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Research Ethics and the University and Medical Center Institutional Review Board (UMCIRB)

At most institutions, any research involving human subjects needs to be approved. To participate in research, researchers must meet initial educational requirements of their institutions review board. Institutional review board certification doesn't necessarily guarantee that researchers act ethically in everything they do. However, the process of reviewing research protocols ensures certain protections for human subjects.

Before you can participate in conducting research at ECU, you must complete UMCIRB certification, a self-paced independent study.

Read the material about the ECU Institutional Review Board (IRB)and the UMCIRB Policies & Procedures Manual. Familiarize yourself with the IRB process on campus and review the forms that are necessary for researchers to submit materials to the IRB for approval.

IRB Required Education

Complete the training modules  and take the quizzes to achieve the certification required to submit proposals to the IRB.

Print out your certificate and keep a copy.

Make sure to record the date that you completed your training modules because you’ll need the date of the completion of your training if you work on any research projects at ECU. Training must be renewed every three years.

At the end of your self-paced training, you should understand:

• the role of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the university
• the IRB process in general and the ECU IRB process specifically.
• the history and exigencies that have led to concern for ethics in research.
• the role and treatment of participants in research.
• the role and responsibilities of researchers to human (and other) subjects.
• the types of conflicts that arise in research including in conducting research, managing data, and writing up research.
• issues in research ethics

Resources about Research Ethics

The following resources will be useful as you complete classes in the English Department degree programs.

Selected Books

Ethics in Qualitative Research, Mauthner, Sage, ISBN: 0-7619-7309-5

Responsible Conduct of Research, Shamoo & Resnick , Oxford UP, ISBN: 0-19-514846-0

Student's Guide to Research Ethics, Oliver, Open UP, ISBN: 0-335-21087-2

Ethics in Research with Human Participants, Sales & Folkman, American Psychological Association, ISBN: 1-55798-688-6

Tales Of The Field, Vanmaanen, U of Chicago P, ISBN: 0-226-84962-7

ECU Resources

• East Carolina Institutional Review Board (IRB)
• IB Required Education

Codes of Ethics Online

• Nuremberg Code
• From the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions, Illinois Institute of Technology,
• APA Online resources for Human research protection

Ethics Research Centers

• Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions
• • This searchable database from the Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions returns abstracts on articles and other resources pertaining to a wide variety of research ethics issues and specific cases related to research ethics.
• Center for Bio Ethics at Columbia University
• The Collaborative Initiative for Research Ethics in Environmental Health at Syracuse University
  

Additional Educational Materials

• Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Science
• Association of Internet Researchers
• • Read the Association of Internet Researchers report on ethics for researching in "virtual" environments
    

U.S. Government Resources

• Office of Research Integrity, Department of Health and Human Services
• Office for Human Research Protections, National Institutes of Health,
  

Interesting Articles and Cases

• Explanation of the Stanley Milgram 1963 experiment from Wikipedia
  
• The Human Radiation Experiments Website. The DOE has posted a website that includes
  "oral" histories (actually, they're transcribed, written histories on the site) as well as documents
  and multimedia materials relating to these U.S. experiments.

Resources for Technical and Professional Communication

• EServer Technical Communication Library
  You'll find some resources about ethics here. (This site is also useful for finding information on technical and professional discourse in general).

This page contributed by Dr. Donna Kain.