Most IRB Chairs Can't Recognize Exempt Research or Non-Research

A study of criminal justice researchers' knowledge of IRB rules has found that IRB chairs can't agree on what makes a project exempt from review and think that IRB review is needed for public records. The authors of the study, one of whom is an IRB chair, seem not to realize the significance of these findings.

[Tartaro, Christine, and Marissa P. Levy. "Criminal Justice Professionals' Knowledge of Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) and Compliance with IRB Protocol." Journal of Criminal Justice Education 25, no. 3 (2014): 321–41. doi:10.1080/10511253.2014.902982.]

SACHRP: Exempt Research May "Be Subject to IRB Review"

As reported by Erica Check Hayden in Nature, at its March meeting, SACHRP endorsed "Considerations and Recommendations Concerning Internet Research and Human Subjects Research Regulations, with Revisions," prepared by Elizabeth Buchanan and Dean Gallant. The guidance offers some common sense, but it struggles with the legacy of the poorly drafted Common Rule. And it threatens to make matters worse by suggesting that some exempt research may "be subject to IRB review."