Question

A researcher wants to observe preschoolers at a local public playground to evaluate levels of cooperation. The researcher will not interact with the children or record information in such a manner that the identity of the subjects can be readily ascertained. Which of the following statements is true? This research would be eligible for exemption because the researcher is not interacting with the children and the playground is a public setting. This research would be eligible for expedited IRB review because the researcher is not interacting with the children and the playground is public. This research would be eligible for expedited IRB review because the researcher is participating in the activities observed. This research would require full committee review because it involves children.

Answer 1

The answer is: This research would be eligible for exemption because the researcher is not interacting with the children and the playground is a public setting.

Approval from IRB is only needed if the research is being done on a controlled environment or the researchers make any contact/intervention to the subjects. IRB exist to ensure that all the changes made by the researchers to the subjects would be completely safe.

Public places cannot be considered a controlled environment by the researchers and simple observation at natural state would not make any change to the subject. Because of this, This research would be eligible for exemption