Got my IRB approval today!! YEAH!

Yep! Strangely I don’t feel anything about it yet…perhaps because it was hovering around me for a long time.

I started the process on Thursday, April 24th. Because I knew this was going to be a tedious process and a particularly challenging one because of all the translations that were needed, I met with Christa at the IRB office this day. She was kind enough to go over all my paperwork and provide some really good advice. I also mentioned that in order to process my paycheck, I needed to have an approval real soon. She understood. I submitted all of my documents with her suggested changes on Thursday night.

Friday morning, I walked up to the IRB office and delivered the hard copies with Patrice’s signature. Within a few hours, I had a reply from the office with a memo requesting some very minor revisions. I made those revisions and mailed it to them over the weekend, requesting a quick reply so I could get the translations working. Got their reply on Monday, April 28th and I immediately mailed the consent forms to Papa. However the translations took a while because of the May 1 Labor Day holiday in India as well as some personnel issues but this morning, Monday, May 5, I had his email, bright and early. I needed to make some changes to the Photography consent form but I was all set and emailed them away to IRB. Within a few hours, I got their final approval and the go ahead for the project.

A small step for research, a giant leap toward a P H D.

Here’s some advice for those in the process of getting their IRBs for international projects:

1. It is a GREAT idea to meet with an IRB staff member and have him or her review your forms prior to submission. I thought I knew the process well but it really helped having Christa read through it all and provide some really valuable additions that saved me a lot of time later on.
2. Once you submit your documents, request that they review the consent forms asap so that you can get started on the translations.
3. Follow the template that is on their website to facilitate a quicker review.
4. Do not hesitate to pick up the phone or drop by Hovde 300 to get your questions answered. Believe me, it saves a lot of time and effort.
5. If you can, anticipate questions about your research from the perspective of an outsider (not necessarily the research project itself but the procedures, etc.) and answer them somewhere in your documents before they ask you to.
6. And finally, I know there were numerous occasions where I went through “I know my project is culturally sensitive” and “I know that this is just not going to work given my cultural context” and such other nagging thoughts, but I kept reminding myself that the whole IRB process is to ensure that your participants are not taken advantage of and the IRB only means well (I know that last thought can be challenging sometimes), but trust me, it is possible to get everything done the way IRB wants it done and still feel like you aren’t compromising on your research. After all this, you KNOW you are well on your way to your research.