Institutional Review Board

Institutional Review Board The focus of my research is on the factors which can inhibit the development of at-risk youth in urban locations. Understandably, research performed upon children is always of particular concern for institutional review boards. The three generally-accepted levels for institutional review boards are exempt, expedited, and full review status ("IRB," 2014). For research conducted on children, however beneficial to the child's well-being, a full review is required given that the study is being performed on minors. Greater scrutiny is required, regardless of the type of research.

"Ethical standards are critically important when conducting research with young children and other vulnerable populations. Some key points are: research procedures must never harm children, physically or psychologically" and "children and their families have the right to full information about the research in which they may participate, including possible risks and benefits" ("Ethical standards for research," 2014). Children must be informed of the purpose of the research in which they are participating in ways they can understand ("Ethical standards for research," 2014).

The most obvious examples of ethically problematic research on minors are medical or psychological interventions upon very vulnerable young populations. My population is vulnerable socio-economically. However, I will not be performing any experiments 'on' the population per se. Ethical questions also arise when one segment of a population is given a potentially positive intervention such as a reading enhancement program while the other is not as a control.

Particularly in the case of students, where developmental milestones are critical and interventions can have a significant impact upon intellectual growth and development, ethical questions might arise in the case of a classic experimental design. My research is descriptive in nature, however, and does not demand such an intervention. My qualitative approach raises fewer potential ethical objections given I will be focusing on a select population and merely asking them to speak about their experiences. However, there are still ethical issues regarding confidentiality.

Students' identities must be concealed for ethical reasons and also so they can speak freely. Parental consent is necessitated for all minority-age children. There should be an adult present in the room (either a parent or a school administrator) not connected to the research study whenever the child is being interviewed.

However, students should have control over who is in the room: for example, they might not feel comfortable speaking about their reluctance to do their homework in front of a teacher or the extent to which their parents do or do not support their learning in school with their mother or their father in the room with them. They should also not feel pressured to participate in research when they do not want to.

Student data must be protected so it does not affect their future schooling: for example, students who do not like their teachers or classes should not be afraid that information will be passed onto the school and affect.