Research ethics at New Meridian University
Ethical research begins with protecting people.
NMU’s Institutional Review Board reviews research involving human participants to protect their rights, welfare, and privacy. Students, faculty, and affiliated researchers can seek guidance while planning a study and submit an application before recruitment or data collection begins.
HHS / OHRP registration
New Meridian University IRB
Organization numberIORG0012834
Registered with the Office for Human Research Protections, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Registration identifies the board; each study requires its own written determination. About OHRP registration.
Start here
Start with these two documents. Complete the application, use the checklist to prepare the supporting materials, and review the packet with your supervisor before submission.
Describe your study, research team, participants, procedures, risks, consent process, and data protection. Include the supporting documents and researcher and supervisor acknowledgments.
Check that your application and supporting materials are complete and consistent. Mark each item Complete, Not Applicable, or Pending, and explain outstanding items before submission.
Download and save the PDFs before completing them, or use the editable Word versions. Contact your supervisor for submission instructions. Research must wait for the required written IRB determination and all applicable conditions and permissions.
Before you begin
Resolve the review requirement before recruitment or research procedures begin.
The IRB considers both a project’s purpose and the activities it involves. Research generally involves a planned investigation intended to develop knowledge beyond the immediate activity. Human participant research involves interaction or intervention with living people, or the research use of identifiable private information.
Dissertations, surveys, interviews, experiments, and record studies can require review even when they are unfunded, online, or described as low risk. When the classification is uncertain, contact your supervisor for guidance on requesting a written IRB determination while planning the project.
| Project | What to address in your application |
|---|---|
| Online survey | Recruitment, eligibility, sensitive questions, consent information, and whether the platform collects identifiers. An anonymous survey can still involve human participants. |
| Interviews or focus groups | Recording, emotional or social risks, use of quotations, and protections for identities. Explain what participants will experience and how confidentiality will be handled. |
| Existing records or secondary data | The source of the information, permission to use it, identifiers, and whether individuals can reasonably be identified. |
| Classroom exercise or internal evaluation | Whether the activity serves teaching or local improvement, or is designed to answer a broader research question. Reassess before changing its purpose. |
| Literature review or public dataset | Whether any interaction, restricted information, or identifiable private information is involved. |
Obtain a written determination first. Do not begin recruitment, consent, data collection, or research use of identifiable private records until the required approval or determination is issued and its conditions are met. Faculty approval, site permission, and participant consent serve separate purposes and do not replace required IRB review.
Application process
A strong application makes the study understandable from the participant’s point of view. Start early enough to complete review and revisions before your planned research begins.
01
Develop the protocol and supporting documents with your supervisor. Resolve questions about participants, risks, consent, technology, permissions, and training.
02
Download the application and checklist above, complete the required sections, and gather the supporting materials. Review the packet with your supervisor and obtain submission instructions.
03
Submit the completed packet using the instructions provided by your supervisor. Answer IRB reviewer questions, explain each revision, and update affected documents so the packet remains consistent.
04
Read the written determination and its conditions. Use the approved document versions and obtain any additional permissions before beginning the study.
Contact your supervisor about your proposed study and the IRB application process. Provide the study title and a brief description of the participants, procedures, and data involved. Use the application and checklist provided above, and ask your supervisor for help preparing the packet and following the submission instructions. Keep participant records and unnecessary sensitive information out of the initial inquiry.
A submission confirmation does not authorize research. Review time depends on the study’s risks, complexity, completeness, and requested revisions. Wait for the required written determination and satisfy its conditions.
Submission materials
Show what participation will involve from the first recruitment contact through data disposal. Develop these materials with your supervisor and use the application and checklist provided above.
| Material | What to include |
|---|---|
| Study protocol | Purpose, research questions, design, procedures, locations, expected duration, and research team responsibilities. |
| Participant plan | Population, inclusion and exclusion criteria, planned sample size and rationale, and the eligibility assessment process. |
| Recruitment materials | Invitations, advertisements, contact and screening scripts, incentives, and how contact details will be obtained. |
| Consent materials | What participants will be told, how consent will be obtained, withdrawal arrangements, and any assent, permission, or waiver request. |
| Instruments and procedures | Complete surveys, interview guides, observation plans, interventions, recording arrangements, and transcription plans. |
| Risk and protection plan | Foreseeable discomfort or harm, safeguards, privacy limits, dependent relationships, and arrangements for responding to concerns. |
| Data management plan | Information and identifiers collected, coding, access, storage, transfer, technology providers, retention, sharing, and disposal. |
| Supporting documentation | Relevant site permissions, outside approvals, researcher training documentation requested by the IRB, and disclosed conflicts of interest. |
Use the same participant criteria, procedures, time commitment, incentives, and technology descriptions throughout the packet. Date and label document versions. Include full instruments and explain how revisions address each reviewer comment.
