FAU’s IRB policies and the Toolkit for Researchers provide information on regulations and guidance such as conducting research with vulnerable populations, students as research subjects, international research, and more.
There are special issues you should consider with online research projects, please click on the Internet-Based Human Subjects Research tab on the Toolkit for Researchers page.
If you have questions on best practices to secure research data, visit the Research Data Security Additional information on the Responsible Conduct of Research page under Data Management.
If you are working with medical records or creating, viewing, handling, or analyzing Protected health Information, HIPAA may apply to your project. See the HIPAA and Research page for information and guidance.
A Data Use Agreement (DUA) is a contractual document used for the transfer of nonpublic data that is subject to restrictions on its use. Data Use Agreement forms are available through the Office of Technology Development.
There is a distinction between research conducted by students and classroom research. Student research refers to human subjects research conducted by students in pursuit of an Honor's thesis, Master's thesis, dissertation, designated independent study (DIS), or other similar research. Student research projects should be submitted to the IRB and be actively monitored by the faculty advisor, who serves as Principal Investigator.
Classroom research refers to students' involvement in course activities that are primarily intended to teach them how to conduct human subjects research, rather than contribute to generalizable knowledge. Results of these activities are generally not published or disseminated outside of an instructional setting. In most cases, classroom research does not need to be reviewed by the IRB. If at a later point, you decide to continue a class project as a research project, submit an IRB application for review and approval. More information can be found on the Toolkit for Researchers page under Investigator Guidance Documents (HRP- 408 “Classroom Research”).
Additional Study Tools and considerations for studies using MRI, Research Match, All of Us, and more can be found here FAU | Toolkit for Researchers