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DEADLINES AND MEETING DATES
PARTICIPANT QUESTIONS & CONCERNS
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION STATEMENTS OF ETHICAL
PRINCIPLES
PRINCIPLES OF ETHICAL RESEARCH
HOW THE IRB IS
STAFFED
LOG OF IRB DECISIONS AT COLORADO COLLEGE
GLOSSARY |
Welcome to the Colorado College IRB web page. The below documents should be reviewed in the order in which they appear for greatest effectiveness. Everything you need is on this page (except for deadlines and IRB meeting dates).
Do I have to complete and submit an IRB application?
- Not if you are only carrying out a class project that won't be presented beyond your class (but you do need to submit an application if your research will be published (including being bound as a senior thesis in the library) or presented publicly (including Venture Grant projects that involve interviews, surveys, etc.)
- Not if you are not interacting with living people (e.g., if you are only analyzing texts or carrying out ecological research)
- Not if you are only asking people professional questions (that focus on their areas of expertise) rather than personal questions (that involve getting private information from them); personal questions require approval, professional questions don't
- Not if you are only carrying out non-participant observation in a public place (the Worner quad, Acacia Park, etc.) and not interacting with the people you observe
- In all other cases, you do need to submit an IRB application
Click here for tips to help you fill out your application and a high-quality example
Click here for the IRB Application
Click here for the MAT Educational Research Exemption Determination Form
Please be aware that your proposal will NOT be reviewed if it is missing any of the following elements:
- Faculty sponsor's email of approval (unless it is a venture grant project; those are reviewed without faculty sponsor input)
- A debriefing form or script if you will be using deception (most common in psychology and marketing studies)
- Your consent form or script, built using one of the templates below
- Your interview questions, survey instrument, experiment process, or other materials showing clearly what the participant will encounter and what they will do
What kinds of projects get approved most quickly and easily?
- Those that do not put participants at more than minimal risk of physical, legal, financial, employment, reputational, emotional/psychological, or any other kind of harm; projects with low risk levels of harm can be approved but the less potential for harm, the easier the approval
- Those that only involve adults (people 18 or over)
- Those that only involve people who are completely free and able to refuse participation in your research (so not prisoners, undocumented immigrants, people with developmental disabilities, or members of politically disadvantaged groups)
- Those with well-designed processes to gain consent of participants
- Those that only use the following research methods: educational tests, questionnaires/surveys, interviews, focus groups, non-participant observation, or collection of data from voice, video, digital, or image recordings
- Those that have program evaluation of human factors evaluation as their goal
- Those in which the research focuses on individual or group characteristics or behavior (e.g. perception, cognition, motivation, identity, language, communication, cultural beliefs/practices, or social behavior)
- Those that take place in educational settings and that focus on normal educational practices
- Those that involve the study of already collected data, documents, or records that are publicly available
- Those in which individual participants cannot be identified by name or, if they can, being identified does not put them at risk of harm
- Those that, if an organization is the topic of study, have already been approved by the organization in question
What is meant by minimal risk of harm?
- The probability and magnitude of harm or discomfort anticipated in the research are not greater than the harm or discomfort ordinarily encountered in daily life or while taking routine physical or psychological tests.
- For example, an interview study that addresses past experiences of depression is within the category of minimal risk if the questions are expected to cause no more harm than would a session with one’s therapist or counselor
What are my IRB obligations if I am completing a Venture Grant proposal?
- If your Venture Grant project involves collecting personal information from people (as opposed to asking only questions of expertise or professional questions), you need IRB approval in order to receive Venture Grant approval and funding. Please see the above bullet points for more clarification. Many Venture Grant projects that involve interacting with people do require IRB approval because you are required to present your findings publicly.
- All non-IRB questions related to your Venture Grant go to the Dean's Advisory Committee, not to the IRB. The IRB is not able to answer Venture Grant questions.
- Do not send a draft of your Venture Grant proposal to the IRB. The IRB does not review Venture Grant materials, only IRB applications.
Click on the links below for consent form templates (including requirements) related to the consent process:
Standard Consent Form Template (Use this form for participant interviews)
Example of an Excellent Standard Consent Form
Parental Consent Form Template (Use this form in cases where the participant is under the age of 18 and consent must be obtained from the parent)
Paper Survey Consent Paragraph Template (Use this form for all surveys administered to participants on paper)
Online Survey Consent Paragraph Template (Use this form for all surveys administered to participants online)
Release Form for Use of Photograph/Videotape
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