Student Researchers

IRB Information for Student Researchers

The CSUN IRB supports student-led research involving human research participants, as long as such projects have faculty oversight.  IRB approval must be obtained before any work with subjects begins; this includes any recruitment, data collection or other research activities.  If you have questions about whether your project is subject to review by the IRB, please contact IRB staff at irb@csun.edu.

Throughout the year, IRB staff have outreach events specifically for student investigators.  Be on the lookout for announcements from Graduate Studies, BUILD PODER, ARCS and other research groups on campus.  Staff are also available to present to graduate and undergraduate classes about the history of research ethics, as well as about the IRB review process. 

Some guidelines for getting started with your IRB application:

• All research staff need to have completed a CITI Human Subjects Research training course before submitting the protocol.  Please consult your advisor or IRB staff for more information.
• Student investigators will need to request access to Cayuse using this form. (https://forms.csun.edu/forms/cayuse-irb-access-request/)
• Your faculty co-Investigator should be indicated in question A4a of the Cayuse application.  Faculty co-Investigators must certify the protocol in Cayuse when it is submitted.  Student protocols that are not certified will encounter delays.
• Please have your study instrument (questionnaires, surveys, interview guides, etc.) and any flyers or other recruitment materials prepared before you start your protocol.  Small edits to these documents can be made during the review process, but they should be largely complete when submitted.
• Templates for Informed Consent documents are linked within the Cayuse application.

If the CSUN IRB determines that your study is subject to full committee review, we will require that your faculty advisor is named as lead Investigator.  Research that may require full committee review includes research with protected populations (such as children, prisoners or people with decisional impairments), research using risky methods such as deception, and research that involves more risk to participants than what they would encounter in everyday life.