IRB issue

[Laura Wagner]

Hi Sarita,

I'm on the IRB board at my school and we have exactly the same policy: you
need to have something from the school saying that it's OK with them for you
to recruit participants at their school before you start collecting data.
Where you ended up is a common arrangement here.  That is, you can have the
research approved in general but you are required to submit an amendment
once you have the specific permission from the schools.

I agree in general that this is a pain of a complication -- I've never
worked in a preschool without talking to the director first and I can't
imagine how one would get access to the recruitment process (let alone
running the subjects!) without the positive good will of someone in the
school administration.

>From the IRB's perspective, though, they want to be sure that you're doing
things right.  Just as importantly, they want the name of someone there in
case there are any issues that come up, such as a parent who complains about
what's going on.  And, since you are going to be talking to the director
anyway, it's not really a big deal to get a letter from them (I often just
write the letter for them and get them to sign it).

The biggest pain is the time lag: I agree that having to wait 3 weeks is
just terrible.  If you're planning on talking to your IRB, talk about this
part because it's the only thing they can likely do much about.  What Brian
suggests might work, and would require only that a member of the IRB's
bureaucratic staff review the letter (as opposed to getting a full member of
the board).

Good luck,

Laura


************
Laura Wagner
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology
The Ohio State University
1835 Neil Ave
Columbus, OH  43210
wagner.602 at osu.edu
614-688-3260
http://faculty.psy.ohio-state.edu/wagner/
*****************************************




On 4/8/08 12:06 PM, "Brian MacWhinney" <macw at cmu.edu> wrote:

> 
> Dear Sarita,
> 
>     It is standard procedure for the university to require you to have
> permission from the schools.  However, I would agree that the way in
> which the IRB implements this requirement could indeed be handled in a
> more flexible way.  For example, they could let you list the schools
> with which you plan to work and then make approval for work with that
> school contingent upon receipt at the IRB office of a letter from the
> specific school.  This would avoid the need for an amendment in each
> case and should cut down on delays.  These implementational details
> are under the control of your IRB.
> 
> --Brian MacWhinney
> 
> On Apr 8, 2008, at 10:58 AM, Sarita Eisenberg wrote:
> 
>> 
>> The IRB at my university withheld approval for a project - which
>> involves collecting conversational samples, narratives, and
>> expositions from school-age children - because I did not have prior
>> approval from specific schools for recruitment and on-site data
>> collection. I appealed this and the IRB has now amended their review -
>> the IRB will grant me permission to see participants on-campus. In
>> order to see participants at their schools, I must submit an amendment
>> to the research protocol to add a school as a participating site once
>> I have obtained approval from that particular school. Assuming that
>> any such amendment would have an expedited review, I would receive the
>> okay from IRB 3 weeks after submitting the amendment.
>> This strikes me as a needless complication and delay and I wondered
>> what the IRB policy about this is at other institutions.
>> Sarita Eisenberg
>>> 
>> 
> 
> 
> > 



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