IRB

Institutional Review Board

The function of the IRB is to protect the safety, welfare, rights, and privacy of all participants in human subjects research that proceeds under the guidance of faculty, staff, and students on our campus. The purpose of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of Skidmore College is to assure that all human subject research associated with the College conform to our Federal Wide Assurance and related New York State regulations. Our Policy and Procedures derive from the ethical principles that were first articulated in the Belmont Report issued by the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research in 1979.

Does your project have to be reviewed by the IRB?

According to federal regulations, research is defined as a systematic investigation designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge. In other words, your project should be reviewed by the IRB if it meets the following criteria:

You are utilizing human participants in your research AND
Your data collection methods are systematic and methodical AND
The goal of your research activities is to contribute to the generalizable scientific knowledge base of a discipline (e.g., you plan to publish your results in a scholarly journal or you plan to present your findings at a professional conference).

Whether or not your project needs to be reviewed by the IRB, all Skidmore College faculty, staff, and students have the responsibility to protect the safety, welfare, rights, and privacy of all participants from or about whom a researcher may collect data.

If you have questions as to whether or not your project needs IRB review, please contact the committee at irb@skidmore.edu.