Re: IRB - Oral History Elisa Espinoza Fallows 27 Oct 2003 13:13 EST
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/ ====================================================================== Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists") ====================================================================== ====================================================================== Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists") ======================================================================