From: Karl Haberlandt
Chair, Trinity College Institutional
Review Board
Re: IRB Report
A year ago, I sent a memo to
introduce the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at Trinity College to you. The
charge of this committee is to evaluate research involving human participants
in terms of the ethical standards promulgated by the federal government and by
various professional organizations, including the national associations for
anthropology, psychology, and sociology.
As the recipient of federal funding for research, Trinity College is required
to comply with federal regulations regarding the protection of human subjects
in all research, whether or not the research is funded by federal agencies.
The review of studies involving
human participants has always been critical in the context of medical research
(e.g., see the recent case at John-Hopkins University). However, the review of
social science research is no less imperative. While research protocols may
differ across disciplines, all research involving human subjects faces the same
issue of protecting the fundamental rights of the participants.
Accordingly, at Trinity all research conducted by
members of the Trinity community involving human participants, whether on or
off campus, must be approved by the IRB. The psychology experiment is perhaps
the most typical example of such research. Other examples include attitude
surveys, questionnaires on life styles, and opinion polls. Call any IRB member
if you have questions on whether a project you plan requires an IRB review.
The review by the IRB assesses whether the research respects the dignity, privacy, and welfare of the participants. For application procedures and for additional information on the IRB and its policies, consult the committee’s website at http://www.trincoll.edu/comm/irb/ or call any member of the IRB. The current members include Fred Errington, Mark Franklin, Karl Haberlandt, David Reuman, Maurice Wade, and Cynthia Merritt, ex officio. Drs. Laurine Bow and Sheryl Horowitz, both of the Hartford Hospital, serve as external members of the Trinity IRB. Note that the IRB website includes a list of studies approved by the IRB in 2000-01.