EMU Research
Eastern Michigan University Human Subjects Review Committee Process
Step 1: Do you need to submit an application to the UHSRC?
The UHSRC reviews all human subject research conducted at EMU or by EMU faculty, staff, and students. If you are conducting human subject research, as defined by the Federal Government, you need to submit a UHSRC application.
The first step is to determine if your project meets the federal definition of research. To make this determination, consider the following questions:
- Is your project a systematic investigation? That is, do you have a research plan?
- Is your project designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge? Are you going to extend the interpretation of your results beyond the sample studied?
- If you are a student and your project is for a class assignment, do you plan to publish or present your results outside of the classroom?
If you answered “no” to questions 1 or 2 above, your study does not meet the federal definition of research, and you do not need to submit a UHSRC application.
If you answered “yes” to questions 1 and 2 and “yes” or “not applicable” to question 3, then your project meets the federal definition of research.
The next step is to determine if your subjects meet the federal definition of human subjects. Consider the following questions:
- Are you obtaining information about living individuals?
- Does the research involve intervention or interaction with the individuals? Note that the intervention can be indirect, such as a manipulation of environment (including public or private observation), and the interaction does not have to be in-person, for example, an online survey.
- Do you plan to collect individually identifiable information about your research subjects? Information is identifiable if the identity of subjects can be ascertained from one element (e.g., name or EID number) or a combination of two or more elements (e.g., gender, city of birth, and current zip code) in a dataset.
If you answered “no” to question 1 above or to both questions 2 and 3 above, you are not conducting human subject research and do not need to submit a UHSRC application.
If you answered “yes” to question 1 above and “yes” to either question 2 or question 3 above, you are conducting human subject research. You will need to submit a UHSRC application. Continue to Step 2.
If you have any questions about whether your study requires UHSRC review, please contact the Office of Research Compliance at [email protected] or 734-487-3090.
Step 2. Complete human subject protection training.
The UHSRC requires all faculty, staff, and students conducting human subject research to complete online training in human subject protections. This training is offered through Canvas. Please complete this form to be added to the course.
The Canvas training course should take between 3 and 4 hours to complete. You do not have to complete the entire course at one sitting. You can start the course, stop, log out, and at another time, log back in and continue with the course. Once you have completed the training, please save your grade report as a pdf file (right-click on the completion report page and then either save as a pdf or print as a pdf). You must upload your completion certificate with your UHSRC application.
Step 3. Gather your study materials.
The UHSRC requires supplemental materials in addition to your application. All relevant supplemental materials must be attached in the application, as instructed.
If you are submitting a new application, the following materials are required:
- CITI training certificates for all study staff (for students, this includes your faculty advisor
- All recruitment materials (e.g., email texts, phone scripts, fliers, etc.) that will be used to inform potential subjects about your study
- All consent/assent/debriefing forms in Microsoft Word. Please consult the “Developing a Consent Form” website
- Copies of all instruments, questionnaires, interview/focus group questions, or other study measures
- Copies of permission documents from non-EMU study sites, if applicable
- Thesis/dissertation/capstone proposal, if applicable
If you are submitting a modification request, the following materials are required:
- A copy of all changed or modified supplemental documents with all changes highlighted or tracked
- A copy of all new documents to be added
- Copies of Canvas training grade reports or CITI training certificates for new study staff members
Step 4. Complete your application in Cayuse IRB.
UHSRC review takes approximately 3 weeks. You may or may not be contacted with questions or revision requests in that time. If 3 weeks has elapsed since your submission and you have not been contacted by the UHSRC, please contact the Research Compliance Office at [email protected] or 734-487-3090.
