U.S. flag
      An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.
        Here's how you know
      Here's how you know**Official websites use .gov**
            
            A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
      **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
            
            A **lock** (
            A locked padlock
            ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Menu

      
        close

            
            
                                              About NIJ
        
                    
  
          About NIJ
      
    
          The NIJ Director
          How NIJ Is Organized
          Mission and Guiding Principles
          Research and Development Process
          Strategic Framework
          Assessments of NIJ
          Annual Reports & Reports to Congress
          Staff Directory
          Funding & Awards
        
                    
  
          Funding & Awards
      
    
          Current Funding
          Forthcoming Funding
          Expired Funding
          Awards: Listing of Funded Projects
          Guidance for Applicants and Awardees
          Fellowship & Student Programs
          Travel Scholarships
          NIJ Challenge Program
          Library & Multimedia
        
                    
  
          Library & Multimedia
      
    
          NIJ Journal
          Podcasts
          Publications Listing
          Multimedia Listing
          Rated Practices on CrimeSolutions
          Rated Programs on CrimeSolutions
          Software & Databases
          Datasets
          Patents
          Topics
        
                    
  
          Topics
      
    
          Article Listing
          Corrections
          Courts
          Crime Prevention
          Crimes
          Drugs and Crime
          Equipment and Technology
          Forensic Sciences
          Youth Justice
          Justice System Reform
          Law Enforcement
          Tribal Crime and Justice
          Victims of Crime
          Events
        
                    
  
          Events
      
    
          NIJ 2024 Research Conference
          Scheduled Events
          On-Demand Events
          Research Meetings & Workshops
          NIJ-Hosted Online Training

                            
                                About
          Contact Us
          Subscribe
          Topics A-Z
                  Share
FacebookXLinkedInRedditPinterestEmail Home
                            Funding & Awards
 Operation250: An Evaluation of a Primary Prevention Campaign focused on Online Safety and Risk Assessment
Award Information
Awardee
              UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS
Award #
              2018-ZA-CX-0002
Funding Category
              Competitive Discretionary
Location
                    LOWELL, MA
Congressional District
              3
Status
              Closed
Funding First Awarded
              2018
Total funding (to date)
              $1,029,474
Original Solicitation
              NIJ FY18 Research and Evaluation on Prevention and Mitigation of Domestic Pathways to Terrorism
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2018, $1,029,474)
The proposed study is led by a new investigator and uses an RCT design to conduct a formative and summative evaluation of Operation250: a countering terrorism program that focuses on the role of internet safety and online risk assessment among 350 students at a series of schools in the North Adams District of Massachusetts.
The formative evaluation will address questions such as: how the Op250 logic model aligns with unsafe internet behavior and extremism, what the potential barriers are to achieving strong congruency between Op250 and theory, and what data arises from Op250 interventions and how this data corresponds to the goals of the summative evaluation.
In order to carry out the formative evaluation, the applicants will rely on a preliminary evaluability assessment of Op250 that was conducted as part of a previously funded NIJ project (through Harvard). The results of this work will inform what elements of Op250 are deemed suitable for evaluation and what sample size and students characteristics should be targeted to maximize evaluation efforts based on youth online behaviors.
For the summative evaluation, the research team will conduct an RCT comparing the outcomes of Op250 with a control group of individuals who did not participate in the program. The applicants aim will be to measure the ability of Op250 to reduce unsafe online behavior and increase the ability of the teenagers to assess risks online. A suite of measures, including an adapted religiosity scale, resiliency and coping scale, and emotional stability scale, among others, will be used to assess results in this evaluation. Questions about internet safety and risky online behaviors will be assessed through survey questionnaires.
Focus groups and classroom interventions with a subset of the sample population will follow and will include the presence of teachers. The sample size will be determined by baseline data on youth online behaviors previously collected in the NIJ-funded Harvard project. The applicants state that this baseline data will allow them to calculate the percentage of youth in the population targeted by the Op250 intervention that have online risky behaviors as determined by the survey questions (i.e. talk to strangers online).
Based on the distribution of such behaviors and standard deviation of the risky behaviors score obtained, the applicants will calculate the number of youth to be enrolled to detect an effect size change of score of 0.5 with a power of 80% (a power analysis is included in the application).
The proposed study adds a more generalized online safety component to existing models of counter-messaging and counter-narratives in this particular area of study. The applicants propose to provide empirical support for the development and effectiveness of Operation250 as an innovative terrorism prevention/intervention program. The applicants propose to study the exact role that the internet plays in online radicalization, in addition to understanding why only a few people who engage in online extremist material actually engage in terrorist behavior offline.
"Note: This project contains a research and/or development component, as defined in applicable law," and complies with Part 200 Uniform Requirements - 2 CFR 200.210(a)(14)."
CA/NCF



  
Grant-Funded Publications
        
                      A Public Health Ethics Model of Countering Violent Extremism

  
Date Created: September 5, 2018
    
          Side navigation
  

        

  
  
              Current Funding
    
      
            
            
            
      Forthcoming Funding
    
      
            
            
            
      Expired Funding
    
      
            
            
            
      Awards: Listing of Funded Projects
    
      
            
            
            
      Guidance for Applicants and Awardees
    
      
            
            
            
      Fellowship & Student Programs
    
      
            
            
            
      Travel Scholarships
    
      
            
            
            
      NIJ Challenge ProgramSimilar Awards
        
                      A longitudinal cohort mixed methods study of the impact of mental health on retention and turnover among early career police officers in South Carolina
                  Exploring Officer Patrol Behaviors Using Automated Vehicle Locator and Body-Worn Camera Data in Kansas City, Missouri
                  Developing a Strategy to Evaluate Urban Violence Prevention and Intervention Ecosystems: A Case Study of Boston
 Top

      National Institute of Justice

        
        
                        About NIJ
                    About NIJ
      
    
                  How NIJ Is Organized
      
    
                  NIJ Director
      
    
                  Research Disclaimer
      
    
                  Funding & Awards
                    Funding & Awards Home
      
    
                  Awards Listing
      
    
                  Current Funding
      
    
                  Guidance for Applicants and Awardees
      
    
                  Resources
                    Events
      
    
                  Podcasts
      
    
                  Publications
      
    
                  Topics
      
    
                  Multimedia
      
    
                  Reuse Policy
      
    
                  Contacts
                    Contact NIJ
      
    
                  Staff Directory
      
    
                  Submit a FOIA Request
      
    
                  File a Civil Rights ComplaintFacebook
          
                      X
          
                      YouTube
  

      810 7th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20531
      
              Secondary Footer link menu
            Accessibility
              Plain Language
              Privacy Policy
              Legal Policies and Disclaimer
              No FEAR Act
              Freedom of Information Act
              USA.gov
              Justice.gov