How to Conduct a Survey: Part 5 4/17/20

The OU deferral process ended up being a bit more complicated than I expected. The entire process of applying and submitting required documentation is online. While IRB advisors were helpful, the online format was a bit confusing to operate and led to a delay in the approval of the deferral, which finally happened on Aril 27th.

What was very helpful and eye-opening was the required CITI Program training course entitled:
"Human Research - Social Behavioral Modules" The course kept me busy for an entire week of internship hours under lockdown. It provides an overview of the legal and ethical frameworks that inform the modern practice of researching human subjects. While this survey is relatively benign, it turns out there that are very valid historical reasons for why we have attach a complex series of checks and safeguards on this kind of research.

A great example of this is research involving prisoners. In the past, prisoners were often coerced into research that caused them undue harm - simply because they were a population of convenience. Today, it must be demonstrated that research involving prisons is actually being conducted for the benefit of prison populations. In other words, you can't use them in your study on a general research question simply because they are more willing to participate, more concentrated in one area, easier to incentivize, etc...

Another example is the importance of consent in conducting research on human subjects. Unless it is absolutely necessary that some information be withheld for the research to be successful(so long as there is no serious risk to the patient), participants must be informed of the nature and objective of the study, as well as any risks or benefits that have been foreseen.  

Since I was applying for a deferral to publish the results of the survey, and not for conducting the survey itself, we were green-lighted to begin the survey on April the 5th. As of April 17th, there were over 200 participants in the survey. Dr. Louderback and I decided to leave the survey up until Friday, May 1st. That was a good balance of giving the student and faculty body a chance to respond while giving me enough time to analyze the data and put together an article summarizing the results.