Human Subjects Without a Institution

April 15, 2009 2:33 PM

Is there a way to get a human subjects review board to look at my research without being affiliated with a university or research organization?

I recently graduated with my Masters and want to continue improving upon some of the research I did there. My problem is that the next step requires working with human subjects. I would like to get human subjects approval before I start so that my research will be publishable, but my old university HSRB wont work with alums and I cannot find a human subjects review board that is independent. Secondary, but important information is that I am broke due to student loans and no job opportunities. So I cannot pay much for the services of a board. Is there a philanthropic Human subjects board or something similar for independent research?

posted by elationfoundation to education (14 comments total)

I don't think you're going to be well-looked-on if you're not affiliated with an institution.
posted by kldickson at 2:44 PM on April 15

I think that you would need to collaborate with an established academic. I can't see why you wouldn't.
posted by sevenyearlurk at 2:50 PM on April 15

Are you doing social/behavioral research or biomedical research? If you have your own company (either for-profit or non-profit corporation), you could try to utilize the IRB at a local university. The fees for reviews seem to depend on who is sponsoring the research--are you doing this with funds from a federal or state government grant or private industry funds?
posted by halogen at 2:54 PM on April 15

Oh, sorry, I am not sure I understand your question: you are attempting to do research with your own, private funds?
posted by halogen at 2:57 PM on April 15

Maybe google "independent institutional review boards". I got to this page that may enlighten you further.*


*It looks like that website might to an independent IRB. I am not endorsing that company, it just looked like it had some information you could use.
posted by logicpunk at 3:07 PM on April 15

Looking through some of the websites of the IRB companies linked by logicpunk, it looks like it isn't a cheap process (which makes sense, when you consider the risks of suing involved if your research turns out to be highly unethical). Here is one set of prices, for example, which is probably well beyond your ability to pay.

Honestly, my suggestion would be to either work on other parts of your research, leaving the IRB process for whenever you start your doctoral work, or to meet with your MA professors and try and convince one of them to "own" the research for the university IRB process. As long as it is under that professor's umbrella, the university IRB should be happy to look at it. And if no professor is willing to take on that role, it might mean that they are big jerks -- or it could also mean that they do not feel comfortable with you moving on to that stage of your research yet.
posted by Forktine at 3:23 PM on April 15 [2 favorites]

I am reading your screen name and I am now unfortunately feeling like you are trying to do something with chemicals.
posted by parmanparman at 3:34 PM on April 15

^1 on getting a co-investigator. It doesn't have to be a former prof even, if you find a kindred spirit through other means who wants to work with you (might even be a way to find a PhD gig).

Probably with just a master's you should be working with someone more advanced anyway who can help you develop research that will be publishable and helpful in the end. As a doctoral student, I'm pretty sure I'm not allowed to submit a research proposal to our IRB without a professor on as a co-investigator. It may not be technically a rule everywhere, but it is a good idea.
posted by parkerjackson at 4:09 PM on April 15

I would like to get human subjects approval before I start so that my research will be publishable,

If you're not affiliated with (or collaborating with) any kind of university or research organisation then it may not be publishable anyway. Journals can be kind of picky about stuff like this. Having an organisation of some kind behind you is an extra endorsement of your research if nothing else (someone believes in it besides you) and scientists like that kind of thing.

The ethics committee is going to need a strong, well thought out experimental plan, good literature understanding, probably with statistical justification for group size etc, and each committee will have traps and pitfalls that aren't obvious to the inexperienced eye. They're hard things to write, take a lot of time, and you'll really benefit from having input from an experienced researcher in this process. Getting this stuff right is important anyway to get meaningful results.

So there are reasons why ethics boards don't tend to accept independents unfortunately. Finding someone to sponsor or collaborate on your project really is your best move.
posted by shelleycat at 5:28 PM on April 15

You have some serious hurdles. First, most IRB boards require a terminal degree in the field for someone to sponsor research as a principle investigator. You would need to have that and you would be the co-principle investigator. Second, non-affiliated IRB review is not cheap and not designed for hobby research. It's designed for qualified independent researchers working on established corporate or philanthropic research, usually from extramural funding. Third, you are unlikely to find someone who can solicit IRB review who's likely willing to do so, unless you have an already established mentoring relationship with them. The risks are significant.

I hate to say it, but this is one of the situations that the IRB is intended to prevent, a novice researcher going out on their own and doing independent human subjects research without proper guidance or support.
posted by mrmojoflying at 5:36 PM on April 15

I guess I'm less pessimistic than the above posters.

At least at my university, the IRB will review local non-university research for a fee. They do it for hospitals for instance, and for private research institutes that get public money (which carries strings attached about needing ethics approval for research in humans).

I think it's worth calling a nearby university and asking about extramural review of nonmedical research.
posted by drmarcj at 6:45 PM on April 15

At least at my university, the IRB will review local non-university research for a fee. They do it for hospitals for instance, and for private research institutes

Well sure, and if the OP was affiliated with a hospital or a private research organisation then this wouldn't be such a problem. Universities definitely aren't the only places that can conduct research. But it doesn't look like this is the case from the question and to be taken seriously they really need to be affiliated with someone.
posted by shelleycat at 8:35 PM on April 15

drmarcj: At least at my university, the IRB will review local non-university research for a fee. They do it for hospitals for instance, and for private research institutes that get public money

I think there's a very large difference between granting approval to a hospital or other institute that ostensibly can be "checked" in some way to assure that it's on the level and approving a random individual's proposed research.

No disrespect to the OP, who I'm sure doesn't have some sinister ulterior motive for wanting to work with human subjects, but I think there are probably many good reasons why an IRB wouldn't touch this sort of thing. I mean, where would you run the study? In your house? That seems like it would be opening the IRB up to a lot of liability. And if you don't have any funds available, how will you cover your research expenses or appropriately compensate your participants?

I know that at my institution, the IRB is extremely cautious even when it comes toapproving research that is done on university property, with plenty of supervision, and has nearly a 0% probability of harming anyone in any way. I think that providing more specific information about what you had planned to do might help some of us understand a little bit better why you thought this would be plausible in the first place, because my initial reaction (no offense) was "No way!"
posted by rebel_rebel at 8:51 PM on April 15

Thank you for your help. The social science research I am doing is quite innoculous but it seems I'll work on other research around this project untill I am back getting my PhD.
posted by elationfoundation at 4:17 PM on April 16