Thank you for agreeing to participate in an interview about the NSF CISE BPC Pilots. Westat, an independent research organization, has been contracted by NSF to conduct an evaluation of the CISE BPC Pilots. These interviews, which are being conducted with a sample of 30 CISE projects, are a key component of the evaluation and are designed to gather information directly from PIs and other key personnel about their experiences with developing and implementing their BPC plans.
You are being asked to participate in this interview because you have been the PI, Co-PI, or other key personnel on a CISE project that required a BPC plan. Specifically, we would like to ask about your experiences on award # [insert award number and name of project].
As you may know, a survey of PIs with BPC plans was recently administered as part of our evaluation. The purpose of the interviews is to delve more deeply into many of the same topics addressed in the survey, which include:
Your prior and current experience with efforts to broaden participation in computing
The development of your BPC plan for [name of project]
The current status of your BPC activities for [name of project]
Outcomes that occurred as a result of your BPC work on [name of project]
The Westat team will summarize the results from the interviews in a report that will be provided to NSF. While your responses will be identifiable to Westat, the report provided to NSF will only focus on overall results. Westat will not report any individual responses to NSF nor will it release any information about individuals participating in the interviews to anyone outside their organization.
Pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.5(b), an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The OMB control number for this collection is 3145-XXXX. The interview should take about 45-60 minutes. Your participation is voluntary, but we hope that you will share your thoughts with us by answering every question carefully and accurately. If you decide you no longer want to participate, you may ask to end the interview at any time.
Prior Experience and Interest with BPC
First, we would like to ask about any experiences or interest you had with efforts to broaden participation in computing prior to preparing your BPC plan for this project. Prior to submitting this proposal, had you participated in any prior BPC efforts? [This question to be asked of both older and newer projects]
[If yes] What type of BPC activities did you participate in? How or why did you first become involved in these efforts? Did this experience prepare you for participating in the BPC pilot? If so, how?
Have you participated in any BPC trainings, either on how to develop a BPC plan or on how to implement BPC activities (e.g., such as those offered by BPCnet)? [This question to be asked of only newer projects]
[If yes] When did these trainings occur? Who provided these trainings? What topics did these training cover? How useful were these trainings? Are there other areas where training in BPC would have been useful?
Development of BPC Plan [The questions in this section to be asked of only newer projects]
Did your department have a BPC Departmental Plan at the time you prepared your BPC plan?
[If yes] Did you try to leverage key elements of your department’s Departmental Plan? If yes, were you able to do so? If not, what were the challenges?
Can you describe any resources you used (other than any training discussed above) when preparing your BPC plan?
[For each resource the respondent identifies]:
[If yes] What did you use this resource for? How useful was this resource? Were there any additional resources or information that you would have liked to be able to access?
[For those responding yes to Q1 above] To what extent did your BPC plan for this project build on prior efforts at broadening participation that you had engaged in either independently or through your institution?
When submitting your proposal, did you have a good understanding of what constitutes an acceptable BPC plan? Were there any factors (other than those already discussed) that facilitated or hindered your efforts to prepare your BPC plan?
Current Status of your BPC Work [The questions in this section to be asked of both older and newer projects]
To what extent have you implemented each of the activities outlined in your BPC plan?
Have you been able to engage targeted underrepresented groups in a way that is consistent with what was described in your BPC plan?
What factors facilitated or hindered your efforts to implement your BPC plan?
Were there any specific resources (e.g., funding, staffing) that you lacked that affected your ability to conduct the BPC activities included in your plan?
Outcomes that Occurred as a Result of Your BPC Work [The questions in this section to be asked of only older projects]
What types of outcomes are you measuring for the underrepresented group(s) being targeted by your BPC effort?
What sources and methods are you using to measure these outcomes?
Have you been successful in making progress on achieving the goals included in your BPC plan?
Attitudes Regarding BPC and Participation in Future BPC Work [The questions in this section to be asked of both older and newer projects]
Has your involvement in developing and implementing your BPC plan affected your ability to support other BPC efforts? [If yes] Please describe how.
Has your involvement in developing your BPC plan had any impact on your department/institution and its efforts to broaden participation in computing? [If yes] Please describe how.
Has your involvement in this BPC effort increased interest among your peers in your department/at your institution in participating in efforts to broaden participation in computing? [If yes] Please describe how.
Closing Questions [The questions in this section to be asked of both older and newer projects]
Based on your experience, are there any promising BPC strategies (implemented by your project or others) that you believe would serve as examples to be shared with the BPC community?
Do you have any specific suggestions for how NSF could enhance its overall BPC efforts?
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | Atsushi Miyaoka |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2023-08-27 |