[Air-L] IRBs

[Bates, Benjamin J]

I'll add my little bit into the IRB discussion.  I've served on
University IRBs at two institutions.  Perhaps they were good ones, but
there wasn't much "making stuff up" - but there was, and is, a lot of
discussion of "how do we deal with all these new kinds of research."  I
can say that at both, I was the only one familiar with online research
methods, technology, etc.; and thus was able to possibly prevent some of
the more extreme reactions (say comparing chat rooms with focus groups).
I was also able to introduce the AoIR guide to ethical research to them,
which they eagerly accepted as an appropriate guide for online research.

So if your University IRB is having a hard time understanding what you
do, perhaps you can help them - point them to our ethics statement,
perhaps even volunteer to serve; it may not help your particular current
project, but you might help future online research at your institution.
Also, the Feds do seem to make up new rules along the way.  Our whole
IRB board was surprised recently to learn that asking about smoking is
now considered a sensitive subject that requires full IRB review even on
an anonymous survey - and that's straight from a Federal rule (45 CFR
46, Subpart C).

Ben Bates
Professor, College of Communication & Information
University of Tennessee