Scope:

1. Individuals affiliated with Green River Community College including faculty, staff, and students wishing to conduct a research project involving faculty, staff, and/or students or
2. Individuals not affiliated with the college, but wishing to conduct research at Green River using faculty, staff, students, or college records as part of that research.

Definitions:
Human subjects review
A process for evaluating a research project to determine the following:

1. Whether and to what degree it poses potential risks to either the subjects of the research in the form of physical, psychological, social, or some other kind of harm, and
2. The college itself in the forms of lawsuits, wasted resources, a diminished image, or some other kind of harm.

Policy or Procedure:
Any individual affiliated with Green River Community College including faculty, staff, and students wishing to conduct a research project involving faculty, staff, and/or students or an individual not affiliated by the college, but wishing to conduct research involving employees, students, or college records must comply with Green River’s Human Subjects Compliance procedures as specified below.

1. All research proposals must be submitted in writing to the Office of Research & Planning. The proposal should include a brief summary of the rationale for the study, the methodology to be used, and the expected outcomes.
2. If the Director of Research and Planning, after conferring with the Executive Vice President, determines the proposal to be low risk and appropriate, he/she may approve the project. If the Director determines the proposal to have moderate or substantial risk or has concerns about the appropriateness of the proposal, he/she will confer with the President and/or the President’s staff before making a decision to approve the project.
3. If a research proposal has the potential of impacting a faculty member or a faculty member’s classroom in any way, the Director of Research and Planning will also confer with the Dean and faculty member before making a decision.
4. The requester/researcher will be contacted concerning the status of the request within ten working days. If the request is denied, notification will include the reasons for the denial. A revised proposal may be submitted for reconsideration.
5. Upon approval, the requester/researcher will be required to complete and distribute the attached Human Subjects Consent Form to all potential participants in order to obtain consent prior to participation. All signed forms should be kept on file by the researcher.

In accordance with federal regulations, the following kinds of research are exempt from this policy:

1. Classroom research conducted by the instructor or by students under the supervision of the instructor.
2. Research conducted by college staff and faculty on the effectiveness of the college in general or its educational strategies.
3. Student assessments conducted by instructors or the college.
4. The collection and analysis of secondary data which do not contain individually identifiable information.

Specific Authority:
Code of Federal Regulations, Title 45 Part 46

Law Implemented:
1981, most recently revised 1991

History of Policy or Procedure
Draft: October 14, 2004
Adopted: January 6, 2006
Revised:
Reviewed by:
Contact: David Hyllegard, Director of Research & Planning, ext. 2571
Cabinet Sponsor: April Jensen, Executive Vice President, ext. 2565