5 ms·

That's not really how it works. Nobody's out there 'approving' research (well, not seemingly small projects like this), especially at the university level. Prof

That's not really how it works. Nobody's out there 'approving' research (well, not seemingly small projects like this), especially at the university level. Professors (all the way down to PhD students!) are usually left to do what they like, unless there are specific ethical concerns that should be put before a review panel. I suppose you could argue that this work should have been brought before the ethics committee, but it probably wasn't, and in CS there isn't a stringent process like there is in e.g. psychology or biology.

chromatin 5y ago
Wrong! If you read the research paper linked in the lkml post, the authors at UMN state that they submitted their research plan to the University of Minnesota Institutional Research Board and received a human subjects exempt waiver.
- gbrown 5y ago
  A human subjects determination isn’t really an approval, just a note that the research isn’t HSR, which it sounds like this wasn’t.
  - bluGill 5y ago
    Well it was, but not the type of thing that HSR would normally worry about.
  - op00to 5y ago
    It absolutely was human subject research. Try for yourself! Here's the NIH's rubric: https://grants.nih.gov/policy/humansubjects/hs-decision.htm https://grants.nih.gov/policy/humansubjects/hs-decision.htm for q1, the study collects data like observations of behavior, so we must answer yes. for q2, none of the exemptions apply - it's not an educational setting, they're not sending a survey, it's not an observation of the public - they're interacting, and it's clear that these interactions are not benign - they have clear impact on the community. None of these exemptions apply. Based on this flow, it's clear the study involves "human research".
- op00to 5y ago
  That waiver was issued incorrectly. See my post in this same thread on why - essentially, if you do the NIH test, it's HSR.
pdpi 5y ago
The emails suggest this work has been reported in the past. A review by the ethics committee after the fact seems appropriate, and it should’ve stopped a repeat offence.

chromatin 5y ago

Wrong! If you read the research paper linked in the lkml post, the authors at UMN state that they submitted their research plan to the University of Minnesota Institutional Research Board and received a human subjects exempt waiver.

gbrown 5y ago
A human subjects determination isn’t really an approval, just a note that the research isn’t HSR, which it sounds like this wasn’t.
- bluGill 5y ago
  Well it was, but not the type of thing that HSR would normally worry about.
- op00to 5y ago
  It absolutely was human subject research. Try for yourself! Here's the NIH's rubric: https://grants.nih.gov/policy/humansubjects/hs-decision.htm https://grants.nih.gov/policy/humansubjects/hs-decision.htm for q1, the study collects data like observations of behavior, so we must answer yes. for q2, none of the exemptions apply - it's not an educational setting, they're not sending a survey, it's not an observation of the public - they're interacting, and it's clear that these interactions are not benign - they have clear impact on the community. None of these exemptions apply. Based on this flow, it's clear the study involves "human research".
op00to 5y ago
That waiver was issued incorrectly. See my post in this same thread on why - essentially, if you do the NIH test, it's HSR.

pdpi 5y ago

The emails suggest this work has been reported in the past. A review by the ethics committee after the fact seems appropriate, and it should’ve stopped a repeat offence.