Ball State Student Finds IRB Instructions "Impersonal, Dry, and Long"

Stephanie Hedge, a PhD Candidate at Ball State University in Rhetoric and Composition, describes how IRB requirements aggravated her difficulties in "persuading students to be my guinea pigs for a semester."

[Stephanie Hedge, "Successfully Recruiting Research Participants," Inside Higher Ed, 20 March 2012.]

Hospital Blocks Access to 18th Century Records

Pennsylvania Hospital has refused a graduate student's request to see 18th century medical records, citing HIPAA concerns.

[Melissa Dribben, Health-record privacy impeding medical research," Philadelphia Inquirer, 13 March 2012. h/t Michelle Meyer.]

Petrie-Flom Center Posts ANPRM Conference Program

The Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics at Harvard Law School has circulated the following announcement, concerning a conference at which I will speak. I am happy to post the announcement in full.

REC Forbids Dissertations on Lap Dancing

Robert Dingwall fears that "research ethics is co-opted to infantilize students who are legally adults but treated as if they should never be allowed to risk a bad experience."

[Robert Dingwall, "Better Drowned than Duffers…?," social science space, 19 February 2012.]

Video of my Michigan Talk Now Online

The University of Michigan Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences has kindly posted a video recording of my February 1 talk:

Zachary Schrag talk, February 1, 2012 from CBSSM Developers on Vimeo.

and the subsequent panel discussion, featuring Cleo Caldwell, Carl Schneider, and Alford Young, Jr.:

Ethical Imperialism: The Case Against IRB Review of the Social Sciences, 2/1/12 Panel Discussion from CBSSM Developers on Vimeo.

IRBs Misunderstand Researchers' Complaints

A study of IRB chairs, members, and staff finds that they understand that researchers regard them as powerful actors, "Yet IRBs may misperceive PI complaints."

[Robert Klitzman, "The Ethics Police?: IRBs’ Views Concerning Their Power," PLoS ONE 6 (2011): e28773. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0028773. h/t Roberto Veloso]

Moskos Plugs Ethical Imperialism

Peter Moskos gives a a kind mention to Ethical Imperialism on his blog.

Moskos has nicer things to say about flogging than about IRB review.

Talk at NIH

On March 5 I will speak to the Bioethics Interest Group at the National Institutes of Health on the topic "Blunder at Belmont: The 1970s Origins of IRB Mission Creep."

Those familiar with my first book may appreciate the irony of my speaking in the William H. Natcher Building.

VA IRB is "Kafkaesque and Dickensian"

Writing in Bioethics Forum, a team of interview researchers describe the Veterans Administration IRB process as "Kafkaesque and Dickensian."

[Jenny E. Ostergren, Marguerite E. Robinson, Molly J. Dingel, Bradley Partridge, Barbara A. Koenig, "Kafkaesque and Dickensian: The Human Subjects Protection Maze," Bioethics Forum, 9 February 2012.]

Inside Higher Ed Interviews Stark

Laura Stark speaks about her new book, Behind Closed Doors, with Inside Higher Ed.

[Mitch Smith, "Behind Closed Doors," Inside Higher Ed, 8 February 2012.]

Stark explains, "It would seem that fairness is not the only criteria used in IRB evaluations."