Since I’ve posted about it in another blog, but not here, I’ve passed my Candidacy. I am now officially a Doctoral Candidate.
I’m working on a bit of research I hope to do, not just for my research class this semester but also as a pilot project for me dissertation. I still almost can’t believe I hear or read those words when I say/write them. So I presented the survey instrument I had developed as a first draft to dolcelab on Friday and got some exceptional feedback. Now I have to try to get the revision done quickly because I have to file an IRB (Institutional Review Board, for those of you not in academics, its what we have to do when we want to do research using human subject if we ever plan to use the data, like in a publication.)
The IRB came about as a result of questionable research practices, most famously in the Milgram Experiments. IRB approval can take a while and, in fact, their site says to allow 2 moths. Since the class ends in December, the research in order to make it into the class paper would need to be done (or even partially done) by then, so if we back that out time-wise, I need to file with the IRB now!
The only thing going in my favor is that this might be an exempt or expedited request. An exempt request would be, as the word suggests, one that is exempt from needing approval. An expedited request is one that can be approved with the IRB administrator and does not need to be reviewed by the whole board. There is a check list for this and I believe I meet all the criteria – not the least of which are: I’m not asking any questions that could be seen as being harmful to the subject (participant) and I’m not asking any personally identifiable information. I’m using a survey and it will be entirely anonymous.