IRB Permission

To participate in the MISO Survey, Campus Survey Administrators must contact their own Institutional Review Board (IRB) and provide proof of approval or an exemption to your MISO Team Liaison by December 15, 2008.

Approval or Exemption Required for MISO

Survey approval (or proof of an exemption) from your Institutional Review Board (IRB), a committee that must approve the use of human and animal subjects in research, is required to administer the MISO Survey on your campus. This is a federal requirement and research that has not received such approval cannot be published. You may not run the MISO survey at yoru institution without first obtaining IRB approval.

Plan in Advance for the IRB Process

The IRB committee likely meets just once per month, so you need to write the proposal very soon and get the process started. Surveys are normally pretty straightforward, so we don’t expect this to be a difficult process – just one that takes some time to move through the system. Most often, a survey for institutional research like the MISO Survey will qualify for an exemption. Some IRBs will require you to complete a tutorial to get a certification before they will consider your request. Before taking the tutorial and spending that time, it might be wise to attempt to discuss the survey with a representative from your IRB and to explain that you are looking for an exemption. If you will qualify for an exemption, you probably won’t be required to do the tutorial to get the certification.

Examples and Templates

There are probably specific directions from your school's IRB Committee somewhere on your institution's website. On theSurvey Administration page, you'll find IRB proposals that were approved at institutions participating in the 2005-2006 MISO survey.  A template that summarizes the MISO Survey is also provided for your use. Feel free to use these as a model for your proposal.

The IRBs are as different as each of our schools. Some are very formal and require their own forms and lots of documentation and samples of the survey. Some are informal and you can just email them some general information. Some IRBs will provide a formal memo granting approval or exemption; some will send just a casual email.

Whatever you get from your IRB must be provided to your MISO Team Liaison before you will be allowed to participate in the survey. You'll find contact information for your Liaison on the MISO Team page.

Write and submit your IRB proposal – Immediately

Approval must be sent to your MISO Team Liaison by December 15, 2008.