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Request for Information
By Hans Johnson
The AAUP has joined several disciplinary organizations-the American Anthropological Association, the American Folklore Society, the American Historical Association, the American Political Science Association, the American Sociological Association, the Oral History Association, and the Organization of American Historians-in an effort to develop guidelines for sound practices for campus institutional review boards (IRBs). Under federal regulations, federally supported research "involving human subjects" must be reviewed by a campus IRB. The regulations seek to protect vulnerable subjects (especially children, prisoners, the indigent, and the handicapped) from physical or psychological harm.
Over the years, however, local IRBs have extended their jurisdiction to research involving human subjects that is not supported by the federal government, including interviews of persons who themselves are not being studied but are in effect resources for the scholar. While the federal regulations provide for exempt categories of research and, in certain circumstances, for expedited reviews of research, there appears to be a fair amount of misunderstanding in the academic community about what the regulations require and do not require. Faculty members have also expressed concern about the implications of IRB reviews for academic freedom.
We have some information about how IRBs are expected to operate, but we are interested in learning more about how they operate in practice and about the actual experiences of faculty members with campus IRBs in terms of their service on such bodies or as a result of having had their research reviewed by them. To that end, we would be grateful for information on the following matters, which will be treated as confidential.
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