Workshop: W-B

PER and Human Subjects: The PER Community and Institutional Review Boards

Presenter:
    Gordon Aubrecht
   

When/Where: 

Thursday, July 27   8:15 – 9:45  in Adams

Thursday, July 27   3:45 – 5:15 in Marshall

Because of federal regulations, PER research is subject to Institutional Review Board (IRB) oversight over use of human subjects. The regulations addressing human subjects are mainly concerned with medical research issues. Most PER researchers are mainly concerned about students and their learning, which overlaps little with ethical concerns of medical research. This workshop will be an interactive discussion among participants about human subjects and IRBs and address the following questions:

• What are your experiences with your IRBs?
• What are the important human subjects issues facing physics education researchers?
• Do few, many, or most PER projects raise issues of confidentiality,  liability, withholding of learning, differences in grading policy,  impact of the student lack of informed consent, or other ethical  issues?
• Should PER physicists at each institution create a common IRB form to  be used by all PER researchers at that institution?
• Should the PER community as a group address the IRB issues as a community? If so, what might the outcome be?
• Should all PER research be exempt from IRB approval, given the extreme unlikelihood of student physical or emotional damage? How could such global exemption be achieved?

Theme:  To be provided.

Goals:  To be provided.

Activities:  To be provided.