NIH Policy Makes Interviewing Children Easier

Susan Ridgely, assistant professor of religious studies at the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh, finds that IRBs can cause trouble for qualitative researchers who want to talk with children, but that IRB review has some benefits. Moreover, since the NIH started calling for children to be included in medical studies, she is finding it easier to get IRB permission to speak to children.

[Susan B. Ridgely, “Doing Ethnography with Child Consultants: Making the IRB Process Work.” Journal of American Folklore 125, no. 3 (2012): 474–485.]