Research And Evaluation Practice Test

IRB review focuses on protecting people when you’re doing research that aims to generate generalizable knowledge and involves human subjects. If the evaluation is strictly for internal program improvement and is not designed to produce findings intended for broad dissemination, many institutions consider it not to be research requiring IRB oversight. In that case you can proceed without IRB approval, as long as you still protect participant privacy and welfare. The decision would change if you plan to publish or generalize the results beyond the program, or if you are collecting identifiable information in a way that creates risk. Funding or whether minors are involved does not by itself determine the need for IRB review; what matters is whether the activity is being conducted as research with the potential for generalizable conclusions. So, for a typical internal evaluation aimed solely at improving a program, IRB approval is not required before starting.