Human Subjects Institutional Review Board

Purpose Statement

The Lansing Community College Institutional Review Board (IRB) exists to protect the welfare of human subjects involved in research at LCC. IRB and HS-IRB (Human Subjects Institutional Review Board) are used interchangeably throughout this site.

The College's IRB is responsible for review and approval of all behavioral or biomedical research activities involving human subjects at LCC, for LCC, or with LCC students and/or employees, with the core purpose of protecting the welfare of human subjects involved in such research.

The college's IRB approval is required prior to conducting research involving human subjects at LCC, for LCC, and/or with LCC students and/or employees.

Please note that additional approval may be required by the division or department head prior to beginning your research activities.

Classroom Activities vs. Research

It is common for students at colleges to be involved in course activities such as questioning, observing, interacting with other individuals, and/or participating in minimally stressing classroom activities. It is the responsibility of the course instructor to determine whether such exercises should be classified as those kinds of activities that require IRB approval (see below).

Activity that DOES require IRB approval

IRB approval is required anytime human subjects are involved in:

• Research that is a systematic investigation (including research development, testing, and evaluation), designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge to a larger group.
• Research conducted, supported, or funded by federal, state, or local agencies or otherwise supported by an agency not affiliated with Lansing Community College.
• Research in which the intent is to disseminate the finding(s) to a scientific audience (national, regional, state, local, or college meetings, conferences or presentations) or submit the results of the investigation to a scientific publication, electronic journal, or internet posting.
• Research that involves private information, or biological or pathological specimens that can be linked to an individual.
• Research involved with capstone/thesis research projects or independent class projects.

Activity that MAY NOT require IRB approval

IRB approval may not be required anytime human subjects are involved in:

• Course-related activities or assignments for educational teaching purposes that are part of the course and the information collected is not disseminated for use outside the classroom (e.g. labs, projects, class exercises). The assignment can include a presentation of data collected to the class, but the data must be destroyed at the end of the project.
• Data collection for internal department or other college administrative purposes (e.g. course evaluations, employee and/or student satisfaction surveys).
• Surveys issued or conducted by college employees for the purpose of improving services and programs of the college, or for developing new services or programs for students, employees, and/or alumni.
• Informational gathering meetings, interviews, or surveys that focus on college processes, services, or policies (i.e. quality improvement and quality assurance surveys) unless clear intent is for generalizable knowledge.
• College evaluations that are conducted under independent contract by an external agency for internal college purposes only (e.g. employee studies, customer satisfaction surveys, cost-benefit analysis, program enrollment, constituent demographics, and outcome analysis).

Minimal Amount of Primary Researcher Training Required

The HS-IRB has determined that a minimal amount of training needs to be completed by the primary researcher for a proposed project to be approved or considered exempt.

Minimal training is defined as one of the following options:

1. One of the two CITI Training for investigators. Free for LCC Employees.
   1. Group 2: Social, Behavioral, Educational Researchers
      or
   2. Group 3: Students
2. Training provided by home institution of the investigator

Minimal training will be proven by submitting a Certificate of Completion, from any of the defined training options, to the HS-IRB. Date of Certificate must be after January 20, 2019 and within 3 years of the proposal submission.