Instructions for Submitting an IRB Application

1. Familiarize Yourself with the IRB

Please spend a few minutes with the "Frequently Asked Questions" (or FAQ) about the IRB process available at http://www.ohre.unc.edu/guide_to_irb.php. This is an excellent, succinct guide to the process, and the short time invested with this FAQ will almost certainly pay for itself later.  For guidance on undergraduate research and class projects, please see http://ohre.unc.edu/misc/student_research_irb_guidance.pdf.

2. Human Subjects Educational Requirement

Before you submit an IRB application, you must fulfill the federal educational requirement for human subjects protection.  You can do this via the CITI computer
http://www.ohre.unc.edu/educ.php.  Please spend a few minutes with the FAQ before beginning your training session https://www.citiprogram.org/citidocuments/faq.htm. When you have completed the training, your name will automatically be added to the UNC Ethics Training Database within a day or so.

3. Determination of Human Subjects Research

All research projects in the Department of Sociology must be evaluated by the IRB office before research can begin, with the exception of classwork that will never be published. However, some sociological research is not considered "human subjects" research, according to the IRB, and does not require a full IRB application. If you suspect that a particular project may be exempt, please fill out the form entitled "Determination Whether Research or Similar Activities Require IRB Approval," which can be found at http://www.ohre.unc.edu/forms.php, under the heading "Initial Application." This form should be submitted directly to the Behavioral IRB office (CB#7097), and the exemption should be obtained before research on the project begins.

4. Preparing Your IRB Application

If the IRB does not exempt your project from review, you must fill out the "Application for IRB Approval of Human Subjects Research," which is available at http://www.ohre.unc.edu/forms.php under the heading "Initial Application."

Examples of successful sociology applications can be found here.

5. Sociology IRB Cover Sheet

On the first page of your IRB Application computer file, please add the one-page departmental cover sheet.

6. Consent Form

If your project requires a consent form, please download and adapt the appropriate template(s) at http://www.ohre.unc.edu/forms.php, under the heading "Consent," and append them to your IRB Application computer file.

7. Interview Schedule

If your project involves surveys or interviews, please include a preliminary interview schedule as an appendix in your IRB Application computer file.

8. Check with the Sociology Pre-IRB Review Committee Chair

Send a single electronic file containing the Sociology Cover Sheet, the IRB Application, the Consent Forms, and the Interview Schedule, to the Sociology Pre-IRB Review Committee Chair, Professor Kurzman at kurzman@unc.edu, for preliminary approval. This may take up to a week.

9. Submit Signed Hard-Copy

Once you have preliminary approval from the Sociology Pre-IRB Review Committee Chair, please print out one (1) copy of the entire file. Please sign under Section A.1 and Section A.3. If you are a student, your faculty adviser needs to sign under these sections as well. Please note that all master's theses and doctoral dissertations must submit this application (or receive exemption) prior to the proposal defense. Professor Kurzman will sign the cover sheet, get the departmental chair to sign Section A.1, and then forward the application to the Behavioral IRB office. The Behavioral IRB office will then contact you via email with any comments and/or approval, generally within two weeks.

You can track the status of your IRB application at https://my.research.unc.edu, under the category of "Human Research".

10. Renewals/Final Reports (click here for the form)

Renewals and final reports do not require departmental review. Please submit them directly to the Behavioral IRB office (CB#7097). Please note: Some students' renewal/final report forms may be sent to the faculty adviser only; it is imperative that faculty members pass these along to supervised students.

Questions? Please contact Charles Kurzman at: kurzman@unc.edu