The federal office that oversees human volunteers in research has
decided that oral-history interviews generally do not fall under the
government's definition of research and thus need not be regulated by
institutional review boards. "

Additional details :
http://chronicle.com/prm/daily/2003/10/2003102101n.htm

Letter from OHRP :

http://chronicle.com/extras/2003/10/20031021_hhs.pdf

Excerpt :

"It is primarily on the grounds that oral history interviews, in
general, are not designed [This notion of "intention-through-design" is
interesting: ? relevant to distinctions between research, QA, program
evaluation, etc. ]
to contribute to "generalizable knowledge" that they are not subject to
the requirements of the HHS regulations at 45CFR part 46 and, therefore,
can be excluded from IRB review. Although the HHS regulations do not
define "generalizable knowledge," it is reasonable to assume that the
term does not simply mean knowledge that lends itself to
generalizations, which characterizes every form of scholarly enquiry and
human communication. While historians reach for meaning that goes beyond
the specific subject of their inquiry, unlike researchers in the
biomedical and behavioral sciences they do not reach for generalizable
principles or laws of nature that have predictive value and can be
applied to other circumstances for the purpose of controlling
outcomes."

Elisa Espinoza Fallows, MS, CIM
Manager, Research Compliance
Research Compliance Office
Scott & White Hospital
Alexander Bldg, Room 218G
xxxxxx@swmail.sw.org
phone: 254-724-6254
pager:  254-724-7508, pager # 2421

>>> xxxxxx@IIT.EDU 10/27/03 11:39AM >>>
I recently heard that OHRP has stated that oral history interviewing
activities do not involve research as defined by 45 CFR 46, but I
cannot
find anything on their website.

Does anyone know where I can find the "official word" from OHRP
regarding
oral history interviewing?

Thanks,
Domenica
Domenica G. Pappas, CRA
Associate Director
Office of Sponsored Research and Programs
Executive Officer, IRB and IACUC
3300 S. Federal Street
Main Building, Room 301H
Chicago, IL 60616-3793

Phone:  (312) 567-3035
Fax:    (312) 567-6980
Email:  xxxxxx@iit.edu

web:    www.grad.iit.edu/research/

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