[Web4lib] academic libraries: oversight for usability tests

[Ranti Junus]

Our IRB insisted on reviewing our consent form, documentation on how
we would conduct the study, and the survey questions. I understand
they just want to be sure that out test subjects (the users) are
informed about their rights clearly and none of the questions/study
could be used to identify the subject. Then there's a yearly renewal
application. Every five years, we're required to resubmit the whole
thing again. So I just resending the same thing over and over again.

After a few years, they reorganized and finally decided that website
usability study is fell under exempt category. We no longer need to
renew our application. We do have to resubmit the documents if, for
some reason, the method of conducting the study or the consent form is
changed.

I noticed you work in a Health Science center. Perhaps that might be a
reason why they don't bother to distinguish the human subject for
health/medical research and for website study?  Just wondering...


ranti.



On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 4:21 PM, Clayton Crenshaw<ccrensha at hsc.unt.edu> wrote:
> We are developing an active, ongoing program of usability testing for
> our library website.  The staff members for our local institutional
> review board are taking the position that every word of every test that
> we administer must have their approval.  Yet I read about other academic
> libraries doing "rapid" and "fast-track" development, which doesn't seem
> possible in such a scenario.
>
> My question:  What does your IRB office require for website usability
> testing, and do you have to submit everything to them in advance?  If
> it's something less than that, please describe the level of oversight.
> If you have avoided this issue, either by not publishing your research
> results or by other means, then I'd like to know that too.
>
> Thank you,
>
>
> Clayton Crenshaw
> Web Services Librarian
> Gibson D. Lewis Health Science Library
> University of North Texas Health Science Center
> 817.735.5070
> 3500 Camp Bowie Boulevard

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