Human Subjects Committee

Overview

When conducting research at Indiana University (IU) Bloomington as well as other IU campuses that involves people, even if just talking with people, human subjects approval must be granted by the Committee or by the Institutional Review Board.

Below is an excerpt from the [FAQ web page||http://www.research.indiana.edu/rschcomp/faq.html] posted by the Office of the Vice Provost of Research that illustrates the above:

If I am just talking with people about....I'm not doing anything to them--there are no experiments, no clinical trials, do I need human subjects approval?

Yes (and we are not kidding). Federal regulations define human subjects research broadly to cover interactions as well as interventions with human subjects for research purposes. So. . . surveys, interviews, questionnaires and oral history interviews, etc. are all covered by the federal regulations. And, yes, you need prior committee approval. Most of this type of research, however, qualifies as "EXEMPT."