Assigned Reading

Bernard, pp. 65-77 -- DO READ THIS

IRB Web Site Link

Tuskeegee Experiment

Class Assignment

Many federal agencies of the United States government require proof of training in ethical conduct of human subjects research for all uses of federal funds that will involve any form of direct observation, testing, or interaction with participants involved in research, intervention, training, or assistance programs funded in part or whole by federal funds. The University of Florida requires that all researchers who are involved in any of these kinds of activities with human subjects complete training in the ethical conduct of human subjects research. You cannot conduct M.S. or Ph.D. research of any type or other professional activities, that entail interactions with human subjects, including non-thesis projects, without approval of the Internal Review Board (IRB) of the University of Florida. This applies even if the activity makes no use of federal, state, or university funds. You still need approval from IRB. The IRB will decide that some activities are exempt. Exempt simply means that you do not have to file certain post-activity documentation to IRB, a copy of the last signed informed consent document, for example. Whether you think the activity you want to conduct is "exempt" or not is irrelevant. If you are going to watch, talk to, or interact with people in any way as a student or employee at the University of Florida, you must secure IRB approval prior to any such activity. The decision about whether the activity is exempt is not yours to make. Only IRB can make that decision. Therefore, the requirement for this class session is for you to complete the certification training at the University of Florida and provide documentation of your test score.

All materials and the test you need for the ethics training and certification are on-line at a training site. Go to the IRB-02 Website. Then click the link in the menu on the left "Required Training for IRB-02." Submit an electronic copy of the test results print-out by 5:00 PM on January 20 under Assignments -- Ethical Conduct of Human Subjects Research. The easiest thing to do is print out the results as you complete the examination and scan it as a PDF document. Screen shots do NOT load well on Canvas in my experience.

Students who have already completed this required UF training for human subjects research for the behavioral and social sciences do NOT need to complete the training again, but you DO need to post evidence of completion and the score (overall) that you obtained again.