Students remain responsible for their research and for following the written determination. Faculty supervisors should help develop a complete, feasible protocol, help students complete the application and checklist and provide submission instructions, and confirm that study activities, participant protections, and data arrangements are adequately described.
Review and decisions
The IRB determines the appropriate route. Researchers should describe the study fully and request a determination instead of assigning their own review category.
ROUTE 01
For studies that meet applicable exemption criteria. Exempt status does not remove the need for a study-specific determination or appropriate participant and information protections.
ROUTE 02
For eligible studies that involve no more than minimal risk and meet the applicable review criteria, or certain eligible review activities. Expedited describes a review procedure and does not guarantee a faster decision.
ROUTE 03
For studies that require consideration by the convened board, including research that does not qualify for an exempt determination or expedited review.
Authorizes the study within the scope, conditions, and document versions identified in the written notice.
Confirms that the described study qualifies for an applicable exemption. The determination is study specific and its conditions still matter.
Additional work is needed. Submit the requested response and wait for written authorization before starting.
Applies to the activity described in the request. A change in purpose, data, or procedures may change that conclusion.
The study cannot proceed as submitted. Contact your supervisor for help understanding the concerns and requesting clarification or reconsideration through the IRB’s established process.
Independent review. Members with a conflict of interest recuse themselves from review and decisions, except to provide information requested by the IRB. Presidential, faculty, or site authorization cannot substitute for a required IRB ethical review decision.
Participant protection
A careful protocol gives people understandable information, a voluntary choice, and realistic privacy protections. These responsibilities continue throughout the research.
Explain the purpose, activities, time commitment, foreseeable risks, expected benefits or lack of direct benefit, privacy limits, payments or costs where applicable, withdrawal arrangements, and contacts for questions. Give participants time to ask questions before deciding.
Use the approved consent process before study procedures unless an authorized waiver or alteration applies. A waived signature does not automatically waive participant information or the consent process. Explain recordings, transcription, and future data use.
Address dependent relationships, including students, employees, or people receiving services. Avoid suggesting that participation will improve grades, employment prospects, or access to services.
Removing names from a report does not make the original collection anonymous. A coded interview remains identifiable when a researcher can connect the code to a participant. Check survey settings for IP addresses and other identifiers.
Explain who can access recordings, transcripts, and identification keys. In focus groups, participants hear one another’s contributions, so complete confidentiality cannot be guaranteed.
Identify external transcription, cloud, or AI services in the proposed data workflow. Use them only within the approved arrangements and NMU requirements for information protection and technology use.
For participants. You may ask questions before deciding, decline participation, or stop participation as explained in the study information. Review what will happen to information already collected and how to contact the researcher or the IRB.
After the determination
Conduct the study as described in the written determination. Keep the approved documents and follow any reporting dates, review intervals, or other conditions.
| Situation | Researcher action |
|---|---|
| The study changes | Seek required amendment review before implementing changes. Explain effects on recruitment, consent, risks, procedures, and data. Follow the written determination for exempt studies. Changes needed to eliminate an apparent immediate hazard must be reported promptly. |
| A problem occurs | Protect participants, preserve relevant records, and promptly report unexpected risks, confidentiality incidents, significant departures from the protocol, or complaints. |
| Further review is required | Meet the dates and conditions in the determination. If approval expires or is suspended or withdrawn, stop covered activities until authorized to resume while taking necessary steps to protect participants. |
| The study ends | Follow closure instructions and maintain the approved protections and retention arrangements for remaining records and data. |
IRB support
Use the application and checklist above, and contact your supervisor for submission instructions or guidance about whether a project needs review. Discuss your study before recruitment or data collection begins. Your supervisor can help you prepare the request; the IRB issues the required written determination.
For questions about a study itself, use the researcher contact in the consent materials. For questions about your rights or concerns about how an NMU study is conducted, contact Billy Whisnant, IRB Chair, with the subject “Research participant concern.”
Billy Whisnant, IRB Chair
billy.whisnant@newmeridianuniversity.org
Include the study title or reference if known. You do not have to raise a concern with the researcher first and may request an uninvolved reviewer. Good-faith concerns are protected from retaliation. Provide only the information needed for the initial report.
Frequently asked questions
It can. Anonymous responses reduce some privacy risks, but the study still involves interaction with people. Obtain the required determination before recruitment.
These approvals serve different purposes. Wait for the required written IRB determination and satisfy its conditions.
No. It describes a review procedure. Completeness, risk, and requested revisions affect review time.
IRB approval cannot be granted retrospectively. Contact your supervisor promptly if activities began without the required determination and follow the IRB reporting instructions.
Follow the amendment requirements in the written determination and obtain required approval before using revised materials.
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