What is it?

How did we go wrong?

What do we do now?

Exactly that...

conducting research with/on people

interviews. observations. surveys. physical experiments

yep: people conduct research on animals.

but that is a whole 'nother form & history

there's always  a reason for what we do, right?

Nuremberg Tribunals

Tuskegee (Alabama) experiment (1932-1972)

United States Code of Federal Regulations

policy establishes criteria for most types of research involving human subjects

requires colleges, universities, hospitals and other places receiving federal $$ to create Institutional Review Boards

The IRB reviews and approves or disallows human subject reserach

Five members.

A chair (Tony Zschau @ UNG)

1 w/ expertise with scientific research methods

1 outside of science

1 not affiliated with university--often a minister

usually meet f2f once a month

An IRB application is called a 'protocol.' We look at one next class.

Got 3 basic categories of research to submit:

Exempt

Expedited

Full-committee

The IRB thinks about

Risks are minimized

Risks are reasonable in relation to benefits

Selection of participants is equitable

Informed consent obtained

Informed consent is documented

Protect confidentiality

Vulnerable populations protected

Some schools require training before submission

IRB is very interdisciplinary.

Some things work for our field, some don't, and some things are missing.

Anderson, Paul V. "Ethics, Institutional Review Boards, and the Involvement of Human Subjects in Composition Research." Ethics and Representation in Qualitative Studies of Literacy. Eds. Mortensen and Kirsch.