Concordia College, Moorhead, MN

Institutional Review Board

Classroom Information Gathering Activities

Within the course of teaching in a class, instructors may expect students to gather information or collect data from others. These activities do not need to be reviewed by the IRB or approved by the chairperson of the appropriate department if:

a) they meet* the criteria for exempt research as described at the beginning of the “CC IRB Policies and Procedures for Exempt Research” document**,

and

b) are used exclusively for instructional and/or learning purposes i.e. they are not intended to be disciplinary research that is designed to develop generalizable knowledge (Generalizable knowledge is knowledge that is intended for publication or dissemination to a wider audience outside of the classroom).

Exempt instructors are responsible for making sure that students understand the guidelines for ethical human subjects research that are posted on the IRB web page as well as the guidelines for the ethical treatment of human subjects as defined by the standards governing the profession associated with the academic department offering the class. Academic Departments are encouraged to discuss ethical standards to be followed in information gathering activities assigned in their classes, especially those ethical standards pertaining to obtaining informed consent and ensuring the protection of privacy of subjects. Instructors are encouraged to consult with the CC IRB if any questions arise concerning the need for IRB review.

If the activities meet the criteria for exempt research and are designed to develop generalizable knowledge (i.e. the data collected for the class project may be used in future research activities of the students, investigators, faculty, or staff at Concordia College or by individuals in another institutional setting), then they are considered “Exempt Research” and their investigators must follow all policies and procedures pertaining to exempt research (Click the “CC IRB Policies and Procedures for Exempt Research” link on the CC IRB web page for more information). Individuals gathering data not intended for current use in developing generalizable knowledge who have reason to believe that they might use the gathered data in developing generalizable knowledge at some future point in time are advised to seek IRB approval of their information gathering activities before they start collecting data.

If the activities do not meet the criteria for Exempt research then an application for an expedited review (Click the “CC IRB Policies and Procedures for Expedited Research” link on the CC IRB web page for more information) or a full-board review (Click the “CC IRB Policies and Procedures for Full-Board Research” link on the CC IRB web page for more information) should be submitted to the CC IRB, regardless of whether the classroom activities are designed to develop generalizable knowledge or not.

* Instructors just need to make sure the classroom information gathering activities meet the criteria for exempt research. Instructors do not need to actually submit a protocol for review under the Exempt category.

** Exceptions could be made for classroom activities that involve gathering information from children or other vulnerable populations and classroom activities that involve collecting video/audio/digital images or recordings. Normally, research involving vulnerable populations or recordings of subjects is considered research that cannot be exempt from continuing review and requires expedited or full-board review by the IRB. However, as long as the information is gathered or the video/audio/digital images or recordings are made, not for the purpose of doing research, but as tools to demonstrate learning in a class, an exception to the policy that classroom information gathering activities must “meet the criteria for exempt research” may be granted.

Please note that subjects must still grant their informed assent/consent in these cases. And, in the case of video/audio/digital images or recordings, they must be clearly informed about how the recordings will be used, including any possibility that the recordings could be shared publicly in the future (e.g., classroom presentation, promotional video, employment portfolio). Therefore, students must obtain separate signatures from subjects to indicate (1) agreement to be audio/video recorded, and (2) agreement to allow recordings to be publicly displayed. See the Model Consent to Be Audio/Video-Taped Form on the CC IRB web site for help in developing your consent form.