Institutional Review Board
Purpose
Delaware County Community College encourages research and projects that increase student learning and improve the quality of instruction. In order to demonstrate its concern for protecting the rights and safety of its students and staff, the College has established an Institutional Review Board (IRB).
Mission
The IRB is established to identify, assess, and manage any potential risks associated with research involving College students or employees, or with research that College employees conduct at other institutions, as representatives of the College. The IRB helps to ensure that research conducted under its purview is consistent with basic ethical principles outlined in The Belmont Report (http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/humansubjects/guidance/belmont.html), including respect for persons, beneficence, and justice. It provide guidelines for research to the college community, and ensures that all research subject to its review is in compliance with all applicable federal regulations.
Roles and Responsibilities
The functions and duties of the IRB include:
- Developing the policies and procedures necessary to accomplish its mission
- Determining which research studies or projects are subject to or exempt from its review
- Approving or disapproving studies or projects submitted for review
- Monitoring studies in progress to ensure that they are in compliance with the standards it has established
- Provide periodic reports to the appropriate college officials or groups
- Provide for the education and development of its members. (Federal regulations define research at 45 CFR 46.102(d) as follows: Research means a systematic investigation, including research development, testing and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge)
IRB Authority
Persons who must comply with the Institutional Review Board procedures include:
- Any person or group who is neither employed by nor a student of the College and who wishes to use College employees, students, records or facilities as part of a research project or study
- Any College student or staff member proposing to conduct research that involves the use of human subjects - Federal regulations define human subject at 45 CFR 46.102(f) as follows: Human subject means 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
Research that has been approved by the IRB may be subject to further appropriate review and approval or disapproval by officials of the College. Those officials may not approve research projects that have been disapproved by the IRB.
