Research Requests
Guidelines for Submitting Requests to Conduct Research
Requests to conduct research in the Columbia County School District (CCSD) must be reviewed and approved by the Associate Superintendent’s Office. Procedures for submitting a research request are provided below.
Note: All Columbia County School District teachers and staff who would like to conduct research as part of their studies (college/university courses, Bachelors, Masters, Doctoral programs) which will necessitate gathering or collecting data must submit a Research Request Form (RRF). CCSD does not allow students to be used for research purposes. Also, all research duties must be completed outside of the normal workday. CCSD resources (researcher’s CCSD email address, copy paper, etc.) may not be used for research projects. Approval of the school principal must be obtained prior to seeking District approval and the cooperation of building-level staff.
Complete and submit the Research Request Form (RRF):
- All sections must be completed
- All required signatures (written or electronic) must be included
- Submit the RRF electronically to the Associate Superintendent at [email protected] (instructions appear on form)
The Research Request Form (RRF) includes the following sections:
- Applicant contact information: name, address, phone, and email
- For students/university faculty: university affiliation and if applicable, degree sought, advisor name and contact information, and advisor’s signature
- Title of the project, the purpose of research, and primary research questions or hypotheses
- Study target group(s) and the expected number of participants
- Research activities and the amount of time involved for the study participants
- Data to be collected and/or the data needs requested from the district
- Benefit of research to district
- Acknowledgment of privacy rights
- Study start and completion date
The Research Request Form is provided as a separate interactive document. Simply type the information in the designated fields, save the finished product, and email it to Dr. Kellye Bosch at [email protected].
Instrument(s) or survey(s):
Submit copies of any instruments or surveys to be used in the study. If the instrument is under development or the study involves field testing a new instrument, then draft forms of the proposed instrument or survey must be submitted with the RRF.
Considerations when requesting data from the school or district:
The state and district websites provide access to a large array of district, school, staff and student data. To reduce the burden on schools, data that are published and available on state and district websites should be obtained directly from those sources and not requested of the school and/or district. Non‐published data or individual student data/records requested as part of the research must be clearly specified. For example, rather than stating “test scores,” a specific request for “2016 and 2017 GMAS Reading Scores for current 9th grade EL students, sorted by school” will assist us to determine if the request is feasible.
If the research requires that the district compile or generate data specific to the study, the applicant must submit a detailed description of the data sets requested, specifying variables and the data elements needed.
If the data or data files requested are not routinely produced or published by the school/district, the requestor may be asked to pay for costs associated with the additional work necessary to analyze, compile and produce the data.
The researcher’s request for special analysis or file creation may be denied if the timeline or staff resource requirements interfere with the department’s schedule of work.
Consideration following district approval:
Please note that approval by the district signifies that the requestor has been cleared to contact schools to invite school administrators and teachers to participate in the research study. The researcher must make it clear to the individuals selected for the study that their participation is voluntary.