We talk with Marianna Azar, Director and Chair of the NYC DOE’s Institutional Review Boards. The IRBs review all research proposals conducted through the schools to make sure they are conducted ethically and that the benefits to the students outweigh any burdens. In Part 1 of a 2-part interview, Ms. Azar describes how the IRBs work and their impact on researchers, schools, students and parents. Next week we’ll continue exploring the ethical issues that confront IRBs, including issues raised by Big Data.

Overview

00:00-00:57 Intros

00:57-02:42 NYC Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

02:42-07:20 Relevance of background in philosophy and ethics

07:20-10:10 Examples of research projects submitted to NYC DOE IRBs

10:10-14:49 Topics researchers ask about

14:49-16:21 Biomedical and psychology studies

16:21-17:56 Why there are two NYC DOE IRBs

17:56-22:19 Recruiting volunteer IRB members

22:19-36:09 Submittal and review process

36:09-37:37 Factors affecting timeline from submittal to approval

37:37-39:47 Post-approval compliance

39:47-41:42 Outro

Transcript

Click here to see the full transcript of this interview. 

References

Click here to listen to the second part of this conversation “Research in schools (Part 2): Safeguarding the data”.

Soundtrack by Poddington Bear