IRB Needed for Writing Papers on CHILDES database info?

[Brian MacWhinney]

Dear Katie,
     These are, of course, important questions.  There is a discussion of these issues in some web pages  that you can reach from the CHILDES home page by clicking on the second button on the page titled "Guidelines for Contributors".  You will probablly want to read all of this, particularly the "OPTIONS summary".  
     Interview data are typically less interesting than adult-child interactions.  However, several databases in CHILDES include this.  It is particularly nice to have this type of material when it is clearly separated out from the interactional data.  In that case, it can be used a baseline for some comparisons and sometimes the interview itself has interesting material.  
    Yes password protection is definitely possible.  However, it complicates life for the user.  So, unless there is something really embarrassing in the interaction, most contributors have opted to avoid password protection.  The level of access you are requesting should be clearly stated in the consent forms.
    There is no need to go through an IRB to use data in the database.

-- Brian MacWhinney

On Feb 12, 2011, at 3:10 PM, Katherine O'Donnell wrote:

> Hi everyone,
> 
> I'm very excited about both CLAN and the databases of CHIlDES.  I hope to use CLAN as a tool for research  and contribute my own corpus of data, bilingual children attending a school.
> 
> I have a few questions...
> 
> 1) Is this just for observational data, or is there any interest in collecting interview data, too?  I plan to conduct interviews with parents and students, and I wonder whether this would be of interest as a part of the database.
> 
> 2)  I assume many have gotten IRB approval to have data in this database.  Is there a way to keep it under a password, accessible to only certain people in academia?  Does it need to be on the consent/assent forms that the participants sign?  
> 
> 3)  Also, are we allowed to use the data that is already on the database, or would we need to go through IRB?
> 
> Thanks,
> Katie
> 
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