Do I Need an IRB?: Computer Science Education Research and Institutional Review Board (IRB) (Abstract Only)

The importance of rigorous standards in computer science education research to include a description of hypotheses, research questions, methodologies, and results has been recognized in the computer science education community. The driving force for computer science education research is to understand the learning needs of our students who are human subjects. Therefore, some computer science education researchers may need to answer a critical question before they start their planned research: Do I need Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval to conduct this research using my students as research subjects? The key goal of the IRB is to protect human subjects from physical or psychological harm ("Code of Federal Regulations, Title 45, Public Welfare, Part 46, Protection of Human Subjects"). Although commonly used in the fields of health and social sciences, the role and purpose of IRB, the different categories of IRB reviews, the timeline from planning and submission of an IRB application, and the general rules for citing IRB in publications and grant proposals are not widely understood in the computer science education research community. In this poster, the authors describe the history, the purpose, review categories, and guidelines for reporting on the IRB. The authors will tailor the discussions on the different IRB review categories to computer science educators interested in conducting computer science education research with their students.