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Institutional Review Board

About the IRB

Arapahoe Community College encourages and supports the scholarly endeavors of students, faculty, and staff of the College. Pursuit of scholarly work and research will often involve the use of human subjects for data collection and analysis. Arapahoe Community College’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) reviews human subjects research proposals to ensure that the rights and welfare of human subjects used in research studies are protected; that risks have been considered and minimized; that the potential for benefit has been identified and maximized; that all human subjects only volunteer to participate in research after being provided with legally effective informed consent; that any research is conducted in an ethical manner and in compliance with established standards; and that all private information will be handled with confidentiality. Individuals seeking to conduct such research may not solicit subject participation or begin data collection until they have obtained clearance by the Arapahoe Community College IRB.

The IRB is authorized to review, approve, require modifications in, or disapprove research activities using human subjects conducted by or through the College using human subjects. The IRB does not assume the role of evaluating the soundness of the proposed research study, the merits of the research design, nor the potential contribution of the research to the scholarly literature. Rather, the IRB is charged with evaluating each project’s compliance with ethical standards in regard to issues such as informed consent, confidentiality, and any risk to the participants.

How to Request IRB Review for Your Project

When considering the need to seek IRB review, first consider whether the project meets the definition of research for the purposes of IRB review. If it does, some research projects involving human subjects are exempt from IRB approval requirements. Practically speaking, the types of research generally exempt from IRB approval requirements include normal educational practices such as work undertaken as a part of a course; educational tests when the subjects are not identified; surveys or interviews in which the subjects volunteer and are not personally identified; and other circumstances.

Researchers should review the IRB Exempt Protocol Form and the Office of Human Subjects Research Protections “Human Subject Regulations Decision Charts” to determine the level of review sought prior to submitting a request for IRB review.

If you determine an IRB review is appropriate, complete the relevant form below and email it to the IRB administrator at IR [at] arapahoe [dot] edu (ir[at]arapahoe[dot]edu).

If you have questions after reviewing these guidelines, please contact the IRB administrator at ir [at] arapahoe [dot] edu.