Longwood University’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) recently began the process of modernizing the IRB proposal process for research, converting the traditional paper method into a digital application process. This modernization will move the process completely online, making the application for research more accessible for faculty, staff, and students across campus.
The purpose and role of the IRB, according to the Longwood website, is “to protect the welfare, dignity, and safety of human subjects involved in research associated with Longwood University.” This university committee is appointed each year by the Provost. Dr. Jo Morrison, Associate Professor of Kinesiology, chairs the IRB. Faculty members Drs. Jackie Secoy, Eric Laws, and David Locascio serve with her, as does Dr. Bob Nash, a local community member. Five additional faculty members serve as alternates as needed. The IRB’s main priority is to ensure that all Longwood-based research is ethically conducted and beneficial to Longwood academics, helping students and faculty grow in their respective fields with minimal risk.
Dr. Morrison described the new system as a “choose your own adventure game” in which questions will pop up based on answers from prior questions, making the process a customizable, individualized experience. All communications and notifications regarding the research process will be sent through the online system, keeping everyone involved informed at a moment’s notice.
“In the old version of IRB, we have this document, so if there’s something that needs to be revised, then often you have to revise the whole document and attach other documents to it; you also have to rely on knowing where you kept that document on your hard drive,” Morrison states. “What this system does is act as a document repository.”
“The IRB is there to protect the participants in research, and that could be the people who might be taking the survey, but that’s also you as a student researcher. My goal is that students will be able to do the IRB process easily; hopefully, it will streamline and reduce the administrative burden on the faculty so they’ll want to do more research, which would be really cool,” Morrison continued.
Along with the new digital application and notification process, the new system also will include guidance and tips on how to work through the application, including templates and instructions for how to use them, assisting students and staff who are applying to the IRB for the first time. Revisions will be more efficient as the digital process will only require corrections on the necessary sections, rather than a full resubmission of the proposal.
“When students graduate from Longwood, we want them to really understand good ethical research, not only so that they can take their skills into graduate school, but so that as a citizen, they can look at a research study and say, ‘I want to volunteer for that.’ I want to contribute to the common good, and recognize that it’s good ethical research,” Morrison concluded.
The IRB digital system is predicted to go live in the upcoming fall semester.