From: Karl Haberlandt
Chair, Trinity College Institutional
Review Board
Re: Annual Report of the Institutional Review
Board
The charge of the Institutional
Review Board (IRB) at Trinity College 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. 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.
In 2001-02, the IRB reviewed 63
proposals listed at our website. Most of these involved expedited reviews. During
the last year, we have made our review procedures more rigorous in terms of
assessing the risk to participants relative to the benefits gained, and in
terms of the procedures to insure the confidentiality of all research records.
In addition, the IRB approved the
following new policies
Ø
Regarding
research by Trinity College students and faculty conducted at and approved by
other institutions. All members of the Trinity community conducting research
at other institutions must submit a copy of the research protocol and a letter
from that institution’s IRB approving the research. The IRB at Trinity will
issue a letter acknowledging the receipt of the approval from the external IRB.
This replaces the prior practice of undertaking our own evaluation of such
research proposals.
Ø
Regarding
standard studies conducted by the Institutional Research and Planning Office
(IRPO). The IRPO will provide the chair of the IRB with copies of all
surveys and related information. If the survey presents any issue in terms of
risk, confidentiality, or voluntary participation, the IRPO will submit a
separate IRB application for that survey. All other standard surveys have the
implicit prior approval of the IRB. Prior to this policy the IRB had no
knowledge of any of the studies undertaken by the IRPO. With this policy IRPO
studies come under the purview of the IRB for the first time.
The IRB plans to hold an open meeting early in the fall semester for
Trinity faculty, staff, and students to explain its role in research and teaching
and to answer questions.
For application
procedures, and for additional information on the IRB and its policies, consult
the committee’s website www.trincoll.edu/comm/irb/ or call any member of
the IRB. The current members include Leslie Desmangles, Fred Errington, Mark
Franklin, Karl Haberlandt (on leave in 02-03), James Hughes, David Reuman, and
Claire Wiseman. Drs. Laurine Bow and Sheryl Horowitz, both of the Hartford
Hospital, serve as external members of the Trinity IRB. David Reuman will chair
the IRB in 2002-03. Cynthia Merritt provides staff support to the
committee.