I have completed the necessary trainings from the NIH and University of Minnesota regarding human research participants. I was pleasantly surprised by how thoughtful and rational the NIH’s regulations are. At the institution where submitting research proposal with IRB is looked as a hoop but this training makes me thankful that we have an interdisciplinary group of academics at the university focused on ethical research. I also appreciated the perspective of a diverse culture of participants in a study. One has to always look at any research with critical eye and including diversity certainly leads research to being more representative of the entire culture and helps with research efficacy.
Doing these trainings led me to seek out more information about my local Institutional Review Board. On the OU IRB website, I looked at a section called Quality Improvement and it led me to information on how consistent review is on research studies. These include monthly random protocols. There is even a form to do a self review if you wish to do that.
Additionally, there is information on the website for classroom-based research projects, as I figured this will be a venue which several of us will use for research. Some of the things I’ve learned is that most classroom research projects do not require IRB approval because they are:
- Usually very limited in scope and sample size and are conducted for the purpose of learning the research process
- Not resulting in generalizable knowledge that would be acceptable for scholarly presentation or publication
- Asking participants for non-sensitive information
- Collecting data in a manner that assures the anonymity or confidentiality of the participants
IRB approval is required if students do become determined as “human subjects.” This can be if the study includes physical testing (such as drawing blood), elicits a “strong emotional response” or if you gather data from the vulnerable populations that was talked about in the training (prisoners, cognitively impaired, children).
And here’s my handy certificate of completion!
