POLICIES FOR POLITICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH WITH HUMAN PARTICIPANTS

The department of Political Science has a chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha,
the nation's largest Political Science honors fraternity

The Department of Political Science at High Point University has adopted a policy regarding the treatment of human participants in research to encourage responsible research. All research projects will be conducted according to the ethical principles of the American Political Science Association and High Point University policy on the use of human participants in research. The department’s guidelines are designed to minimize harms to participants and to ensure that any potential risks to participants are outweighed by the potential benefits of the research.

Research is defined as any “systematic investigation…designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge” (see section 46.102.d of DHHS Code of Federal Regulations, 2005). Political science faculty members may conduct their own research and/or oversee students conducting research. Political science students may be required or have the option of conducting research that uses human participants.

Some political science research does not need to be approved by the IRB. Research, for example, that draws upon data that does not involve individually identifiable human participants, such as secondary analyses of the American National Election Study data or other “public use” survey datasets, need not go through the IRB. Similarly, research that draws upon the content of secondary sources that are readily available to the general public, such as newspapers or Congressional testimony, need not go through the IRB.

Students and faculty who intend to conduct research involving people must apply for and receive IRB approval before beginning that research. Some common examples of research in political science involving human participants include: in-person and telephone surveys, interviews and focus groups, and the observation of people’s public or private behavior.

The information that researchers using human subjects must provide to the IRB varies. Many research protocols, such as secondary analysis of surveys that do not contain information allowing participants to be identified, may undergo “expedited” review. Other projects may require the researcher to provide detailed information on the risks to participants as well as the potential benefits of the study.

To avert the need for each student to submit an IRB application for identical research projects, such as frequently occurs in a research methods course, faculty members may submit a single “umbrella” research proposal to the IRB that details the protocol for research to be conducted by the members of the class. Approval of the research proposal by the IRB will enable students to conduct research so long as the research closely adheres to the guidelines listed in the faculty-submitted proposal.

Faculty or students who conduct a unique project (i.e., research that does not conform to a protocol previously submitted to and approved by the IRB in conjunction with a specific course) are required to submit their proposals to the IRB and to receive its approval in advance of collecting data. Students should consult the faculty member overseeing their project for clarification and instructions on how to prepare and submit proposals.

Detailed information regarding IRB guidelines, as well as the forms and procedures to be used by faculty and students conducting research at High Point University, may be found at: http://www.highpoint.edu/academics/IRB/.