School of Nursing: Policy And Procedure For Accessing School Of Nursing Students For Participation In Research Projects

Title

School of Nursing: Policy And Procedure For Accessing School Of Nursing Students For Participation In Research Projects

Unit Policy

Introduction

Purpose

To provide guidance to researchers on accessing School of Nursing (SON) Students for research studies.

Scope of Applicability

Faculty internal to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-Chapel Hill) and researchers external to UNC-Chapel Hill who are conducting research and all SON students

Policy

Preamble

The SON is committed to the conduct of research as a core component of its mission. As part of this commitment, the SON will facilitate, within identified parameters, the potential participation of SON students as subjects in research projects of faculty and students in academic units at UNC-Chapel Hill as well as entities beyond this campus. Participation by students as subjects in a research project is always voluntary. A student's choice whether to participate or decline will not jeopardize their academic standing in any course or program. Approval to approach nursing students in any SON program or course must be obtained by the researcher from the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. The researcher must present an approved IRB with their request to recruit students. This includes recruitment for any type of research activity, ranging from participation in a clinical study to an educational research project. IRB approved informed consent procedures must be followed.

Procedure for Student Participation

The following steps must be followed for the recruitment of students and collection of data from students in approved research projects:

  1. The researcher must submit a request to access students as subjects and a copy of the IRB approval1 to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs before any recruitment activities take place. The request must include the plan for recruiting students and provide sufficient detail on the time commitment that would be required if classroom time is being proposed for recruitment or data collection. The IRB approval must have been obtained from an IRB at UNC-Chapel Hill. If approval has been obtained by a non-university researcher at another federally designated IRB (FWA), the external IRB approval is sufficient unless the study requires UNC-Chapel Hill to be engaged in conducting research (i.e., a UNC-Chapel Hill employee or student obtains data about subjects through intervention or interaction, possesses private information about the subjects, or is involved in the informed consent process of subjects). If UNC-Chapel Hill is engaged in research, review by the UNC-Chapel Hill IRB is required.
  2. The Associate Dean for Academic Affairs or designee will contact the program Associate Dean, who will review the study as appropriate. Final approval to approach students will be made by the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in consultation with the relevant program Associate Dean(s) and will notify the researcher of the decision.
    1. The preferred approach to student recruitment is outside the context of an individual class. The Office of Academic Affairs will facilitate recruitment of students in approved projects by posting informational flyers from the investigator in the SON, distributing approved recruitment announcements prepared by the investigator to student listservs, or other similar broadcasting activities. Under no circumstances will student names be provided to investigators for contacting students directly.
    2. If the researcher provides sufficient reasons for wanting to recruit students in a convened course, permission from the course coordinator must be granted to the researcher for use of class time. This permission is required to either describe or promote the project in a class session or to gather data. Recruitment of students during a convened class session in any program can take place only if there is demonstrated educational value in the research topic proportional to the time needed for recruiting students in the class.

Footnotes

1. The IRB approval may not always be "in hand" at the time access is requested, but must be available before permission can be granted.

Exceptions

N/A

Contact Information

Policy Contact

Peggy Wilmoth, Associate Dean Academic Affairs

Other Contacts

N/A

Important Dates

  • Effective Date and title of Approver: Approved 3/1/2004 by the general faculty
  • Reviewed and approved: Academic Affairs Council 3/28/2017

Approved by:

Peggy Wilmoth

Associate Dean Academic Affairs

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