You must ask permission to sample employees, students, etc., from any organization that you contact. You must contact someone at the organization prior to beginning any type of IRB application (exempt, expedited, or standard) and inquire into their policies for permissions and obtain permission.
Permissions are to be submitted with expedited and standard reviews and collected for exempt reviews. Expedited and standard reviews require permissions are attached to the submission of your application.
- A combined letter template is available for gaining recruitment, site (location), and organizational permissions. Be very careful of which type of permission you obtain. Here is some guidance on what you need:
- Recruitment permissions are those needed for sampling members/employees/students of a particular organization. If you are conducting research on site, you will need a site permission as well (see below).
- Site permissions are needed for conducting research at the site, only. If you are recruiting from an organization, but not conducting research on site, you need a recruitment permission.
- Organizational permissions are needed for naming the institution in your study and it must be explicitly stated in the permission. Otherwise, the organization must be described in a general manner (e.g., small private liberal arts institution in Southern California).
- Permissions vary based on level of involvement of the organization. Refer to the policy on site permissions to ascertain what type you need for the La Verne IRB. Then, contact the organization to determine what permissions they require.
- School districts generally require district office or superintendent approval if you are conducting research on-site (site permission) or need to contact employees (recruitment permission). Contact the school district to ascertain what permissions are needed.
- Health care organizations, universities, and other organizations may require approval from their own IRB; those IRBs may require our IRB to approve first (it depends if you are conducting the research on the La Verne campus or at other sites).
- If that is the case, note that requirement in your application and we can issue a conditional approval letter, which will allow you to obtain permission from the other IRB. You will NOT be able to start your research at that institution until you have full approval letters from both IRBs.
- You will need to attach the approval to your application from the off-site IRB(s) before you start your study, in order to satisfy the conditions of your approval with the La Verne IRB.
- A full approval letter will be issued once all approvals are received, which will allow you to start your research. Please refer to the La Verne IRB Policies and Procedures document for more information on the process.