Avoiding Hurdles in Your IRB Application

IRB/URR

In a perfect world, you identify a gap in the literature, submit a proposal, collect your data, report the findings and conclusions, and then successfully defend your dissertation. However, unexpected difficulties can and do arise. The committee could replace members midway through the process, or you might find that you cannot collect your data as anticipated. One of the biggest obstacles for most students in the dissertation process is avoiding the hurdles of the Institutional Review Board (IRB). Two of the most common IRB obstacles stem from studying vulnerable populations and developing new instrumentation.

The IRB must scrutinize your data collection process to ensure that you protect your participants. Especially if your study involves vulnerable populations such as minors, elderly individuals, residents of facilities (prisons, treatment centers, nursing homes), mentally disabled individuals, or non-fluent English speakers. When studying such participants, you must provide detailed descriptions on how you intend to protect the vulnerable population from potential risk. This step alone can potentially add months to the process. Before starting the topic development stage of your dissertation, consider studying individuals who do not belong to vulnerable groups.

Another red-flag situation to avoid with the IRB involves developing a new research instrument or survey. The IRB will suggest that an expert panel outside of the faculty committee review the self-designed tools. You may need to conduct a pilot test with a small sample to ensure survey questions are logical and interpretable. Finally, you may need to run (EFA and CFA), to access the instrument’s validity. If creating your own instrument, plan ahead due to extra steps involved. When possible, however, it is best to use a previously validated instrument or archival data.

There are just some of the common hurdles to overcome in the IRB approval process. The IRB ensures that researchers conduct ethical sound research and protect research participants. It is your duty as a researcher to conduct your study in an ethical manner. And is to participants protection; while the ensures you uphold these duties. Approaching your IRB application with this mindset will help the process go by more easily.

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