Important!
This page does not replace the official IRB web site. Their site has all of the information you need. Check out the center section of their page for some key topics and FAQs. Their Guidance Pages are extremely useful.
Here are some of the most common questions we receive from our LDL students.
There is required training.
The IRB office launched IRBOnline on September 18, 2023. The exact “forms” needed will be outlined within the system, including the main application and a research team form. All other requirements will depend on your specific project, such as the International Research form. Ask the IRB office directly if you aren’t sure what you need. Take advantage of their guidance.
See all IRB forms here
The UIUC IRB Office recommends conducting research at organizations/institutions where the student is not also employed, when at all possible. Convenience sampling should be avoided. If it is necessary to conduct the research where the investigator is also employed, this will need to be justified in the application submitted to our office (perhaps the subject population is not accessible anywhere else).
If the research is to occur at a University, there may be other approval mechanisms in place (similar to our student affairs research approvals and HR processes). First contact your employer’s or the research site’s IRB office and ask them if they want to be the host institution or if they want to provide a letter of support (this letter may come from somewhere else at your institution). The letters of support must be from authorized individuals at the site granting the researcher permission to conduct the research. The researcher should find out what specific approvals and reviews are required at the site where they seek to perform the research. This should be done before an application is submitted to the UIUC IRB office and the documented support / approvals should be provided with the application as attachments.
In addition to contacting your employer’s or the research site’s IRB office, investigators who are performing research on behalf of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (including for a dissertation) must provide the UIUC IRB office with an application for review.
There are also cases where a data agreement may be required. These are not processed by our office, so if any secondary data or materials that already exist (like student records) are going to be accessed for the study, the investigator should reference guidance provided by OVCRI and plan accordingly – https://research.illinois.edu/research-administration/data-sharing-and-transfer-guidance
Contact the UIUC IRB via email and share your situation with them. Ask them to outline the process for your unique situation.
For the UIUC IRB, only a faculty member can be a PI. You should put your faculty advisor’s name. If you are also submitting for your host institution, refer to their guidelines.
You are a member of the research team, along with anyone else who will participate in conducting the research and/or have access to the data.
Yes, you must pass the IRB certification in order to submit an IRB protocol form. Refer to the Required Training page on their web site for specific details.
A tab on the Google tracker includes the expiration dates for the LDL faculty advisors. Contact other research team members directly.
Yes! And you should use them! This will minimize the revision process for you. Take advantage of these resources. Refer to the IRB Office’s forms and templates page.
Yes, your advisor (the principle investigator/researcher) must sign your IRB application, but this will be handled through the IRBOnline system.
You should begin preparing your IRB documentation around the time of completing your Chapter 3 part 2, but you will finalize it once you have drafted your data collection instruments. The goal is to receive IRB approval prior to your preliminary exam. Keep in mind that the approval process takes time, so plan accordingly.
(If a link is broken that is referenced on this page, please visit the main IRB site directly, but also notify us so that we can update the links.)