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The Colby IRB is a committee of Colby faculty and Waterville community members charged with protecting the welfare, rights, and privacy of human subjects involved in research. It is responsible for reviewing all research projects conducted by Colby faculty, students, and administrative staff that involves human subjects, including collecting information from human subjects, to ensure that these projects comply with legal and professional standards for ethical research. To email the IRB, use [email protected].

Projects conducted by Colby faculty, staff, or students using human participants must be reviewed by the IRB if they meet the following definition of research: “a systematic investigation, including research development, testing and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge” (Code of Federal Regulations, Title 45, Part 46). Some types of research, such as completely anonymous surveys and studies involving little or no risk to participants, may be declared exempt from review by the IRB chair. Oral histories and film documentaries do not meet the definition of research, and therefore do not need to be submitted to the IRB chair for review. Prospective researchers should not attempt to determine for themselves that their projects are not research involving human subjects. The IRB has to make this decision based on the application, and then inform the researcher of its determination (including whether approval is given), before the research can begin.

You cannot conduct any research until you receive IRB approval from the IRB committee. Moreover, we will send you consent forms with our Header, including your IRB approval number. Thus, only those who receive this from the IRB will be using approved materials.

For more information, please see the applications and sample materials below.

Getting Started

Ethics Training

CITI provides free access for faculty, students, and staff to their online ethics training program. Select Colby College for your organization. Minimum training is the Social & Behavioral Research – Basic Course (14 modules).

CITI ethics training program

Application Forms

To apply for IRB approval of a research project, complete one of the following forms and submit it to [email protected].

IRB application form – Faculty and staff version
IRB application form – Student version
IRB application form – Anthropology Department version

Sample Materials

Sample consent form – Use this form to obtain informed consent from participants before beginning the research procedure.
Sample permission-to-record form – If you wish to take photographs, audio recordings, or video recordings of research participants, then use this form in addition to a standard consent form, or integrate the permission-to-record prompts into your consent form.
Sample consent for an anonymous survey – If you plan to administer an anonymous survey that does not collect any personally identifying information from participants, you may insert this consent information, instead of a full consent form, at the beginning of your survey.
Sample debriefing form – Use this form to provide more information about your research project to participants after they have completed the research procedure.

Questions?  Please contact the IRB Chair, Kara Kugelmeyer.