A Survey System to Assess Abuse and Misconduct Toward Air Force Students in Occupational Specialty Training
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C O R P O R A T I O N A Survey System to Assess Abuse and Misconduct Toward Air Force Students in Occupational Specialty Training Laura L. Miller, Coreen Farris, Marek N. Posard, Miriam Matthews, Kirsten M. Keller, Sean Robson, Stephanie Brooks Holliday, Mauri Matsuda, Rachel M. Burns, Lisa Wagner, Barbara Bicksler For more information on this publication, visit www.rand.org/t/RR2692 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available for this publication. ISBN: 978-1-9774-0203-5 Published by the RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, Calif. © Copyright 2019 RAND Corporation R® is a registered trademark. Limited Print and Electronic Distribution Rights This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited. Permission is given to duplicate this document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial use. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions. The RAND Corporation is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous. RAND is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and committed to the public interest. RAND’s publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors. Support RAND Make a tax-deductible charitable contribution at www.rand.org/giving/contribute www.rand.org Preface This report documents a RAND Corporation study designed to adapt a survey system for monitoring abuse and misconduct in the Air Force Basic Military Training (BMT) environment to extend it to the next stages of the Air Force technical training and flying training environments. The report provides background on the structure of the Air Force technical training and flying training environments, survey revisions to tailor the BMT survey content to apply to students in these additional training environments, results of a pretest of the survey, strategies to promote open and honest participation, and recommendations for future survey administration and reporting of results. This research was sponsored by the commander of the Air Force’s Air Education and Training Command (AETC) and was conducted within the Manpower, Personnel, and Training Program of RAND Project AIR FORCE. RAND Project AIR FORCE RAND Project AIR FORCE (PAF), a division of the RAND Corporation, is the U.S. Air Force’s federally funded research and development center for studies and analyses. PAF provides the Air Force with independent analyses of policy alternatives affecting the development, employment, combat readiness, and support of current and future air, space, and cyber forces. Research is conducted in four programs: Force Modernization and Employment; Manpower, Personnel, and Training; Resource Management; and Strategy and Doctrine. The research reported here was prepared under contract FA7014-16-D-1000. Additional information about PAF is available on our website: www.rand.org/paf This report documents work originally shared with the U.S. Air Force on March 23, 2017. The draft report, issued in June 2017, was reviewed by formal peer reviewers and U.S. Air Force subject-matter experts. iii Contents Preface ............................................................................................................................................ iii Figures........................................................................................................................................... vii Tables ........................................................................................................................................... viii Summary ........................................................................................................................................ ix Acknowledgments ....................................................................................................................... xvii Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................... xix 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 Study Objective and Approach ................................................................................................................. 2 Organization of This Report ..................................................................................................................... 3 Part I: Understanding Technical Training and Flying Training ...................................................... 5 2. Characteristics of the Technical Training Environment ............................................................. 6 Structure of Enlisted Technical Training .................................................................................................. 6 Enlisted Student Population Sizes and Pipeline Lengths ......................................................................... 8 Technical Training Locations and Pipeline Structure .............................................................................. 9 Residential and Instructional Environment ............................................................................................ 12 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 13 3. Characteristics of the Flying Training Environment ................................................................ 14 Enlisted Aircrew Training ...................................................................................................................... 14 Enlisted Student Population Sizes and Pipeline Lengths ....................................................................... 14 Enlisted Aircrew Training Locations and Pipeline Structure ................................................................. 15 Residential and Instructional Environments ........................................................................................... 16 Officer Flying Training for Pilots ........................................................................................................... 17 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 22 Part II: Adapting and Pretesting the Survey Content and Administration .................................... 23 4. Adapted and New Survey Content ............................................................................................ 24 Informed Consent ................................................................................................................................... 25 Training and Background Questions ...................................................................................................... 26 Bullying .................................................................................................................................................. 27 Maltreatment and Maltraining ................................................................................................................ 30 Unprofessional Relationships ................................................................................................................. 31 Sexual Harassment, Gender Discrimination, and Sexual Orientation Discrimination ........................... 32 Sexual Assault ........................................................................................................................................ 35 Hazing ..................................................................................................................................................... 36 Assessment of Attention to the Survey ................................................................................................... 39 Abuse and Misconduct Follow-Up Questions ........................................................................................ 40 Feedback and Support Systems .............................................................................................................. 43 Self-Reported Honesty ........................................................................................................................... 44 Survey Access ......................................................................................................................................... 44 iv Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 45 5. Survey Pretest Methods ............................................................................................................ 46 Where the Survey Pretest Took Place .................................................................................................... 46 When in the Training Pipelines the Pretest Was Administered .............................................................. 48 Who Participated in the Pretest .............................................................................................................. 48 How the Survey Pretest