When making adjustments to a class, professors often wish to study the learning outcomes of their own students. This is both admirable and a hallmark of sound pedagogy. If you are surveying students midterm or at the end of the course to get feedback for yourself or if students are being surveyed for tenure and review purposes, you do not need to apply for IRB approval. You also do not need to apply for IRB approval if your students in your classes are conducting human subject research for the sole purpose of training and there is no plan to publish their results.
If you are collecting data about and on students in your courses for the purpose of research that will be presented in a public setting (including at Carleton), you do need to apply for IRB approval. Due to the inherent power dynamics between a professor and the students currently in their classes, it is the opinion of Carleton’s IRB that students cannot fully consent in this situation. In order to protect our students, and to preserve their right to opt out of human subjects research, we ask the following of our faculty. Please enlist a research partner, who is not in any way associated with the particular class being studied, to handle the consent forms and administer the activities or surveys in question. This partner will hold all documents, files, or outcomes related to the study in their possession until grades have been assigned and the course is complete. In this way, the professor of the course being studied cannot know which students do and do not consent to participate in the research until a time when this knowledge cannot affect the grades of any students. Knowing this procedure is in place allows the students more freedom to opt out of the study without negative impacts. At Carleton, because we require that students’ consent be obtained before the study, most classroom research studies will get the designation of “Limited Review” or “Expedited” (if minors are involved).
Here is an example consent form for pedagogical research with current students.