So that AAA might provide better counsel and resources to members and departments
seeking guidance on issues related Institutional Review Boards and human research
protections, the association asks that you answer the following questions:
1) What is your department’s experience with your institution’s
IRB? What are the major problems you face? How do you most effectively engage
with these problems? Particularly, what strategies has your department employed
to ensure expedited reviews, waiver of written informed consent, the preservation
of ethnographic data, etc?
2) Does your institution’s IRB have anthropologists and/or other
social sciences acquainted with ethnographic research on its board? Does
your institution have a separate IRB for social science research or is there only one IRB
(for example, situated in the medical school)?
3) Do you bring outside “experts” on ethnographic (or social behavioral)
research and IRBs to educate your institution’s IRBs and related personnel?
Who are your contacts?
4) What resources do you find useful in educating anthropologists and others
about IRBs and ethnography?
