Developing Distress Protocols for Survey Research Respondents 

May 12 – 09:00-12:00

Room: Conductor Room, First Floor

When conducting sensitive survey research or working with vulnerable populations, it may be necessary to have a safety protocol in place should research participants experience distress by the topics discussed.

This short course will provide participants an introduction to developing distress protocols for survey respondents, including:

• When and why survey research might need a distress protocol.
• Basic elements of a distress protocol.
• Overview of best practices for developing distress protocols.
• National helplines and resources to include as supporting materials.
• Distress protocols and supporting materials to include in ethics/IRB review package.

Throughout the course, participants will have opportunities to share their own experiences and lessons learned, as well as work in small groups to outline elements required for their own distress protocols.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to: (1) Determine if their project should include a distress protocol; (2) Outline components of a distress protocol appropriate for their project; and (3) Prepare distress protocol materials for inclusion in an ethics/IRB review package.

Anyone who is considering conducting a survey on sensitive topics or with vulnerable populations should attend this course. Prior experience with sensitive topics, vulnerable populations, or distress protocols is not necessary but is welcome.

Instructor: Dr. Mariel McKone Leonard

Mariel McKone Leonard is a survey methodologist with over a decade of experience in the field. Her main areas of research are improving representation of minority groups in research studies, including are methods of probability and non-probability sampling special populations, as well as conducting research within sensitive contexts. In both contexts, her work focuses on innovating and improving methods in an ethical and participant-focused manner. She received her doctorate at the University of Mannheim in 2020, before which she worked at Westat as a research assistant in the Telephone Research Center and the Instrument Design, Evaluation, and Analysis Services group. Additionally, she is a trained crisis counselor.