IRB: Procedures and Guidance

This webpage organizes the NC State University IRB guidance into five thematic sections. Each section provides documents that summarize or link to relevant laws, regulations, policies, and contexts alongside suggestions for researchers in how to comply with those requirements within the research protocol submitted for NCSU IRB review and approval.

We begin with “IRB Operations and Expectations” which includes guidance on what is and is not regulated (and thus reviewed) by the NC State IRB office and general expectations of all University affiliated researchers engaged in human subjects in terms of training, conflicts of interest management, mandatory reporting processes, faculty point-of-contact oversight of student research, and specific guidance for individual units at the University.

The second section, “IRB Application,” links to eIRB application screenshot tutorials, exemption-eligible research decision tree for educational research, and selected forms for exemption requests, protocol renewal, protocol closure, and IRB review by external IRBs.

“Research Populations” follows the “IRB Application” section and here you will find NC State University specific guidance on vulnerable research participant populations commonly targeted by our researchers, such as students, minors, those who are incarcerated, pregnant, or affiliated with the Department of Defense, and those who will enroll in their own research.

One of the largest portions on this page is our “Research Methods and Procedures” section that contains guidance on qualitative methods, primary and secondary data collection procedures, and use of specific data tools and types including artificial intelligence, software applications, medical devices, augmented and virtual reality, biosampling, and more.

The concluding section of this webpage, “Research Data Management, Use, and Sharing,” provides crucial information on data identifiability, sensitivity, and sharing that honor participant consent, participant privacy, data confidentiality, and applicable laws and regulations.