CITI certificates are good for three years after they have been obtained. If your CITI certificate is set to expire before or during your project, please be sure to complete the training again and send us your new certificate to have on file. Once your project has been completed or expires, we do not need a new CITI certificate unless you will be pursuing additional research.
If your faculty advisor has already submitted their CITI certificate to the REC, they do not need to submit it again as we keep record of CITI certificates.
The three page maximum requirement for proposal documents was implemented to avoid investigators submitting literature reviews as a part of the REC submission. While most proposals can effectively outline the research procedure and plan within this limit, we understand this may not be the case for every project and will consider proposals that exceed this limit. The primary consideration regarding page length should be to briefly, yet thoroughly describe all of the research procedures. Do not leave out details for the sake of brevity.
This is dependent on your research project and how you will be acquiring data. If you are utilizing data that someone else has collected (i.e. records or chart review), you will need a letter of permission indicating you are allowed to use that data. This letter should come from the person who collected the data, the company that holds the data, etc.
Similarly, if you will be collecting data in-person through a local facility or school, the representative of that location should provide a letter of permission indicating you are allowed to enter the premises for purposes of data collection. If you have specific questions about your site permission letter, please contact us directly.
If you are a Spalding student or faculty member who has been listed as a co-investigator on another research project that has already been approved by another institution, you do not need to submit the project to the REC for approval. An institutional authorization agreement (IAA) form will need to be completed indicating the research project has been approved by the institution providing IRB review. If this applies to you, please reach out via email ([email protected]) for our IAA form.
This is dependent on the type of review that is necessary for your proposal. Exempt proposals can typically be turned around in a week. Reviewers are provided two weeks for proposals classified as expedited. Proposals classified as full board are reviewed once per month (please refer to full board review dates on the home page).
Please note that it is common for reviewers to request proposal revisions prior to full approval and the review of re-submissions cannot be expedited to meet proposed project start dates. Therefore, although it is not required, it is recommended to submit your proposal with additional time beyond that required for review. For example, expedited proposals are recommended to be submitted at least one month prior to when you anticipate beginning data collection. This will allow for the 2 week review period, plus time for revisions and re-review.
QuestionPro is the only REC- approved platform for collecting online survey data due to its ability to authenticate participant information. We have found QuestionPro technical support to be very helpful in addressing questions/concerns in a prompt and accommodating manner. They can be reached at (800) 531-0228. For basic questions related to QuestionPro features, you may also reach out to Spalding IT at [email protected].
Projects proposing to use an alternative survey platform may be considered on a case-by-case basis as long as adequate justification is provided regarding the need to utilize something other than QuestionPro.