Apply for Approval
Research: "a systematic investigation, including research development, testing, and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge" (Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects)
Human Subjects Research: "a living individual about whom an investigator (whether professional or student) conducting research obtains (1) data through intervention or interaction with the individual or (2) identifiable private information" (Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects)
If you are a faculty member requiring student research with human subjects in a course and the students will not present the findings of their research outside of the course:
Fill out the Faculty Assurance Form (Google Form linked).
Provide evidence that you, the faculty member, have completed CITI training (upload CITI Certificate on the linked Google Form).
*Note: The use of campus email lists is not within the purview of the IRB and IRB approval does not guarantee approval to administer survey via college email lists. For more information, please contact Jacqueline MacNeil, Executive Director of Institutional Effectiveness at macneijm@eckerd.edu.
If you are a faculty member, student, or staff member conducting research with human participants, with the intention of external dissemination of results:
Fill out a Research Proposal Form (provided below).
Write a sample Consent Form (optional template provided below).
Provide evidence that you and all researchers affiliated with the study have completed CITI training.
Submit these forms to irb@eckerd.edu
Approvals are for one year, please submit a renewal form each year that you continue the research.
Note: The use of campus email lists is not within the purview of the IRB and IRB approval does not guarantee approval to administer survey via college email lists. For more information, please contact Jacqueline MacNeil, Executive Director of Institutional Effectiveness, at macneijm@eckerd.edu.
CITI stands for Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative. To go through the appropriate training (good for three years), which consists of a number of information modules with short quizzes at the end:
Go to citiprogram.org.
Set up a username and password.
Choose "Add a Course or Update Learner Groups."
Choose "Social & Behavioral Research Investigators" Biomedical Research", or "Students conducting no more than minimal risk research" as appropriate. That will generate the courses needed.
Unless directed to do so, you do not need to enroll in the Responsible Conduct of Researchers course.
Outside Investigators
Eckerd as a research site for unaffiliated researchers: Researchers who would like to use Eckerd as a research site and include populations at Eckerd ( students, faculty and/or staff) are required to have an Eckerd affiliated researcher as a co-Investigator and be approved by the Eckerd IRB.
Recruitment of Eckerd students, staff, or faculty as research participants: If you are an investigator who is unaffiliated with Eckerd College, you must have permission from the IRB before recruiting participants via email, fliers/posters or other campus spaces ( virtual and physical). Researchers who are unaffiliated investigators should contact us at irb@eckerd.edu/. Please send us:
A description of the recruitment materials and a justification for recruiting Eckerd participants,
A copy of the IRB approval, and
Copies of the instruments, surveys, etc and the consent form.
If your request is approved, we will send you a letter providing you permission to recruit on campus. Depending on the nature of the study
Timeline for Approval:
Please provide the IRB adequate time to review your materials. Proposals classified as expedited are typically reviewed within two weeks. Proposals requiring full board review will be discussed at the next monthly IRB meeting, which are only held during the academic year (The IRB does not meet during the summer or during Winter Term). Proposals must be received the week prior to the meeting. Proposals submitted during the summer will not be reviewed until the Fall term and proposals submitted during the Winter term will be reviewed in the Spring.
The Spring 2024 IRB meeting dates are the 2nd Wednesday of every month at 9:45 (February 14, March 13, April 10, May 8)
Please note the following definitions of anonymous and confidential:
Anonymous: Data are recorded such that no identifier whatsoever exists to link a subject's identity to that subject's response. No one can link an individual person to the responses of that person, including the investigator.
Confidential: There exists a documented linkage between a subject's identity and his/her response in the research, and the investigator provides assurance in the protocol and in the informed consent form that the identity of any individual subject will not be revealed in any report of the study. Confidential means that the investigator can (or could) identify individuals who participated in a study, perhaps through a code. If you collect a consent form (either in person or online) where participants sign their name, your study is confidential, not anonymous. The majority of proposals submitted through the Eckerd IRB are for confidential protocols.
Your methods of data collection and the data itself cannot be BOTH anonymous and confidential.
IRB FORMS