Policy Manual

 It is the general concern of the University that no research done under the jurisdiction of the University expose persons who participate as subjects or respondents to unreasonable risks to their health, general well-being, or privacy.

Specifically, the University is concerned that in all research and related activities involving the use of human subjects: 1) the rights and welfare of the individuals involved are adequately protected; 2) the participation of the subjects is based on freely given, legally effective informed consent; and 3) the risks to the subject are reasonable in relation to the sum of the benefit to the subject and the importance of the knowledge to be gained as to warrant a decision to allow the subject to accept these risks.

Therefore, all research and related activities involving the use of human subjects must be submitted for prior review by the appropriate University Institutional Review Board (IRB) to ensure that the above conditions are met.

Primary responsibility for assuring that the rights and welfare of research subjects are protected continues to rest with principal investigators conducting the research. Others engaged in the conduct of the research share this responsibility. Teachers who assign or supervise research conducted by students have an obligation to consider carefully whether those students are qualified to adequately safeguard the rights and welfare of subjects.

The University has provided the federal government with a formal commitment to ethical and appropriate review and conduct of human subjects research in a document entitled "Federalwide Assurance of Protection for Human Subjects." The detailed University policy and procedures are described in a manual entitled "Investigator's Guide to Human Subjects Research."