Institutional Review Board
Post-Professional Candidates Only
Any study that uses human subject and intends to generalize beyond a single design project (e.g. best practices, guidelines, etc.) requires IRB approval. Any study involving data collection from a vulnerable population, such as students or children, requires IRB approval.
Studies relying solely on literature or existing data sets (as long as they contain NO identifiable information about the subjects) usually do not require IRB approval.
The Institutional Review Board (IRB) reviews and approves all Marymount University research that involves human subjects in accordance with federal regulations and University policies.
IRB review ensures that:
- risks to the subjects are minimized;
- risks to subjects are reasonable in relationship to anticipated benefits;
- selection of the subjects is equitable;
- informed consent is obtained and properly documented;
- data collected is monitored to ensure safety of subjects;
- the privacy of subjects and confidentiality of data are maintained.
Any thesis, research or evidence-based design, which involves collecting data from human subjects MAY require IRB application and approval. IRB approval is needed if the study meets the Federal definition for research. This means that it is systematic and intended to contribute to generalizable knowledge. The second requirement is that the study involves living human subjects with whom the investigator obtains data through intervention or interaction with the person or through private information.
Marymount’s IRB website is available at:
https://my.marymount.edu/Offices-Resources/Institutional-Review-Board
IRB Discipline Guidelines for Interior Design are available at:
An IRB application falls into one of three review categories: Exempt, Expedited or Full. The determination the appropriate category depends on the type of research being conducted, the end intention of the research, the characteristics of the subject population, and the degree of risk to which the participants are subjected to during the research process.
Additionally, you must hold a CITI certificate to conduct research even if your project does not require IRB approval. Information on CITI training may be found here: https://sites.google.com/a/marymount.edu/irb/CITI