IRBs come in many types, focusing on dramatically different categories of research from Phase I drug research to studies focused solely on education and social science. It may seem at first that the latter entails simpler ethical problems than, say, multisyllabic first-in-human drug trials for cancer, but very low-risk nonmedical research presents its own challenges for the IRB. Read more
Among scientists in the field of education, there are many who believe that all educational research, regardless of purpose, should be exempt from IRB processes and procedures. While the government did not approve education as a new category of excused research under the new proposed Common Rule that is currently slated to take effect in January 2018, there remain many areas of consideration that might be affected, including confidentiality, authentication of online participants, consent and assent, and questions around what constitutes research when conducting data collection activities in school settings. Read more
