At the risk of having Facebook food thrown at me (I've never figured out if that is a good thing or a bad thing), I am the chair of our IRB (social science only). We approve quite a few student-participant projects, including those that include the researcher's own students. We evaluate every research application on whether or not it provides adequate human subject protection.
For research to provide adequate HS protection in a classroom, you have to deal with the issue that Jeff brings up (among others). One way to do it (if the research requires students to complete a document, e.g. survey in class) is to provide alternative activities for students who don't want their data included in research. For example, you could pass out the document with a puzzle (of approximately equal length as the survey) on the back. That way the instructor doesn't know which students have included their data and which have worked on the puzzle. Of course, in a small class, this won't work.
This of course is precluded by the requirement that the data collected are de-identified. I've seen researchers ask students to use a "secret password" that only they know and that they would remember from class period to class period (that way the researcher can match surveys if necessary). An example might be their mother's middle name.
There are of course other HS protection principles to comply with, as probably everyone in this listserv knows about, and they can be addressed in the classroom (usually) with carefully designed protocols.
So our university doesn't prohibit this type of study, it just requires that the basic principles of human subject protection be retained. Our psych department also has a subject pool, pooled over several classes. However, other department researchers don't have access to it. In the business school, we don't have the facilities to do such a thing. But it's a great idea if logistics allow.
Hope this helps some.
Nancy E. Day
Associate Professor, Human Resources & Organizational Behavior
HW Bloch School - University of Missouri - Kansas City
5110 Cherry
Kansas City, Missouri 64110
816-235-2333
816-235-6506 (fax)
dayn@umkc.edu
"The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow,
is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails. You may
grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night
listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you
may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honor
trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then-
to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing
which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by,
never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only
thing for you."
T.H. White, The Once and Future King
________________________________
From: Organizational Behavior Division Listserv on behalf of Jeff Peterson
Sent: Tue 7/29/2008 10:48 AM
To:
OB@AOMLISTS.pace.edu
Subject: Re: Examples of IRB-approved studies that use classroom data
Marcus, I can understand why you might be having some issues with your IRB,
and I thought it might be good to discuss a couple of issues that might help
you. I have used student samples numerous times as I'm sure most people
here have. However, the University of Washington does not allow the use of
one's own students in the context of a class for research data. We have
overcome this limitation by having a student pool. All students in our into
to OB must complete two research segments. This is framed as a way for them
to experience the research process, so that they get something out of the
experience. They also have the option of reading two journal articles and
summarizing them instead.
So one might wonder why I could use my students who were in a pool vs.
directly using my students. One of the reasons that IRBs don't like to have
researchers use their own students is that there is the implied power
differential. The IRB may be concerned that students are not really free to
not participate because the student may perceive that somehow their
participation will affect their grading or their relationship with the
instructor. This also brings into question the accuracy of the data for the
same reasons. Some IRBs will allow use of your students for developing
measures and other pre-study activities. Usually in these cases one does
not need to go to the IRB, but also could not use the data directly in a
paper.
So, my opinion is that it is not so much the nature of the proposal that
would make a difference, but the nature of the relationship of the student
to the researcher. You might look into what it would take to set up a pool.
Alternatively, here are the things that I think you could focus on to make
the IRB more comfortable. 1) Stress that participation will be voluntary.
2) Stress that you will ensure anonymity, both in their participation (you
won't know who participated) and with their responses. 3) Try to show how
participation will be of value to the student 4) Demonstrate that the
likelihood of any adverse outcomes is extremely remote. 5) Avoid using
deception 6) Demonstrate that students are appropriate subjects i.e. what
you are studying is a universal that wouldn't be better served by a
different population, like working managers.
If you like, I can send you some successful IRB applications, but again they
use our pool and not my students directly. Hope this helps
Jeff Peterson
-----Original Message-----
From: Organizational Behavior Division Listserv
[mailto:
OB@AOMLISTS.pace.edu] On Behalf Of Markus Vodosek
Sent: Monday, July 28, 2008 5:16 PM
To:
OB@AOMLISTS.pace.edu
Subject: Examples of IRB-approved studies that use classroom data
Hi there,
I am looking for examples of approved IRB applications for using data
collected from students in the classroom. If you have such an
application, would you be willing to share it with me? I'd like to use
data collected from my students in experiential exercises and
questionnaires for research purposes. I'm hoping that your examples will
help me cover all concerns that our IRB may have.
Thanks for your help!
Markus Vodosek
********************************
Markus Vodosek, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Management
David Eccles School of Business
University of Utah
1645 E. Campus Center Drive #106
Salt Lake City, UT 84112-9304
Tel. (801) 585-9546
Fax (801) 585-5966
markvodo@business.utah.edu
www.business.utah.edu/~mgtmv
********************************