Police, Fire, Private-Sector Organizations and Colleges/Universities Interviews

Telephone Request for Discussions/Informed Consent

RAND Update of 1993 Study on Sexual Orientation and U.S. Military Personnel Policy

Implementation Task
(Interviews with Private Sector Organizations and Colleges/Universities)

Cynthia Cook, Task Leader

Hello. My name is Dr. Cynthia Cook. I’m a researcher from the RAND Corporation, a non-profit research institution. The United States Department of Defense has asked us to conduct a study to inform policy decisions related to homosexual men and women serving in the U.S. military. The Pentagon is interested in how to implement a change in the policy commonly known as “don’t ask don’t tell” and I’m hoping you can help us with this important research effort.

ORGANIZATIONS As part of this effort, RAND is interviewing representatives from a variety of organizations.  For each organization, we plan to talk to individuals responsible for diversity policy or managing diversity. These interviews are intended to provide information on how organizations approached integrating openly gay men and women into the workforce, how policies prohibiting discrimination or harassment based on sexual orientation were implemented and enforced, and what the results have been, including how any difficulties have been resolved.

We have identified [insert company name] as one that we think has the potential for offering lessons learned for the Pentagon as how they plan to implement any change in existing policy. I hope you can participate in a telephone discussion of your organization’s diversity policies. We can do this now, or schedule it for a time where you have between 30 minutes and an hour free.

UNIVERSITIES As part of this effort, RAND is interviewing representatives from a variety of colleges and universities regarding housing policies for students. These interviews are intended to provide information on how colleges and universities manage housing issues relating to a diverse student population that includes gay men and women, with the goal of developing lessons learned for the U.S. military, where barracks and other group housing arrangements are common.

We have identified [insert university name] as one that has the potential for offering lessons learned for the Pentagon as they plan how to implement potential changes in existing policy. I hope you can participate in a telephone discussion of your university’s housing policies. We can do this now, or schedule it for a time where you have between 30 minutes and an hour free.

A report that summarizes the results of our interviews, along with other analysis efforts, will be provided to the Department of Defense to help inform decision making about integrating openly homosexual men and women into the military. In the report, we may discuss individual observations as well as patterns across our interviews.

Do you have any questions about the study or about the interview? [Answer any questions]. Do you agree to participate?

[If no, thank them for their time, and let them know the study will be publicly available in the future, if they would like to see the results]

[If maybe, ask when a follow up would be appropriate, and offer a day/time]

[If yes – if immediately, have discussion. If later, reschedule]

[For immediate discussions, proceed with remainder of “informed consent] protocol before asking questions]

Please be aware that we will not attribute comments to you by name or position, but we may associate findings with the type of organization you represent (for example, large university, popular retail company, etc.) We will treat this interview as confidential; however, it is possible that your identity could be determined by inference. When we write our report, we will take care to omit any details that could identify you. Interview notes that do not contain your name, position, or other personal identifying information will be retained to inform future research on this topic.

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