Principles of the Institutional Review Board:

The work of the IRB is guided by the basic ethical principles of The Belmont Report (National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research, 1979):

1. Respect for persons:  Individuals should be treated as autonomous agents, capable of making informed decisions about participating in research activities.  This principle recognizes the persons' right to have information about the nature of the research as well as their right to decline participation in the research at any time.  Participation in research must be granted via "informed consent" and must be solicited without coercive influence.  
2. Beneficence:  Human research participants must be protected from harm and their overall well-being must be assured. Beneficence  carries  an obligation to "do no harm" and to maximize possible benefits for the person and society, while minimizing any harmful effects of the research.
3. Justice: The principle of justice requires that the burdens and benefits of research be shared to the greatest extent possible.  Thus researchers should endeavor to effectively represent the population of interest in their samples of research participants. In addition, the benefits of research knowledge and practice should be disseminated as widely as possible.

Responsibilities of the Institutional Review Board:

• Provide guidelines for review of research with human participants at Curry College.
• Provide information on the preparation of informed consent statements.
• Provide information on the protection of safety and confidentiality of research participants.
• Provide a calendar of meetings of the IRB, along with contact information and suggested time frames for submitting documentation and obtaining responses from the IRB.
• Conduct outreach to academic programs sponsoring and conducting research with human participants, including:
  • Consulting with faculty on developing course and program learning outcomes that address IRB procedures and ethical concerns of conducting research with human participants.
  • Consulting with faculty on developing internal, departmental pre-review processes for student research proposals to insure facutly approval and efficient IRB review.
  • Serving as a resource for questions related to research with human participants.