IRB UTC Spring or Fall Research Conference
Planning on presenting your research at the UTC Spring or Fall Research Conference?
Remember, all research with human subjects must be approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) prior to collecting your data.
This means, if you plan to present at the UTC Spring or Fall Research Conference and you intend to conduct research with Human Subjects, your project must be approved by the UTC IRB before you begin your research.
Approval is required prior to starting your data collection, not just prior to presenting your results at Research Dialogues.
If you are unsure if you want to present at the UTC Spring or Fall Research Conference but you may be interested, go ahead and get your project approved now, before you begin your research project. That way you won’t find yourself sitting on great results and unable to present them at the UTC Spring or Fall Research Conference or another conference because you didn’t secure IRB approval before you started your research.
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1. How do you know if you need IRB approval?
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If your research involves human subjects and you plan to present at the UTC Spring or Fall Research Conference or another conference, you need IRB approval.
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2. When do you need to get IRB approval?
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Prior to collecting your data.
IRB approval cannot happen after you have completed your research. The purpose of IRB review is to ensure the safety of human subjects; the IRB cannot accomplish this task if you have already completed the research
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3. How much time does it take to get an IRB project approved?
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Exempt takes 3-5 business days.
Expedited takes 10-15 business days.
Plan ahead to allow sufficient time for IRB review. IRB approval needs to be completed prior to conducting the research, not just prior to presenting the results at the UTC Spring or Fall Research Conference or another conference.
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4. What does IRB approval involve?
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- You will need to complete online CITI training. It may take you up to 4 hours to complete this training, but it can be broken up into chunks.
See Training for details.
- You will need to determine if your project is Exempt or Expedited.
See Exempt Flowchart for help.
- You will need to complete the appropriate application. See Apply for Approval to download the application and learn about the IRB review process.
- You will need to have your IRB application reviewed by your Faculty Advisor.
- Following submission, you will need to make revisions, as requested by the IRB.
- Once you receive your IRB Approval Letter, you can begin collecting research data.
- You will need to complete online CITI training. It may take you up to 4 hours to complete this training, but it can be broken up into chunks.
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5. What if you want to present at the UTC Spring or Fall Research Conference this year, but your data collection is complete and you didn’t get IRB approval?
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We want all students to have the opportunity to present their research at conferences such as the UTC Spring or Fall Research Conference. This is why we encourage all students who may have an interest in presenting their data to go through the IRB review process prior to collecting data. Unfortunately, Federal law mandates that all research with human subjects that is intended to contribute to generalizable knowledge be approved by an IRB prior to data collection. This ensures the safety of all human participants. We encourage you to go through the IRB process on your next project and present at the UTC Spring or Fall Research Conference next year.