The Office of Research and Graduate Studies
Research Involving Human Participants at Penn State
The University is unequivocally committed to promoting, encouraging and facilitating ethical and responsible academic and clinical research efforts of Penn State faculty, staff and students in the broad area of general or specific measurements of human development, health and performance.
Federal*, state and University** regulations require that the use of human participants in research be reviewed and approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB). The mission of an IRB is to ensure that the rights and well-being of human research participants are protected at all times.
*Title 45 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 46
**Penn State Policy RA14 -“The Use of Human Subjects in Research”Research by faculty, staff and students (as noted in Title 45 Code of Federal Regulations Part 46.102(d), Federal Register, 56, p.28013, research is a “systematic investigation designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge” involving the use of human participants either directly or through records or other data such as specimens or autopsy materials, must be reviewed and approved by the University's Institutional Review Board (IRB) prior to involvement of the human participants in the project. The IRB is supported by the Office for Research Protections, 212 Kern Graduate Building, 814-865-1775 or Protections@psu.edu.
For more detail about the types of projects reqiring IRB review and approval, visit the Office for Research Protections Web site.
The staff at the Office for Research Protections is available to assist students with the application and review process. You may also ask ORP a question via Webform.
Failure to comply with these procedures could result in the disqualification of research data and/or the withholding of academic degrees.