The aim of the survey is to gain an insight into the work situation, careers and diversity of academics at Goethe University, and, on this basis, to advance services and measures for academics at Goethe University. To this end, we ask about your current position and experiences in your daily work as well as about discrimination and difficult professional situations at Goethe University.

As academics are a very heterogeneous group, the first part of the survey distinguishes between the following groups:

• professors (including endowment, cooperation, qualification, third party funded and tenure track professorships)
• academic and artistic staff members (including employees in third-party funded projects; „Akademische Rät*innen“ with a permanent or a temporary contract; junior research group leader)
• departmental teaching staff („Lehrkräfte für besondere Aufgaben“)
• Contract lecturers (“Lehrbeauftragte")
• Scholarship holders or external doctoral and post-doctoral candidates (without an employment contract) at Goethe University

The survey takes an average of 20 to 40 minutes. Various filter questions are used in the questionnaire, which means that the processing time may vary. 

Please note that the questionnaire cannot be interrupted and continued later, as we do not use personalized invitation links.

The questionnaire is mostly standardized, so that answer options are provided for clicking. At the same time, there are open text fields at various points where you can provide further information that is important to you but is not covered by the answer options.

We have made every effort to find a good balance between the limited time resources of the academics to be surveyed and the substantial need for information regarding academic careers and diversity of academics at Goethe University.

The protection of participants and their sensitive data, which is collected as part of the survey, is a central concern in the design, conduct, and analysis of the survey. To this end, a data protection declaration and a declaration of consent were drawn up in consultation with the data protection officer at Goethe University.

The detailed data protection declaration can be found at the beginning of the survey; important aspects are summarized below:

• Participation in the survey is voluntary. In the event of participation, there is always the option of not providing any information on individual questions.
• No contact and/or personal data (including e-mail addresses) is collected. Age information is collected in aggregated form, summarizing data in 5-year intervals. Participation is via a non-personalized link.
• The survey is conducted using the online tool SoSci-Survey, for which Goethe University has a university license and stores the data on the university's own servers.
• The raw data set is processed and analysed exclusively by the project team in the Equal Opportunities Office. At the end of the survey period, the data is anonymized, for example if names are mentioned in open comment fields.
• No individual case analyses will be carried out during the analysis. Statistical results are only presented if there are at least 5 valid responses; otherwise the result is shown as N/A.
• Analysis for the individual structural units (e.g. faculties) is carried out with a special guarantee of anonymity, so that the results cannot be traced back to individual members of the structural units.

The survey also asks about difficult work situations and experiences of discrimination. Special protection and responsible handling of this very sensitive information has the highest priority.

In principle, all responses in the questionnaire are voluntary and there is always the option of not providing any information (this also applies to the questions on socio-demographic information).

The survey primarily consists of standardized questions with predefined answer options. There are open text fields at various points, so that you can also provide descriptions in your own words if you wish.

Please also note that the survey does not replace individual counseling. Answers in the questionnaire will be anonymized immediately after the end of the survey period if names are mentioned, for example. Specific incidents will not be reported/forwarded to other bodies.

If you need support and/or advice, please contact the Anti-Discrimination Office or another university counseling service or external services in Frankfurt and the region.

Exclusively, the project team of the Equal Opportunities Office at Goethe University carries out analysis. In order to ensure anonymity, no raw data will be passed on to Goethe University institutions, only processed data. 

The first data report is planned for June 2024, which will provide an overview of Goethe University as a whole. The results will be presented in a public presentation on Thu, 20.06.2024, from 9:00 to 11:00 am, in the Casino (Westend Campus) and online. 

Furthermore, analyses are planned for individual faculties and on individual key issues (e.g. onboarding, discrimination). Results will be made available to faculties and departments as well as committees and the university public at Goethe University in various ways. This includes, for example, a brochure on the careers and diversity of academics at Goethe University and useful fact sheets on selected topics.

In addition, beginning in the second half of 2024, the project team will be available to individual organizational units for the (analogue and digital) presentation of survey results.

A regular follow-up of the survey is currently not planned, which is why a high level of participation is very important for the current survey period. However, as part of the project, discussions will be held on potential future uses of the questionnaire or individual components at Goethe University. For example, a toolbox for surveying careers and diversity in science and research could be developed for Goethe University. 

We will keep you up to date on this website.