Nate Honeycutt: & Ryne Weiss:
What is an IRB, and why do they exist?
An IRB is a committee at a college or university that reviews and approves any kind of research involving human subjects. The idea is straightforward: the IRB wants to make sure that nobody is harmed and that participants know what they’re signing up for when participating in a study.
If this sounds reasonable, that’s because it is. In fact, IRBs were established by federal directives in the U.S. after major ethical abuses in research. One of the most infamous was the untreated syphilis study at Tuskegee between 1932 and 1972, in which the U.S. government studied the effects of syphilis on black men for decades without treating them — or even telling them what disease they had.
In 1979, the federal government issued the Belmont Report, which laid out three core principles for ethical research:
- Respect for persons: People must give informed consent.
- Beneficence: The benefits of research must be weighed against the risks.
- Justice: The burdens and benefits of research should be shared fairly.