Serving on the Campus & District IRB Boards

Three years ago, our district finally outlined a process to set up an Institutional Review Board. They set up the “full-board” as a overall district entity; but, also set up campus boards for both faculty and student projects. As a more active scholar on my campus, I was asked to do the reviewer training through CITI and serve on our campus IRB (called the College Research Review Committee). Basically the college level IRB could approve exempt and expedited proposals; however, if the proposal needed a “full-board review” it had to go to the district level IRB.
Although no one has the extra time to do the full reviewer training, it was a worthwhile endeavor. I learned a lot of information that has helped me design studies in a more careful manner. During our first year, the CRRC met a lot! I really enjoyed talking about different projects and the potential risks involved; just like the training, these discussions were worth the time because they impacted my own researching thinking and designs later. The second year we did not meet nearly as much; and this third year, I don’t think we met face-to-face at all.
Our campus chair asked me to cover her position for a couple months when she was out. During that time period I got to attend one of the district meetings. Again, the discussion was a worthwhile experience. Since I also needed to submit my own IRB application, I was also able to test out our new electronic application and deliberation process. The geek in me was happy to give some feedback on what might make the application process run a little smoother for applicants with the primary suggestion being to provide applicants a document with all the questions before they log into the system!
Although I like being on the campus, and representing occasionally on the district, IRB committees. I’m realizing it is a little difficult as well since I’m one of the more active researchers on our campus. If I’m one of the few active IRB members, but I can’t be a reader for my own application, that causes a problem. I think the electronic system will help with that because we could get readers from other campuses; however, I’m sad that it would cut down on the robust dialog we had during face-to-face meetings.
(PS...this is a boring descriptive post because it is a part of my Faculty Evaluation Plan).
(PPS...sorry to all of you who saw the accidental early posting of this before it was done.)

June 26 2010 | Posted in MCCCD