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Student Research

Learning how to conduct ethical research is an important part of a student’s educational experience. If you are a student conducting human subjects research, you must submit an application to the IRB, and receive approval, prior to recruiting subjects and collecting data.

Before you prepare an application, please review the FAQ to see if your project qualifies as “human subjects research” or call our office at (775) 327-2368. Our staff assists researchers in protocol development, which will ensure that an application moves more quickly from IRB review to approval.

Student-Initiated Research

Independent study projects, senior theses, honors theses, undergraduate research projects, masters, doctoral, and advanced degree research, and similar exercises that meet the federal definitions of research and human subject must be independently submitted to the IRB by the student-investigator. (Review the FAQ for the definitions of research and human subjects.)

Students as Principal Investigators

Students may only serve as the Principal Investigator on exempt research. In all other cases, students must have a faculty sponsor, who fulfills the principal investigator eligibility criteria, and who will serve as Principal Investigator and faculty advisor on the study.

Classroom Assignments

Research activities that are designed as part of a course requirement and involve human subjects MAY not require IRB review and approval if all of the following conditions are true:

• The activity is a class assignment designed for learning purposes only and is not designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge.
• Results of the research are viewed only by the course instructor for teaching purposes and discussed within the classroom for teaching and learning purposes.
• Results of the research are not made public through presentation (outside of the classroom) and are not published in paper or electronic format (e.g., cannot be made available on the internet, cannot be published in a journal, etc.).
• Research procedures are no more than minimal risk.
• Vulnerable populations are not targeted (e.g., children under age 18, prisoners, persons who are cognitively impaired, etc.).
• Data collected are recorded in such a manner that the subjects are not identifiable (Images in videotapes and photographs and voices on audiotape are considered identifiable.)
• When appropriate, an informed consent process is in place.