Zachary M. Schrag Institutional Review Blog December 2006 – August 2012 This document contains all text appearing on the Institutional Review Blog, http://www.institutionalreviewblog.com/, from its launch on 12 December 2006 through the start of the fall semester at George Mason University, 28 August 2012. Except where noted, all entries were written by Zachary M. Schrag, of the George Mason University Department of History and Art History. This version was prepared for archiving at the Mason Archival Repository Service (MARS), mars.gmu.edu. Readers are encouraged to cite individual blog entries, e.g., Zachary M. Schrag, "Smithsonian Frees Oral History, Journalism, and Folklore," Institutional Review Blog, 30 July 2010, http://www.institutionalreviewblog.com/2010/07/smithsonian-frees-oral-history.html Each entry in the Institutional Review Blog by Zachary M. Schrag is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. 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INSTITUTIONALREVIEWBLOG.COM 2 Contents 1 2006 19 1.1 December . 19 1.1.1 Introduction (2006-12-12 13:33) .............................. 19 1.1.2 Carome, Cohen, and Normal Science (2006-12-18 22:47) . 21 1.1.3 A thousand cuts (2006-12-23 23:57) ............................ 23 1.1.4 Carpenter and Hyman (2006-12-26 13:31) ......................... 24 1.1.5 The Miseducation of Jystar (2006-12-28 23:00) ...................... 24 2 2007 27 2.1 January . 27 2.1.1 Why not make IRB review voluntary? (2007-01-03 22:29) . 27 2.1.2 Nancy Janovicek offers a Canadian perspective (2007-01-07 00:44) . 28 2.1.3 "Generalizable" revisited (2007-01-10 23:50) ........................ 29 2.1.4 Menikoff, "Where’s the Law?" (2007-01-16 20:48) ..................... 30 2.1.5 IRB demands destruction of tapes (2007-01-16 20:55) ................... 31 2.1.6 John Mueller (2007-01-18 23:05) .............................. 32 2.1.7 Inside Higher Ed (2007-01-19 09:23) ............................ 32 2.1.8 Special Issues (2007-01-19 22:42) ............................. 32 2.1.9 The Language of Exemption (2007-01-21 21:18) ...................... 33 2.1.10 Still no evidence? (2007-01-26 08:53) ........................... 34 2.2 February . 35 2.2.1 In Search of Expertise (2007-02-11 22:37) ......................... 35 2.2.2 The Australian (2007-02-21 10:24) ............................. 37 2.2.3 Schwetz Promises New Guidelines (New York Times) (2007-02-28 12:43) . 38 2.3 March . 38 2.3.1 AHA Perspectives: Forum on IRBs (2007-03-11 17:56) . 38 2.3.2 Savage Minds (2007-03-13 01:39) ............................. 39 2.3.3 Why IRBs Are Not Peer Review: A Reply to E. Taylor Atkins (2007-03-13 10:09) . 39 3 2.3.4 My Problem with Anthropologists (2007-03-18 16:28) ................... 40 2.3.5 PRIM&R Plans SBER Conference (2007-03-19 15:13) . 45 2.4 April . 45 2.4.1 Anthropologist Patricia Marshall Appointed to SACHRP (2007-04-05 10:35) . 45 2.4.2 What is PRIM&R? (2007-04-13 20:49) ........................... 47 2.4.3 Jeffrey Cohen on Generalizable Knowledge (2007-04-17 23:40) . 48 2.4.4 Yale historians vs. Yale IRBs (2007-04-19 17:27) ..................... 49 2.4.5 The Canard of Interview Trauma (2007-04-24 10:12) ................... 50 2.4.6 Alternative IRB Models Conference Ignores Behavioral and Social Research (2007-04-27 21:27) ..................................... 52 2.5 May . 52 2.5.1 PRIM&R Finds Another Social Researcher (2007-05-07 17:13) . 52 2.5.2 Boise State University’s IRB Makes a Poor First Impression (2007-05-10 11:39) . 53 2.5.3 PRIM&R’s Public Responsibilities (2007-05-16 22:54) . 54 2.5.4 A Trimmer PRIM&R (2007-05-19 18:42) ......................... 