Thanks all, I figured I may have some free time since there's a chance I'll be unattached to the academy starting in September. I'll look at Chesapeake after designing a few projects. Shane On Jun 3, 2013, at 12:36 PM, danah boyd <aoir.z3z@danah.org> wrote:
Many American grant-giving agencies require an ethics review (IRB) as a part of those proposals, regardless of whether you're independent or not. (You usually need a receiving org to take the money so it's that org that's responsible.) In other cases, going through a formal ethics review can be a good reality check because a good IRB will see things you can't.
For some of my more ethically fraught projects, my collaborators and I have used Chesapeake IRB: http://chesapeakeirb.com/ This process is ten bazillion times more sane than university IRBs. Their IRB meets every weekday and the turnaround for a proposal is a week. They don't flip out when the word "children" is invoked and they work diligently to figure out how to develop a healthy ethical procedure even in seriously high risk situations. (Keep in mind that I interview abused minors who've been commercially sexually violated.) I've never done this process alone and it's usually my collaborators who manage the IRB procedures so I don't have a full grasp of the procedures, but I've been sooooo grateful for how easy and rigorous it has been. (And also keep in mind that it took me over 2 years to get through university IRB for my dissertation fieldwork so I'm a bit bitter about IRBs to say the least.)
danah
On Jun 3, 2013, at 12:05 PM, Smith, Catherine wrote:
Check the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s current guidance for submissions to Science, Technology, and Society (STS) programs in the Social and Economic Sciences (SES) divisions. http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5324
Previously, independent scholars were eligible to submit and, presumably, instructed on IRB requirements for submission.
Google for other scholarly institute and foundation guidelines re 'independent scholars.'
Catherine Smith
________________________________________ From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] on behalf of Mark D. Johns [mjohns@luther.edu] Sent: Monday, June 03, 2013 9:57 AM To: Tilton, Shane Cc: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-L] IRBs for the independent scholar
The law on IRB is in regard to institutions receiving federal funds, not on individual researchers. So, while I'm all about ethics and would encourage some consultation among peers about that, there is no legal mandate. There may be issues with some journals that will not publish without an IRB approval -- I'm shooting from the hip on that one, so you'd want to research it more.
-- Mark D. Johns, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Communication Studies Luther College, Decorah, Iowa USA ----------------------------------------------- "Get the facts first. You can distort them later." ---Mark Twain
On Mon, Jun 3, 2013 at 8:46 AM, Tilton, Shane <tiltons@ohio.edu> wrote:
Has anybody conducted research while not attached to a college or a university (either as a student or faculty member)?
The question I have is "is there an IRB process for those outside of the traditional academy?" _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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"you don't have to like me for who i am / but we'll see what you're made of / by what you make of me" -- ani
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