Institutional Review Board (IRB) Policies and Procedures

The federal government mandates that any institution receiving federal research funding have an Institutional Review Board (IRB) to review research involving human subjects.  Most student projects don’t meet the definition of research—they aren’t designed to produce generalizable results that add to the body of knowledge--and so do not require IRB review.  However, any project that will be presented to an audience outside of the class does qualify as research.  This would include work done for the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, many collaborative research projects and independent studies, and some senior projects.  Even if a student project doesn’t rise to the level of research, in some cases the proposal must be approved by the IRB.

Graduate School of Education students and faculty follow the GSE Human Subjects Research procedures.  All other students and faculty can contact Professor Matt Olson, Department of Psychology, (523-2430) for further information.