Best Practices: IRB Considerations

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

Most research that involves human subjects will require approval by UB’s IRB.

IRB approval is required for most research involving human subjects (even surveys)
- If you’re not sure, check with them.
Your plan to share your data MUST be part of your IRB protocol
De-dentification: When collecting data from human participants and communities, you must plan for and describe how you will de-identify the data for the protection of your participants.
- Here are some methods, tools, and guides for doing this.
  - HIPPAA Safe Harbor Method
  - De-identification tools:
    - NLM-Scrubber: Clinical text de-identification tool developed by the National Library of Medicine
    - NIST De-identification Tools: A guide to algorithms and tools curated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology
  - Guide to De-identifying Qualitative Research
- See our Best Practices for Sensitive Data webpage
Informed consent language should be explicit and must include plans for how you will preserve and share data. What to include:
- How it will be de-identified and shared
- What data will be shared
- What is preserved rather than shared
- Where it will be shared
- Who controls access (or will it be shared openly)