MSPA Research Procedures

The Minnesota School Psychologists Association will support the collection of research data in school psychology for the improvement of services to schools, children, and families.

Research Requests

In order to gain access to MSPA members for survey/questionnaire research, MSPA will need the following documents:

• Brief summary of project including purpose and description of the questionnaires of other data collection methods
• Copy of questionnaires or other data collection measures
• Copy of Institutional Review Board approval from originating institution

All documents shall be submitted to the MSPA president via email (see website for current president and contact information).

Review Process

Proposals will be reviewed by the president of MSPA, the president-elect, and webmaster. Other members of the MSPA board may also be asked to review the proposal at the discretion of the president. Proposals will be reviewed for relevance to Minnesota school psychologists, intensity of involvement for respondents, and content of questionnaires. The review and decision process will take place quarterly.

After approval

If the project is approved, then dissemination of the surveys/questionnaires will be available using the MSPA discussion board. The MSPA discussion board manager will be responsible for sending out the message to the discussion board including information about the research project and any links to surveys/questionnaires. MSPA does not share access to email addresses or mailing addresses except under exceptional circumstances that requires a 2/3 majority vote of the MSPA board and only requests for this level of access will only be considered at the recommendation of the president of the association.

Limitations of research conducted through MSPA

Researchers are cautioned that the use of the MSPA discussion board involves the following inherent limitations to research.

• First, the response rate is ultimately unknowable since it is impossible to know how many MSPA members actively check the discussion board for any postings
• Second, the discussion board is only utilized by a small percentage of MSPA members and so the number of respondents will be low
• Third, the school psychologists that use the MSPA discussion board may not accurately represent the demographic diversity of school psychologists in the state of Minnesota