Are you planning on conducting a research project for a psychology course you are taking? Will your study participants come from the Psychology Department participant pool (Psych Pool)? If so, the following information will assist you with the IRB application process.
Note: An excellent聽聽(updated January, 2017) is available聽for you to use as a reference.*聽In order to abide by copyright laws, published data instruments originally used and submitted in this study (appendices F-H) have been omitted from this modified application.
Required Submission Materials:聽The items listed below聽must be included聽in your IRB application. Please also read the聽聽section at the end of this page for additional important information.
1. IRB Application Form
All 糖心logo在线入口 faculty, staff, or student researchers must complete the IRB Application for Human Participant Research form for research projects involving human participants.聽 See聽聽the for general instructions on how to complete the application form. Please remember that you (and all members of your study team, if you are working in a group) must sign and date the last page of the application form. Your faculty advisor鈥檚 signature is also required on the first page of the form (Item 3c).
2. Documentation of participant informed consent (MODIFIED in JANUARY, 2017)
The following information regarding documentation of participant informed consent is appropriate for聽minimal risk聽studies. Most of the research conducted by students in the Psychology Department falls under this risk category. See聽聽for more information on IRB review categories.
Students who are enrolled in the聽糖心logo在线入口 Psych Pool聽can sign up to participate in a research study through the SONA System (human participant management software). Participants provide some of the elements of informed consent electronically when they sign up on the SONA System. Therefore, a print-out of the SONA System study description page is required to聽partially document聽the informed consent for these participants (see Appendix A of the sample IRB application). The study description page should list the title of the study, a description of the study purpose, the procedures participants will be asked to perform, a statement that participants must be 18 or older, and the amount of research credit that will be awarded for participation.
In order for student participants to provide聽all聽of the聽, they should be presented a聽聽just before they participate in the study (see Appendix D of the sample IRB application). Like an聽, a study information sheet contains all of the required informed consent elements but does not require the participant鈥檚 signature. Instead, the information sheet must include a sentence stating that by completing the study tasks, the participant has provided the researcher with his or her consent to participate.
A paper copy of the Information Sheet can be given to the participant or it may be presented electronically. Researchers who use an electronic experiment such as a Qualtrics survey or a computerized task should use this聽聽as a landing page or 鈥渇irst screen鈥 of their on-screen experiment.
You must submit the BOTH聽the Study Information Sheet and SONA study description page for review with your other IRB application materials. Please use the聽聽as a guideline for writing your document.
3. Participant Recruitment Material:
If you will use any recruitment material to advertise your study (e.g., flyers, study announcements, advertisements, verbal or email solicitations, etc.), these items must be included in your submission materials (see Appendix B and Appendix C of the sample IRB application). Generally, the only recruitment material required is the SONA study page that gives the description of your study.
4. Data Instruments:
You must submit copies of all data collection instruments (e.g., surveys interview questions, tests, tasks, etc.) that participants will be asked to complete or perform as part of your study (see Appendix E of the sample IRB application form). Please be sure to include any instructions (verbal or written) that will be provided to participants. If data instruments are available online (e.g., a survey posted on SurveyMonkey or Qualtrics), please provide the link to the finalized version of the instrument along with a printed copy of the instrument(s).
5. Debriefing Statement:
If you plan to debrief the participants after they have completed the study procedures, you must submit the debriefing statement along with the IRB application materials (see Appendix I of the sample IRB application form).
6. Photographs, Video Clips, Music, etc.:
Any visual and auditory media your participants will be exposed to must be reviewed by the IRB. Only printed copies of photos are accepted (so they may be easily sent out to reviewers); these do not need to be high-quality prints. For music or video clips, a CD or flash drive may be submitted. If these items will be viewed online by participants, please submit the appropriate link. Please be mindful of copyright issues when using visual or auditory media for your research.
Submission Process:聽You must submit聽one, fully signed hard copy聽of the IRB application form and all associated study materials. Signatures must be entered by hand, in pen. Please do not submit documents on flash drives or CDs (except music or video clips).聽Please label all study documents as appendices and refer to them accordingly in the IRB application form.
Draft Copies:聽If you are new to the IRB process and would like to submit a draft of your application or any of the supporting documents to the IRB Administrator for a pre-review, you may do so by an email attachment to Carole Krus ckrus@jcu.edu.聽Please note: your application will not be logged in as an official submission until a complete, fully signed hard copy is received in the IRB Office.
If you have any questions, please聽contact the IRB Administrator.
*We wish to thank the 糖心logo在线入口 student who gave us permission to modify and post her approved IRB application on this web page.