Students as Subjects

An underlying principle of the regulations governing use of human subjects in research is that the subject's participation be voluntary and based upon full and accurate information. No matter how well intentioned the teacher is, students may feel compelled to participate, believing that failure to do so will negatively affect their grades and the attitude of the teacher toward them. Therefore, recruitment of students into a study by their instructor has the potential to be coercive. 

For this reason, teachers should not use their own students as subjects in their research if it can be avoided. The IU HRPP recognizes, however, that in some research situations, use of one’s own students is integral to the research. This is particularly true of research into teaching methods, curricula, and other areas related to the scholarship of teaching and learning. 

This guidance is designed to assist researchers who wish to use their own current students as subjects in research protocols. Note that it is only intended for situations when a researcher is specifically targeting their own students for inclusion, and not for research that may only incidentally include a researchers’ own students as participants. 

Research with students can be broken down into two scenarios:

• research that only involves the classroom observations, review of student work that is a part of the course, and/or existing student records; and
• research that asks students to perform extra-curricular activities, such as completing surveys or being interviewed, that they would not do if the research did not exist. 

Research that only involves the classroom observations, review of student work that is a part of the course, and/or existing student records

Under the Common Rule, research that fits into the first scenario usually does not require researchers to inform the students (or their parents if the students are minors) that the research is taking place, or to receive their permission to be included. In these cases, it is permissible for researchers to conduct the research without notifying students, which eliminates concerns about students feeling coerced to be included. Note, however, that FERPA may require permission from students/parents to access student records data when the Common Rule does not, and when including non-IU students, researchers must adhere to those institutions’ policies. 

Research that asks students to perform extra-curricular activities

When researchers wish to enroll their own students in research and participation involves students completing extra-curricular activities, or the researcher is required to obtain permission from their students, additional steps should be taken to prevent the students from feeling coerced into participating.

The researcher should arrange to have the permissions and data collected in such a way that they will not know who has agreed to participate, and will not have access to data that indicates who participated, until the final grades for the course have been assigned and entered. This can be accomplished by various methods, such as using anonymous surveys or by working with a third party who will collect and safeguard the data until the course is over. Note that a graduate teaching assistant in the class in which the students/subjects are enrolled does not qualify as a third party for collecting data on behalf of the instructor.

If course or extra credit is offered in exchange for participation, an alternate means of earning equivalent credit for an equivalent commitment of time and effort should be made available to all potential student subjects. These alternatives are carefully reviewed to make sure that students are not being coerced into becoming subjects. For example, the IU HRPP is likely to view the choice between volunteering to fill out a short questionnaire or writing a five-page paper as coercive, since writing a five-page paper involves considerably more time, effort, and stress.

Student-led projects intended only for class assignments, for presentation at IU-sponsored events such as Student Research Days, or at other non-professional conferences, are not designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge and would not be considered human subjects research requiring a submission to the IU HRPP/IRB. Student-led projects, such as Masters theses and Ph.D. dissertations, are considered human subjects research since they are intended to have a theoretical or practical impact on the field of study.

Sometimes a student-led project is not considered human subjects research at onset but may later transform into human subjects research. If you are unsure of whether your project involves human subjects research at any phase of the process, contact the IU HRPP at irb@iu.edu as soon as possible to determine next steps.

• If the project is ongoing, it should be paused until it is determined whether or not a human subjects research submission is required. Previously collected data may still be usable even if acquired without approval.
• If the project has since completed, further details will be needed to determine next steps. This may include human subjects research approval of secondary data analysis.