Who Must Submit Information to the IRB?

Faculty Members, Staff Members or Other Employees
Faculty members, staff members, or other employees planning to conduct research involving living human subjects or private information previously obtained about individuals will complete the St. Norbert College Application for IRB Review. 

Faculty Members Teaching Courses in which Students Undertake Investigations 
Faculty members teaching courses in which a single shared investigation involving living human subjects or private information previously obtained about individuals is conducted by all students (e.g., students contribute questions to a single common survey, cooperate in administering the survey, share in analyzing the data, and each report a portion of the results) will complete the St. Norbert College Application for IRB Review and submit it to the IRB. The instructor must have current training in human subject protection. If a comparable project is conducted each time the course is offered, the instructor may request renewal of IRB authorization once the initial application is approved. Faculty members will apply even though the investigation may not formally constitute research (“systematic investigation designed to develop or contribute to knowledge in a particular discipline”). This requirement applies to undergraduate and graduate courses. 

Students enrolled in regularly offered courses conducting, either individually or in small groups, investigations involving living human subjects or private information previously obtained about individuals will complete the St. Norbert College Application for IRB Review and submit it to their instructor.

Instructors will:

• Evaluate all student research proposals (IRB applications and other research materials - see Application, Part IV, Attachment Checklist)
• Provide feedback to students and request revisions by students as necessary
• Complete the SNC Instructor Evaluation of Student Course-Related Research once the instructor deems the application and related research materials are ready to submit to the IRB
• Give a copy of the instructor evaluation to the student(s) and forward a copy of the evaluation to the IRB. The file name for the evaluation should be descriptive and include course, semester, and student names, for example:  “IRB Inst Eval PSYC 301 Spring 2021 Smith and Jones.”

Students will then submit their application, all additional relevant materials (see Application, Part IV, Attachment Checklist), and instructor evaluation, to the IRB. 

• Applications and all related materials should be submitted together as attachments to a single email message. Address these messages to: irb@snc.edu and to kyle.diederich@snc.edu (current reviewer of student course-related research).
• The subject line for the email should be descriptive, including course, semester, and student names, for example: “IRB Application – PSYC 301 – Spring 2021 – Smith and Jones.”
• File names for applications and related materials should be descriptive and include investigator name(s), for example: “Smith Jones IRB application.doc,” “Smith Jones Consent Statement.doc,”  “Smith Jones Questionnaire.doc,” “Smith CITI Certificate.pdf,” “Jones CITI Certificate.pdf.”

Independent Student Investigations 
Students conducting independent investigations involving living human subjects or private information previously obtained about individuals, whether for academic credit (e.g., directed research, senior thesis, graduate thesis, etc.) or supported by funding from the College (e.g., grant from Student-Faculty Development Endowment Fund), will complete the St. Norbert College Application for IRB Review and submit it to the IRB along with a letter from the supervising faculty or staff member. In that letter, supervisors will acknowledge their responsibility for overseeing the investigation and report the date of their most recent training in human subject protection. Students will apply even though the investigation may not formally constitute research (“systematic investigation designed to develop or contribute to knowledge in a particular discipline”).  This requirement applies to undergraduate and graduate students. 

Rationale for IRB Oversight of Student Investigations 
We have chosen to include IRB review of student class-related and independent investigations, even though they may not formally constitute research, because we believe human participants deserve protection whether or not the data they provide are a part of a “systematic investigation designed to develop or contribute to knowledge in a particular discipline.” Imagine an investigation of students' thoughts of suicide. We believe investigators should approach such an investigation with appropriate sensitivity and safeguards for confidentiality whether the investigators are students completing a project for a course or a faculty member conducting a systematic investigation designed to develop or contribute to knowledge in her or his particular discipline.