56 2.5.5 Zywicki, "Institutional Review Boards as Academic Bureaucracies" (2007-05-21 23:04) . 57 2.5.6 Jeffrey Cohen: More Argument Without Evidence (2007-05-23 21:38) . 58 2.5.7 Even the Best IRB Can Antagonize Researchers (2007-05-24 12:45) . 58 2.5.8 Scott Atran, "Research Police – How a University IRB Thwarts Understanding of Terrorism" (2007-05-28 12:10) ..................................... 59 2.6 June . 62 2.6.1 The History of 45 CFR 46 (2007-06-14 09:46) ....................... 62 2.7 July . 63 2.7.1 White, "Institutional Review Board Mission Creep" (2007-07-26 10:51) . 63 2.7.2 OHRP Reprimand Puts Forms Over Substance (2007-07-31 09:35) . 63 2.7.3 Schwetz Retires (2007-07-31 09:40) ............................ 65 2.7.4 A Biomedical Scientist Speaks Out (2007-07-31 14:31) . 65 2.8 August . 67 2.8.1 IRBs vs. Departmental Review (2007-08-02 21:47) .................... 67 2.8.2 Study Finds IRBs Make Consent Forms Harder to Read (2007-08-03 12:12) . 80 2.8.3 To the Historian All Men Are Dead (2007-08-08 22:25) . 80 2.8.4 Insider-Outsider-Down Under (2007-08-10 14:15) ..................... 82 2.8.5 Symposium on Censorship and Institutional Review Boards (2007-08-10 22:09) . 83 2.8.6 James Weinstein’s Anti-Intellectualism (2007-08-11 14:08) . 83 2.8.7 How Oral History Really Works (2007-08-12 13:25) .................... 85 2.8.8 Evolving Research (2007-08-14 11:00) ........................... 86 4 2.8.9 Another frustrated anthropologist (2007-08-14 13:30) ................... 87 2.8.10 Incestuous Gay Monkey Sex (2007-08-14 22:16) ...................... 88 2.8.11 Study Finds IRBs Impose Inappropriate Forms and Guidelines (2007-08-16 21:17) . 88 2.8.12 The Fine Line Between Social Science and Journalism (2007-08-19 21:01) . 89 2.8.13 Guidance Creep (2007-08-20 09:11) ............................ 89 2.8.14 Northwestern IRB: Unsystematic Interviews Are Not Subject to Review (2007-08-21 10:47) 90 2.8.15 Macquarie’s Respect for Expertise (2007-08-24 16:05) ................... 91 2.9 September . 92 2.9.1 Laud Humphreys Remembered (2007-09-14 11:43) .................... 92 2.9.2 Study Finds IRBs Exaggerate Risks of Survey Questions (2007-09-14 12:38) . 92 2.9.3 Bledsoe et al., Regulating Creativity (2007-09-21 13:24) . 93 2.9.4 Bledsoe et al., “Regulating Creativity” (2007-09-21 13:24) . 97 2.9.5 Roberta S. Gold, “None of Anybody’s Goddamned Business”? (2007-09-29 17:06) . 100 2.10 October . 105 2.10.1 The Dormant Right to Expertise (2007-10-07 13:34) . 105 2.10.2 Brown U. IRB Chair: System is Broken (2007-10-22 01:36) . 107 2.10.3 Pentagon Says IRB Review Not Needed for War Zone Anthropology (2007-10-25 01:53) 107 2.11 November . 108 2.11.1 OHRP Seeks Comment on Expedited Review (2007-11-03 14:40) . 108 2.11.2 Neuenschwander on IRBs and Oral History Legal Releases (2007-11-09 22:08) . 109 2.12 December . 110 2.12.1 Law & Society Review (2007-12-01 22:55) . 110 2.12.2 My Comments to OHRP (2007-12-21 17:00) . 111 2.12.3 Law & Society Review (2007-12-24 15:15) . 113 2.12.4 Law & Society Review, continued (2007-12-24 15:27) . 116 2.12.5 American Historical Association Asks for Oral History Exclusion (2007-12-28 12:32) . 119 2.12.6 Columbia University Grants Oral History Exclusion (2007-12-28 12:35) . 119 3 2008 121 3.1 January . 121 3.1.1 Inside Higher Ed Reports on Comments to OHRP (2008-01-04 00:03) . 121 3.1.2 How State IRB Laws Threaten the Social Sciences: A Comment on Shamoo and Schwartz (2008-01-06 14:50) ..................................... 121 3.1.3 Johns Hopkins Dean: Generalizable Means "Hypothesis-Based" (2008-01-13 00:08) . 122 3.1.4 How IRBs Decide–Badly: A Comment on Laura Stark’s "Morality in Science" (2008-01-21 10:18) ....................................