Guidelines for Classroom Research

Many instructors encourage their students to engage in research as part of their course requirements. These research activities are typically intended to fulfill educational purposes (e.g., teaching research methods, exploring pedagogical techniques) rather than to create generalizable knowledge (i.e., be published or presented outside the university). Per the federal definition of human subjects’ research, these research activities at CCSU are considered to be solely classroom research as they do not meet the federal definition of generalizable research. As such, these classroom research activities do not require Institutional Review Board (IRB) review or oversight.

If a class project or activity is designed with the intent to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge, it does meet the federal definition of research and should be submitted to the IRB for review prior to data collection. All thesis projects, doctoral dissertations, capstone projects, or any other research projects that may be published in the CCSU library and involve human participants, are considered to be generalizable human subjects research, and therefore must be submitted to the IRB for review.

Responsibilities of the Faculty Instructor

It is the responsibility of faculty instructors to determine whether research projects embedded into a class which involve human participants can be classified as a classroom research project rather than a generalizable research project. Faculty should contact the Human Studies Council if guidance in making this determination is required. Faculty who assign classroom research projects assume the responsibility for the ethical conduct of these projects and the responsibility for ensuring that the rights and welfare of human participants are protected. These responsibilities include discussing the general principles of ethical research involving human subjects with the class prior to the initiation of the project, reviewing student research protocols, and monitoring research activities to ensure that human participants are protected. The completion of the CITI ethics training by the students who will conduct the projects is also highly recommended by the IRB.

Though these projects are not subject to IRB review, all researchers at CCSU, including those conducting classroom research, are required to meet all ethical obligations to participants as articulated in the Belmont Report. These principles of ethical research include obtaining informed consent, protecting confidentiality, minimizing risks, and addressing problems or complaints. For all classroom research projects, faculty instructors are responsible for ensuring that this research poses only minimal risk to participants. Minimal risk means that the probability and magnitude of harm or discomfort anticipated from participation in the research is not greater than the risks one would encounter as a part of his/her daily life.

Informed Consent for Classroom Research

Faculty instructors are responsible for ensuring that, at minimum, the following consent information is provided to all human participants who are asked to take part in a classroom research project:

- The primary researcher (the student) should identify himself/herself as a CCSU student who is performing the research activity to fulfill a course requirement. The specific course should be identified. - The name and contact information for the course instructor to contact for questions should be provided. The IRB does not recommend either student or faculty personal cell phone numbers be shared on any classroom research consent documents.

- The persons who will have access to individual data and/or summarized results should be specified (e.g. instructor and researcher only, company/agency/organization, etc.).

- Participants should be informed that their participation in the research is completely voluntary, and that they can decline to participate or stop participating at any point in the research with no adverse consequences.

Secondary Data Analysis and Classroom Research

Students who initially conduct research as part of a class requirement and later wish to use the data for a secondary, generalizable research project may submit an application to their faculty advisor regarding the use of the data, and the advisor may consider submitting this proposed secondary research project to the IRB per the IRB guidelines for secondary data analysis. The student will be required to demonstrate to the IRB that the initial research was conducted consistently with the Guidelines for Classroom Research, that the original research project would have been deemed exempt had the Institutional Review Board reviewed it prior to implementation, and that the original data were collected with the intent of classroom, and not generalizable, research. Please refer to the Central Connecticut State University Institutional Review Board Procedures and Responsibilities document for more information on the university and federal regulations governing secondary data analysis.