Institutional Review Board (IRB)

The purpose of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) is to foster the ethical treatment of human research participants.

Indiana Tech affirms its commitment to protecting the rights and welfare of human subjects consistent with its institutional mission, values, and operational imperatives. Indiana Tech’s mission is to provide learners a professional education; preparing them for active participation, career advancement, and leadership in the global 21st century society; and motivates them toward a life of significance and worth. Its core values include respect — treating all stakeholders fairly and equitably and integrity — behaving consistently with mission and core values. Among its operational imperatives, Indiana Tech is striving for academic excellence and continuous improvement in all programs and emphasizing ethics and integrity in all that we do. Indiana Tech’s IRB is one way that the university balances the ethical treatment of human participants in the pursuit of knowledge.

The primary functions of Indiana Tech’s IRB are listed below:

1. Educate the university community about institutional and federal standards for the ethical treatment of human research participants.
2. Approve potential research and review ongoing research to ensure compliance with ethical standards and practices for protecting the rights and welfare of human participants in research.

IRB review is required whenever an investigator conducts university-affiliated research with human subjects. Research is defined as a systematic investigation that develops or contributes to generalizable knowledge. Systematic investigations include the following:

• Collection of data using surveys, testing or evaluation procedures, interviews, or focus groups
• Collection of data using experimental designs such as clinical trials
• Observation of individual or group behavior

Indiana Tech students conducting research that involve human subjects must go through the same process as other investigators to secure IRB approval for their research. However, a student (excluding doctorate students) cannot be the principal investigator. That role belongs to their faculty advisor or another supervising faculty member.

As of January 1, 2020, all investigators must obtain a CITI certification for research ethics and compliance training. This certificate must be included as an attachment in the IRB application. All Indiana Tech students, faculty, and staff may obtain the CITI Institutional Training free of charge through the Let Me In one-click apps.

All approvals to use human subjects in research must be obtained before beginning the research. Retroactive approval from IRB will not be granted. Questions about your IRB proposal should be sent to IRB@IndianaTech.edu.