The University of Iowa
Human Subjects Office

Guidance for Faculty/Instructors and Students

Manuals

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When course-related research assignments involve human subjects, the faculty member or instructor assigning the project is responsible for ensuring the conduct of the project in an ethical manner. The faculty member or instructor is responsible for:

 

  1. Reviewing students’ research plans prior to subject recruitment and data collection.
  2. Determining the project meets all of the Course-Related Research criteria. Assignments meeting these criteria do not require IRB review and approval (see “Course-Related Student Project Checklist”).
  3. Reviewing any revisions made to the student’s project proposal to ensure it continues to meet all the criteria for a course-related student project.
  4. Ensuring classroom assignments are carried out with due consideration of the University’s ethical and legal responsibility to protect individuals who participate in these activities.
  5. Determining if a classroom project warrants enhanced attention:
    1. Due to potential physical, psychological, social, economic, or legal risk to participants, or
    2. Because the project involves vulnerable populations such as cognitively impaired individuals, or
    3. When students have a supervisory role in their work life over the people they want to recruit for their classroom project.
  6. Ensuring students realize the potential for harm, as listed above, and take all possible steps to eliminate the risks to these individuals.
  7. Providing guidance to the student regarding use of data collected in a classroom project, in a manner that is consistent with University policy.
  8. Assuming the risks in the event of a breach of confidentiality involving data collected for the project, or if data are released outside the parameters of this policy.
  9. Addressing all complaints regarding the student project.
  10. Ensuring that all surveys, questionnaires, and interviews administered to participants are preceded by a verbal disclosure or information sheet containing the following points:
    1. The student identifies him/herself as a University of Iowa student who is performing the activity to fulfill a course requirement, and the title of the course is specifically identified
    2. The name and contact information for the supervising faculty member is provided
    3. The persons who have access to the individual data and/or summarized results are specified (e.g., instructor only, company/organization/agency)
    4. Informing respondents that their participation is voluntary and that they may stop participating at any time. 
  11. An obligation to consider carefully whether those students are qualified to adequately safeguard the rights and welfare of subjects. (UI Ops Manual, Ch. 27.4)

The IRB recommends the following guidelines for students:

 

Course-related student research projects

Students are responsible for discussing and/or submitting their project proposal with their course instructor who will determine if the project meets all of the course-related student project criteria.

Course-related student project checklist (optional)

To assist faculty members or instructors with this decision, students may use the optional Course-Related Student Project Checklist provided by the Human Subjects Office (HSO). The student should give the completed checklist to their instructor for review. The checklist will indicate if IRB review is required based on the responses provided. If the instructor determines that the project meets all of the criteria, both the student and the instructor of the course should sign the checklist. The student and faculty member/instructor should each keep a completed copy of the checklist for their records. 
 

Changes to course-related student projects

Students are responsible for submitting any revisions to the project proposal to their instructor before implementing any changes in the project.
 

Future use of data 

Students who wish to use data or information collected for a course-related project after the completion of the course, students who think they may use the data or information in the future for another project, or students who believe it is likely they will seek to publish their results, should submit a HawkIRB application for IRB review and approval.
 

Examples* of Course-Related Student Project (no IRB review required)

 
  1. Students in a marketing research class plan to analyze a data set received from a local business about their customer’s preferences for dish soap. The data set is recorded without any personal identifiers and the analyses will only be discussed among the class and with employees of the company. 
  2. Graduate students in a nursing course who are learning about the ethics of research plan to develop and administer an online survey to nursing staff at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC). The survey includes questions about job satisfaction and responses cannot be linked back to the participants. The results of the survey will only be used in the classroom to discuss the assignment.
 
In both cases, the projects meet all the criteria for a Course-Related Student Project and do not require IRB review. The results of each project do not contribute to generalizable knowledge and the results in the first example are for internal quality assurance purposes only. The students do not record identifiers with the information collected and no one involved in the class project is receiving monetary support, or conducting research activities on VAHCS property or using VAHCS resources. 
 
 

Examples* of Human Subjects Research (IRB review required) 

 
Students in a University of Iowa sociology course plan to conduct face-to-face interviews with individuals currently incarcerated at Oakdale Correctional Facility. Participants will be asked questions about their experiences in prison.
 
A student in a bioethics class wants to conduct a secondary data analysis of identifiable data of hospital employee’s opinions of their job satisfaction, advancement opportunities, and interactions with management staff. This information was collected under a different study. The data will be used in the student’s final paper to complete a course requirement.
 
In both cases, the projects do not meet all the criteria for a Course-Related Student Project and require IRB review. The first project involves prisoners and the second involves identifiable data that could reasonably harm a person’s reputation, employability, financial standing, or place a person at risk of criminal or civil liability. 
 
January 2014