I also thought this made no sense but here is the response from our IRB administrator to whom I posed this question: (and I did not ask his permission to pass on this information but "assume" that since it's in a public email to me it is now up to me to decide what I do with it) =================================== "IRBs are required to review all active research projects at least annually. The situation in question appears to be what happens when a researcher fails to submit anything to the IRB before the year is up, i.e. if neither a summary report nor a continuation request is submitted, then what? In that case I would agree with the IRB chair that the study is automatically terminated and no further work on the study can be done.
I thinks this is different that the situation where you have submitted a summary report indicating that the human subjects research part of the study is complete. In that case the study is not terminated but rather enters a phase of data analysis and publication that does not involve further interaction with human subjects, and which also follows whatever confidentiality/anonymity agreements the researcher made with the subjects." ===================================== I guess this makes sense if you consider that a study for which no paperwork is filed in a timely fashion violates and negates the original contract between the researcher and the IRB. Having said all of this. I have to say that our IRB is WONDERFUL! They work actively with researchers when they see something problematic and take the approach that their "job" is to teach researchers, as much as to oversee the protection of human subjects. Our turn-around times are phenomenally fast--sometimes less than 24 hours for expedited and exempt reviews. But, on the other hand, as you can see from the above, they do play by the rules. Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D. Professor, Psychological Sciences University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 tay...@sandiego.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=5442 or send a blank email to leave-5442-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
