Policy on Protection of Human Subjects
II. Who Must Complete A Request for Approval of Human Subjects Research?
Anyone who engages in scholarly research involving human subjects, either on- or off-campus. This includes:
Middlebury College faculty and staff;
Middlebury College students who conduct independent research;
Researchers not affiliated with Middlebury College conducting primary research with subjects on-campus; and
Anyone analyzing unpublished data collected at the college.
Instructors assigning student research as part of a course need not submit a proposal, unless the instructor chooses to invite committee review. Nonetheless, each faculty member engaging in such an instructional activity is expected to maintain professional standards to protect any human subject in accordance with his or her field.
Human subject research is research involving data from or about living human beings. Any discipline may involve human subject research. Sociological, anthropological, and psychological studies usually involve human subjects; biological and historical studies often involve human subjects.
*Visitors to the campus and off-campus scholars engaged in human subjects research involving subjects on campus, do so through the courtesy of an on-campus host and should do so only with the approval of the chair of the IRB. The host should provide the visitor with appropriate institutional forms including this document and assure that the forms are transmitted to the committee in a timely manner. The host will serve as the primary institutional contact, while the committee will provide institutional approval as necessary.