Governance

AAPM-initiated surveys:

Surveys from AAPM groups (e.g., committee, subcommittee, working group, task group) will be considered for distribution to AAPM membership, or some subset of AAPM membership, when the survey supports the Vision, Mission, and/or Strategic Plan of the AAPM. All such surveys, once approved, must be distributed through headquarters. 

1. Data from such surveys, proposed by an AAPM group and approved according to this policy, are the confidential property of the AAPM, regardless of the mechanism by which the data are collected.
2. Collected data will be shared with the initiating AAPM group, who will be responsible for analyzing the collected data and preparing a summary of the results. Official reports of the AAPM based on the collected data will be submitted for review and approval according to standard AAPM procedures. In the event that an AAPM report is not published, a summary of the data will be shared with parent groups and the Board.
3. After completion of the initial report, permission for subsequent use of the same data shall be directed to the council under which the initiating AAPM group resides. The council shall review the request and provide a recommendation to EXCOM, who shall decide if additional access to the data, or any modified or augmented versions of the data, will be granted.
   1. Any use of the AAPM data, including any modified or augmented versions of the data or any models that incorporate the AAPM data, may not be made available to others without the express written permission of AAPM.
   2. If individuals use AAPM data to develop models or for other scholarly purposes, the intellectual property rights associated with such scholarly work accrue to the individuals who developed them; however, the data remain the confidential property of AAPM and the individuals who use the data do not gain any ownership interest in the data.
   3. Publications of any models or other scholarly work resulting from use of the AAPM data shall acknowledge the ownership of the data by the AAPM and cite any AAPM reports describing the data collection process. 

Externally-initiated surveys:

Surveys from external not-for-profit organizations will be considered for distribution to AAPM membership, or some subset of AAPM membership, when

1. an AAPM group agrees to serve as the liaison to the external organization,
2. the survey supports the Vision, Mission, and/or Strategic Plan of the AAPM, and
3. the analyzed survey results will be made available to AAPM members through open-access publication or by providing them to the AAPM for posting on its website via members-only access. 

Data from such externally-initiated surveys, proposed by an external not-for-profit organization and approved according to this policy, are the property of the external organization, regardless of the mechanism by which the data are collected. Permission for access to the raw survey data shall be directed to the external organization.

AAPM shall not distribute surveys that

1. solicit data for projects initiated by an individual or by an entity not meeting the above requirements,
2. violate AAPM’s privacy policy,
3. request disclosure of protected health information, or
4. are for commercial purposes.

The survey approval request must be in final form and contain:

1. a summary of the purpose of the survey,
2. the proposed survey recipients,
3. the proposed survey questions, response options, and logic actions,
4. the proposed analysis approach,
5. the proposed outcome measures,
6. the proposed manner in which the survey results will be made available to AAPM members, and
7. a letter of endorsement from the parent council.

Prior to endorsing a survey request, the parent council is expected to:

1. review the submitted materials for compliance with this policy,
2. review the proposed survey recipients, questions, response options, logic actions, analysis approach, and outcome measures for clarity, utility in accomplishing the stated purpose of the survey, and potential sources of bias,
3. determine if there is a possible overlap with other approved surveys or projects,
4. determine if there is a potential for the proposed survey to impact other surveys or projects,
5. discuss and resolve any concerns with the requesting group,
6. provide a final recommendation to EXCOM that the survey request be approved as presented or be denied. 

EXCOM will review the survey request and the recommendations of the parent council to make a final decision, which may under some special circumstances, counter the recommendations of the parent council. Under special circumstances, EXCOM may approve a survey not addressed by these terms.

The decision of EXCOM shall be communicated to the requesting group by the Executive Director. One appeal by the requesting group shall be considered, after which the decision of EXCOM will be final.

In most instances, surveys shall be circulated electronically by AAPM headquarters personnel using survey tools supported by headquarters. Electronic communications for the survey must include the following: (1) the name(s) of the parent council, and (2) the date of approval by EXCOM. When the requested data cannot be collected using a survey tool supported by headquarters, the sponsoring group shall work with AAPM headquarters personnel to determine an acceptable solution. When a situation requires that the survey be electronically circulated using AAPM email addresses, a one-time data use agreement will be required.