Do UCLA Researchers Have Permission to Read This Blog?

In July 2007, the UCLA Office for Protection of Research Subjects (OPRS) issued a policy statement, "Human Subjects Research Determinations," stating that:

The UCLA OPRS/IRB has the sole authority to determine whether an activity conducted by UCLA faculty, staff, or students (or conducted on UCLA students) meets the regulatory definition of “human subjects research” and therefore requires IRB review and approval or certification of exemption from IRB review. UCLA faculty, staff, and students who intend to conduct activities that might represent “human subjects research” do not have the authority to make an independent determination that UCLA IRB review and approval or certification of exemption is not required.

As a result

Investigators who intend to conduct activities that might represent “human subjects research” must submit a description of the proposed activities to the UCLA OPRS/IRB for a determination of whether UCLA IRB review and approval or certification of exemption is required prior to the UCLA investigator’s involvement in the proposed activities.

Might represent to whom?

This policy can mean one of two things:

1. UCLA researchers should seek IRB permission before drinking a cup of coffee, reading the newspaper, talking with their spouses, or riding the bus. After all, any of these activities "might represent 'human subjects research,'" and the researcher can't be trusted to figure it out.

2. UCLA researchers should not seek IRB permission before drinking a cup of coffee, reading the newspaper, talking with their spouses, or riding the bus. Instead, they must ignore the literal meaning of the policy and instead make an independent determination that UCLA IRB review and approval or certification of exemption is not required.

The OPRS has just taken a step toward the first interpretation. As reported on a UCLA library blog, the new policy statement 42 gives university faculty, staff, and students blanket permission to use data from the U.S. Census and other publicly available datasets. If UCLA researchers must rely on such policy statements to read publicly available, public domain data on the friggin' internet, what can they possibly do without permission?

The 2007 policy statement ambiguously lists as references various state and federal documents, without directly claiming that any of them require or authorize the policy. As far as I can tell, they do neither. As reported on this blog, for example, OHRP staff make independent determinations of what is and is not human subjects research. UCLA's OPRS is just making up powers for itself.