IRB Proposal

Summary: Before conducting research with human subjects, you must submit a proposal to the Institutional Review Board and obtain approval for the work.

Collaboration: Each group will submit an IRB proposal. You may discuss the proposal with anyone you like. If you have any questions about what is expected or how to address a particular concern, please talk with me.

Due: Tuesday, March 11, 2:15 p.m.

Assignment

Complete the Proposal Form for Research with Human Participants. You can find the form, along with other information, on the IRB's web site.

Notes and suggestions

Be sure to answer every question in the form and to address every topic in your written project description.

Some specifics on the fill-out form:

You are the researchers. This is a new project. The duration will be Spring 2008.
Your project is a student research project.
The gender of your participants probably won't matter.
A usability study usually involves observation in a private location (see notes about location below). I usually make a note about the think-aloud method under "Other." If you are using other methods (e.g., an interview or a questionnaire), check the appropriate boxes.
See my notes on data storage and destruction below.
Your participants will give consent. You should provide as much information to the participants as possible.However, a debriefing is probably unnecessary.
Please have the IRB contact me about the outcome of the review, in addition to the members of your team.

Some notes on the project proposal:

You will need an introductory paragraph or two explaining the site you are studying and the purpose of the study.

You will need to explain in some detail what participants will experience. This means that you must explain what a think-aloud study is. You must explain that participants will be using a web browser, computer, monitor, keyboard, and mouse. In the redesign phase, you may have additional participants interact with paper prototypes. (In fact, I highly recommend this!) You will need to explain what it is like to interact with a paper prototype.

You should also give examples of the tasks that participants will be asked to complete. Rather than describing the task (e.g., "Locate some information"), you should write a set of instructions that you might give to the participant (e.g., "Find out what hours the dining hall is open"). Be clear that these are examples; the actual tasks given to participants may be slightly different. This does a couple of things: it gives you a bit more time to decide what tasks to study, and it lets you change the tasks if, after the first one or two participants, the tasks prove too difficult, too easy, or too vague.

If the tasks require participants to reveal personal information, you should explain why this is necessary. Better yet, structure your tasks so that revealing personal information is unnecessary.

If you plan to ask participants to do anything besides the usability test, you should describe this as well. If you plan to interview the participant, list the interview questions. If you plan to have them fill out questionnaires (e.g., to collect demographic information or gauge prior experience), include the questionnaire as an appendix. That means you will need to decide what the questions will be! See ID 7.4 (p. 298-308) for advice about planning interviews, and ID 7.5 (p. 308-321) for advice about designing questionnaires.

If you intend to have two separate studies using different methods and different participants (e.g., a usability test and a web survey), I believe you will need to write two separate IRB proposals.

You should specify where usability studies will take place. I will make my research lab (SCI 3807) available by sign-up after spring break; my research lab will be a quiet, private location. If it seems appropriate, you may conduct studies using a laptop in another private or public location. (For example, I've done studies in coffee shops, because they were a neutral meeting place that was convenient for the participants. But, such places can be noisy and distracting.)

You may also make use of the locked file cabinets in my research lab for data storage. Digital data should be stored in a protected location (such as your home directory or the computers in my lab).

You should plan to retain your data at least until the end of the semester. If we've discussed the possibility of other publication venues or ongoing work, make this 12 or 18 months instead. I will destroy data stored in my lab on the specified dates.

Be sure to mention how long the sessions will take and any compensation. If you ask me, I will provide snacks for use in my research lab.

Be sure to attach your informed consent form as an appendix.

Again, be sure to address all the questions listed in the IRB proposal form.

If you have further questions, please email me.

Sample proposals

You can find the DrFu proposal on PioneerWeb. If you'd like another example, I've posted another proposal that was recently approved.

Turning in your work

Please email me your proposal as a PDF or Word document. If I have no further concerns, I will forward your proposal to the IRB and CC you. If I want you to make corrections, clarifications, or additions, I will provide feedback by email as quickly as possible.

Because you will need to respond promptly to any requests for changes, please indicate who will take primary responsibility for making changes at particular times between now and the end of spring break. (For example: Joe until Saturday 3/15; Suzy 3/16-3/21; Bob 3/22-3/30.)

Assessment

You will earn 10 points for turning in the IRB proposal on time. You will need to have your proposal approved by the IRB to begin recruiting participants after spring break.

Janet Davis (davisjan@cs.grinnell.edu)

Created March 4, 2008
Last revised March 5, 2008