The Human Subjects Research Office (HSRO) was established to safeguard the rights and welfare of all human subjects who participate in research projects conducted at RIT. In compliance with Federal law and institutional policy, all research activities involving human subjects or human material must be submitted to the HSRO. Research activities conducted by the faculty, staff, and students of RIT, or outside researchers gathering data at RIT, are subject to the Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects in Research, RIT´s official policy in the Institute Policies and Procedures Manual.
Drawing from RIT´s policy and the Federal Regulations guiding research with humans, the HSRO and the Institutional Review Board (IRB) may approve, modify, or disapprove protocols based upon consideration of human subjects protections. Annual progress reports from Investigators may be requested depending upon the category of research
Criteria for Approval
For a research activity to be approved, the following criteria must be satisfied:
- The risks to subjects are minimized as much as possible.
- The risks to subjects are reasonable in relation to anticipated benefits.
- The informed consent process is adequate.
- The research plan makes provisions for the safety of the subjects during the data collection process
- Provisions are in place to protect the privacy of subjects and maintain confidentiality of data
- Appropriate safeguards are included within the study to protect the rights and welfare of Federally defined vulnerable subjects(pregnant women, fetuses, children, and prisoners)
These criteria ensure that the privacy and welfare of the research participants are adequately protected.
Anyone engaged in research with human subjects MUST submit requests for review to the HSRO before beginning the research.
Anticipate between two and four business weeks for review. Review depends on many factors and this is just an estimate. If your activity includes children or other protected groups, or includes deception or the development of a medical device it may take longer depending on the complexity of the research.
This site is intended to provide you with the information you will need to determine:
- whether a review is needed,
- what sort of review is appropriate, and
- what procedures should be followed in submitting an application.
There are several categories of review; each submission is scanned to determine which category it fits into, and then reviewed accordingly. To make this determination, a number of questions are considered. Please go to How Does the IRB Work for more details.