Protection of Human Subjects Procedures

Policy Statement

All research conducted by or in collaboration with faculty members in the Psychology Department must conform to APA ethical principles and established standards and guidelines of Missouri State and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  To ensure the protection of the rights and well-being of individuals who participate in research associated with the Department and Missouri State University, any student or member of the faculty who wishes to conduct research with human subjects, must obtain approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB).

Procedures for Completing an IRB Application

  1. Complete the Human Subjects Protection training online by going to IRB Human Subjects Training.  Unless your research includes the collection of protected health information, you only need to complete the CITI training.  All faculty, staff, and students involved in the research study must complete this training (good for three years). 
  2. Submit your application online by going to Evisions Cayuse.

PSY 121 Research Pool

If you wish to recruit undergraduate psychology students as participants, please refer to the Research Subject Pool Policy.  The approval of both the IRB committee and the SONA administrator is required before posting your study.

Student Research

Research conducted by students as a course requirement may be exempt from IRB approval if the research meets the following criteria:

  1. The research falls into the exempt category of the Department of Health and Human Services guidelines.
  2. The research is not designed to contribute to generalizable knowledge (i.e., be published) as set forth by University policy (see p. 36).

All other student research must be supervised by a faculty member and must be approved by the IRB.

For more information about research and scholarly activities at Missouri State University, including internal and external funding, contact the Office of Research Administration.

For questions about submitting an IRB application, you may also contact the Psychology Department representative.