3 ms·
> An email asking an organization for answers to questions is human experimentation? Organizations are made up of humans. Human experimentation is very broadl
by danaris 5y ago
> An email asking an organization for answers to questions is human experimentation?
Organizations are made up of humans.
Human experimentation is very broadly defined, for IRB purposes. As I understand it, if you're going to be asking humans to interact with researchers, in any way, and gathering data based on those interactions, that's human subjects research, and requires reasonable scrutiny from the IRB.
Source: I have worked fairly extensively with my own university's IRB, as I put together and maintain the website that they use to handle submissions.
- pseudalopex 5y agoIt could be your university's definition. Princeton's definition doesn't include information about organizations.[1] It would include information about solo projects arguably. [1] https://researchdata.princeton.edu/research-lifecycle-guide/human-subjects https://researchdata.princeton.edu/research-lifecycle-guide/...
- jameshart 5y agoThis seems pretty cut-and-dried to me. > A human subject means a living individual about whom an investigator (whether professional or student) who is conducting research: > (i) Obtains information or biospecimens through intervention or interaction with the individual, and uses, studies, or analyzes the information or biospecimens The information they were looking for is 'how does this person respond when they receive an email threatening legal action under CCPA?' A human subject means ... a living individual ... about whom an investigator... obtains information... through intervention or interaction... and studies... the information. That they mistakenly thought they were investigating how "an organization" responds when they receive an email is based on an erroneous assumption that an organization is itself an autonomous, sentient entity whose behavior can be studied independently of its human constituents.
- pseudalopex 5y agoI think individuals in a research group in a department in a university in a city in a state in a republic know organizations contain individuals. Your interpretation would make most of the definition redundant. They could just say any individual an investigator interacts with. IRBs don't interpret it like that.
- wtallis 5y ago> They could just say any individual an investigator interacts with. Not quite, because the definition needs to also encompass individuals that researchers acquire information about without directly interacting—eg. getting patient data from a healthcare provider.