clearance for you to obtain the access codes from us.

9. Comparing your squadron's responses with other groups of interest: After logging in, the "6- VIEW RESULTS" menu expands to give the option to view various graphs and tables representing your squadron's data. For example, selecting menu item "6(c)- SUMMARY GRAPH" will display the Summary Graph, showing results for all survey Likert Items. A rectangular box in the top left area of many of these VIEW RESULTS web pages summarizes selected organizational data comparisons. COs may tailor comparison data options by clicking on the "wrench" at the top of the rectangular box to open and use the Filter Control Panel. The Executive Summary lets you make simple choices concerning the comparison data to be displayed. There is also a Detailed Analysis option that permits more specific settings for these comparisons. After making your choices, click the green button to close the Panel and refresh the display.

10. Survey Item Table: Menu option "6(e)- SUMMARY TABLE" lists all the survey items and their corresponding means for the unit taking the survey. The table can be ordered either: (1) The number of standard deviations below the comparison group mean (aka "z-score),   (2) Descending order by your squadron's survey item means, or (3) In the order that the survey was given.   A yellow flag appearing in the "text" block of a survey item indicates that your squadron's mean is less than the comparative group mean, but within ½ standard deviation below it. A red flag appearing in the "text" block of a survey item indicates that your squadron's mean is more than ½ standard deviation below the comparative group mean.

11. How to print a summary of the data: Click on "6i) Printable Data Summary" on the main menu. The CO can modify the total number of individuals that could have taken the particular survey (current number of potential respondents is shown in the box). Click "Enter." A summary of the data is provided. The CO can print all or any portion of the data using the "Print the Summary" button. Note, this feature defaults to printing all sections of the data. A CO can de-select printing different sections of data in the Product section (near the top) of this web page.

12. Open-ended Survey Items: Note, the last several survey items in each survey provide for open-ended responses. This allows respondents the opportunity to provide the CO any additional input they desire and, type it in their own words. COs have found these responses to be of great value.  To see these responses, go to the Individual Item Graph and under "Select Item to Display" in the top left, click on the number displayed and scroll down to the last several items on the survey. They will be displayed in green.  Select one and you will see your unit's responses to the open-ended survey items.



Table 1. The following table is a guide for determining an acceptable number of responses for each survey if 100% participation is not achieved.  The (N) column represents the total number of personnel in your unit who should take a particular survey (e.g., all aircrew for CSA, all maintainers for MCAS, all hands for PMV, etc.).  If your unit completes (S) surveys out of the (N) requested, your survey results meet an recommended level to evaluate the safety climate of your entire unit.

N S N S
10 10 160 113
15 14 170 118
20 19 180 123
25 24 190 127
30 28 200 132
35 32 210 136
40 36 220 140
45 40 230 144
50 44 240 148
55 48 250 152
60 52 260 155
65 56 270 159
70 59 280 162
75 63 290 165
80 66 300 169
85 70 400 196
90 73 500 217
95 76 600 234
100 80 700 248
110 86 800 260
120 92 900 269
130 97 1000 278
140 103 2000 322
150 108 5000 357

Note: N is the population size; S is the sample size. Excerpt taken from Handbook in Research and Evaluation, p. 201, 3rd Edition, Stephen Isaac and William B. Michael, eds., 1995.