Institutional Review Board (IRB)

The LaGrange College Institutional Review Board (IRB) exists as a safeguard for ethical and responsible treatment of human participants in research. The IRB oversees all research conducted by LaGrange College faculty, staff, and students that involves work with human subjects, whether funded or not.

The National Research Act of 1974, recognizing the need for safeguard regulations concerning the use of human participants in social and behavioral science research requries institutional review, letters of assurance, and documentation thereof for such research. The Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Participants, known as the Common Rule, represents the latest Federal regulations for protection of human participants.

LaGrange College abides by the World Medical Association's Declaration of Helsinki, as well as the US Department of Health and Human Services' Belmont Report, both statements of ethical principles regarding research using human subjects; in its protection of human research participants. The research application process details conform to the changes to the Common Rule, effective January 21, 2019.

This policy applies to any research activity using human participants that is directly or indirectly supported by the College. The applicability of this policy is to all entities of the College: faculty, administration, staff, students, and contracted consultants. 

Generally, data collection for the College’s internal use (e.g., alumni surveys or food service or housing satisfaction surveys) is not considered to fit this definition of research and the procedure need not be reviewed by the IRB. However, data collected without IRB approval may not be published, presented, or combined with other data for the purpose of presentation or publication.

If you anticipate that your data might be used for any purpose other than the College’s internal purposes, to or for external presentations, you must have your project reviewed by the IRB before data collection begins.

Note: Beginning data collection before obtaining the approval of the IRB is unethical and violates the spirit of the review process. IRB approval will not be granted retroactively. 

The current IRB committee (updated Fall 2023)