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Elms Faculty & Staff
The purpose of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) is ensure the protection and rights of human participants.To this end, the IRB engages in three main activities:
The IRB reviews and implements current federal guidelines regarding the protection of human participants.
2. The IRB reviews and approves all research or project proposals (including surveys) for faculty/staff research, student research (with faculty supervision) and quality improvement projects. The purpose of review is not to judge validity of the project but to ensure that ethical standards have been addressed and documented.
3. The IRB disseminates and provides educational opportunities for those who engage in research with human participants. This site provides instructions, forms, templates, and a forum for discussion of these topics for faculty members conducting or supervising research with human participants .
To begin the IRB approval process, please review and complete the IRB Research Application. You will need to submit all supporting documentation, including materials, recruitment and debriefing statements and evidence of PHRP training certificate.
Checklist for Submissions:
Ethics Training
Before conducting research with human participants, each member must complete the CITI human subjects' protection training. If you have completed either the NIH or the CITI training at another institution, please provide the certificate number and date.
For more information check the Ethics Training tab.
When should anonymous surveys or class research projects be submitted to IRB?
Bulk Email: If students plan to recruit participants using Elms bulk email (class 20xx.students.elms.edu), they will need IRB approval to send this out to the entire student body.
Public Dissemination: If the project results are intended for public dissemination (e.g. conference presentation outside the class) then students need IRB approval before commencing data collection.
Potential Risk: If the survey or project involves more than minimal risk to the participants, they will need IRB approval. An example of a minimal risk survey is an anonymous survey with no personally identifying or sensitive information collected. An example of a survey with more than minimal risk may involve sensitive information or potential loss of anonymity. For example, asking about past drug use, history of disease/illness, and/or personal demographic information would be above minimal risk.
When is it okay to conduct my class survey without IRB approval?
If the survey is:
Not being sent out a as a bulk email to students
Minimal risk as determined by instructor
Anonymous
Results are only intended for use in class for the assignment
As with any research project, it is important that anyone planning to collect data from human participants complete the CITI ethics training modules before collecting data. It is also important to use the consent process for the participant's voluntary participation in the project. For surveys that are exempt from IRB approval, we suggest that students minimally include the following information on the cover sheet of their survey.
Participants need to be aware their responses will be anonymous. Their names will not be collected.
Participants need to know they may discontinue or leave items blank if they choose (free of coercion or penalty if they discontinue)
Participants know how their responses will be used and if there are any risks or benefits of participation (e.g., if it 's for a class project only, please inform them of that).
Contact info of principle investigator in case the participants have questions/comments regarding the survey.
If you or your students have any questions, please contact irb@elms.edu.
Application forms
Please submit your IRB Research Application using the links below.
You can expect to receive a response to your proposal after the next scheduled committee meeting. Please check the Calendar on the website for specific dates.
IRB Research Application (Online application)
Upload your IRB Research Application (Upload PDF application)
Templates
Frequently used templates
Each study should have a recruitment statement that explains the nature of the study and the rights of the participants. Please use this form as a template.
Debriefing Template
The debriefing form comes at the conclusion of the study and is required if the study involves deception. It can also be used to conclude any study and contains the follow-up information. Please use this form as a template.
To access additional templates please check the Documents tab.
External request for research participation policy 9-26-23
The major role of the Elms College Institutional Review Board (IRB) is protection of human subjects when participating in research or quality improvement projects. In an effort to ensure this protection, the Elms IRB requests the following actions if you or your department, division or school receives a request to participate in a research study or quality improvement project from an external institution:
1. The request letter/email from the principal investigator (PI) at the external institution must include an IRB approval number issued from that institution’s IRB. If there is no approval number included in the letter/email, a designated person from the Elms College department, division or school receiving the request must contact the PI for the approval number before participating in that study or project.
2. Never send student email addresses to principal investigators from external institutions if asked.
3. Recruitment of Elms College students for participation in external research studies or quality improvement projects will require a letter of support from an appropriate Elms College administrator. This external request for Elms College student participation must be reviewed by the Elms College IRB.
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