Research is a systematic investigation designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge.
Human subjects research conducted by faculty, students, staff or others on any UNL premises, or elsewhere in connection with one’s institutional responsibilities, requires IRB approval before the investigation can begin. UNL students enrolled in graduate programs need IRB approval for thesis or dissertation projects that involve human subjects.
Research is considered to involve human subjects if it entails:
- use of human tissue
- obtaining information about living individuals
- intervention or interaction with the individuals (e.g., in person, or via mail, email, web survey, or telephone)
- individually identifiable information (i.e., the subject’s identity may be ascertained by the investigator or associated with the information)
- private information (about behavior that occurs in a context in which an individual can reasonably expect that no observation is taking place, or provided for reasons the individual can reasonably expect will not be made public).
- activities using departmental or classroom subject pools
Some activities are generally not considered to be research if results will not be distributed outside the classroom or institutional setting, or if the results are used solely to teach, or to evaluate or review a program, such as:
- Classroom curriculum projects
- Workshop evaluations
- Administrative review projects
- Research practica or training activities
- Quality assurance (QA), quality improvement (QI), course or program evaluation
- Oral histories
- Case studies
A number of activities may not seem like research, but still must get IRB approval if information gathered from people will be used to contribute to generalizable knowledge.
For example:
- Asking students to write down personal experiences for a class assignment is research if their answers are later published or presented (even without names), for example, at a professional meeting.
- Sending questionnaires to community members about their perceptions of the services the University provides is research if the information is used for generalizable knowledge that will be published or presented, for example, in a public forum.
- Observing the interactions of parents and their children at the park playing is research if the observations are systematically recorded and reported in scientific journals or at a scientific conference.
If faculty or graduate students are actively gathering information in any of these ways and have any wish to publish or otherwise distribute the results, the project must be considered research. Any of these projects would need to be reviewed and approved by the IRB.
