Do I Need to Seek Approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB)?

While not required, many teaching scholars in the program may seek publication of their projects. As of the 2019 update to IRB guidelines, seeking publication is not a determining factor on whether or not your project requires IRB approval. The determining factor is whether the project is research defined as “a systematic investigation, including research development, testing, and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge.”

In all likelihood, your project would fall under one of three categories:

1. Category Excluded from IRB Review: Scholarly and journalistic activities (e.g., oral history, journalism, biography, literary criticism, legal research, and historical scholarship), including the collection and use of information, that focus directly on the specific individuals about whom the information is collected.
2. Quality Improvement Projects: which “measure the effectiveness of programs or services, including program evaluations, curriculums, or needs assessments that are not designed to be generalizable to the larger community.”
3. Exempt Category 1: Research, conducted in established or commonly accepted educational settings, that specifically involves normal educational practices that are not likely to adversely impact students’ opportunity to learn required educational content or the assessment of educators who provide instruction. This includes most research on regular and special education instructional strategies, and research on the effectiveness of or the comparison among instructional techniques, curricula, or classroom management methods.

Category Excluded from IRB Review

If your project falls under this designation, you can submit the Human Subject Research Determination Form in eCompliance and select this category with justification. This is optional for your documentation.

Quality Improvement Project

Quality improvement projects do not require IRB review. If you plan on pursuing publication with your quality improvement project, you can complete the Human Subjects Form, which you can provide to a journal that requires evidence of the IRB determination. This is optional for your documentation.

Exempt Category 1

An exempt study must present minimal risk and fit into an allowable exempt category. Exempt studies under category 1 will likely achieve IRB approval in a few days. Exempt Category 1: Research, conducted in established or commonly accepted educational settings, that specifically involves normal educational practices that are not likely to adversely impact students’ opportunity to learn required educational content or the assessment of educators who provide instruction. This includes most research on regular and special education instructional strategies, and research on the effectiveness of or the comparison among instructional techniques, curricula, or classroom management methods.

Click here for other exempt categories.

If your project is exempt research, begin the process by creating a new IRB form. The questions will direct you to the appropriate prompts.

Is my project Quality Improvement or Exempt Category 1?

Your determination rests on whether you consider your project as “research.” If you anticipate that your results will not be generalizable, then you would likely pursue a Quality Improvement project and determination; otherwise, if it’s generalizable research, you must submit an IRB application for review. Please reach out to your team for additional support.

Feel free to consult with the IRB office as needed: 573.882.3181.