All,
My understanding of this problem at Texas A&M, and as it was explained to
our Faculty Senate by an official of our System office (the overall
supervisory level above the various A&M campuses) is that System legal
counsel has determined that State of Texas freedom of information laws, and
hence requests under those laws, trump IRB privacy protections. (And I
don't think that federal FOI requests were contemplated in this
interpretation at all.) I am no attorney, but I was dumbfounded by the
logic there from the first. I took POLS 101 as a wee undergraduate and
remember stuff there about federal law superceding state law.
So...does anyone have a legal angle of a more specific sort on that Texas
A&M System interpretation?
kqh
Kim Quaile Hill
Cullen-McFadden Professor of Political Science, and
Eppright Professor in Undergraduate Teaching Excellence
Department of Political Science
4348 TAMU
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-4348
ph. 979/845-8235
fax 979/847-8924
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Political Methodology Society [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Moshe Haspel
Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2012 11:50 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [POLMETH] Question about IRB/Human Subjects and FOIA Requests
Ken,
I'm replying to the list because this is an important issue. Your IRB
director is completely wrong.
45 CFR §46.102 (f) clearly defines what it means for research to involve
human subjects (pay special attention to the term "private information"):
Human subject means a living individual about whom an investigator (whether
professional or student) conducting research obtains
(1) Data through intervention or interaction with the individual, or
(2) Identifiable private information.
Intervention includes both physical procedures by which data are gathered
(for example, venipuncture) and manipulations of the subject or the
subject's environment that are performed for research purposes.
Interaction includes communication or interpersonal contact between
investigator and subject. Private information includes information about
behavior that occurs in a context in which an individual can reasonably
expect that no observation or recording is taking place, and information
which has been provided for specific purposes by an individual and which the
individual can reasonably expect will not be made public (for example, a
medical record). Private information must be individually identifiable
(i.e., the identity of the subject is or may readily be ascertained by the
investigator or associated with the information) in order for obtaining the
information to constitute research involving human subjects.
In other words: to be subject to IRB review, your research must involve
either interaction with a living individual, or involve "private
information," defined as that "which the individual can reasonably expect
will not be made public." Anything covered by FOIA is *not* private
information: there can be no such expectation!
One more thing: OHRP (Office for Human Research Protections) at HHS has a
very helpful series of charts to help you determine where research should
fall in the IRB system:
http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/policy/checklists/decisioncharts.html. Highly
recommended.
Best,
Moshe
On 6/21/2012 11:47 AM, Ken Meier wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> Our current Institutional Review Board direct believes that all
> Freedom of Information Act requests or other requests of government
> organizations for public data must be above by the IRB as involving human
subjects.
>
> So I would like to hear from people at various places on whether or
> not your university/IRB requires you to submit FOIAs to the IRB.
>
> Please reply to me rather than the list. If anyone is interested in
> the results, I will be happy to report them back to you if you send me an
email.
>
>
> Thanks.
>
> Ken
>
> Kenneth J. Meier
> Charles H. Gregory Chair in Liberal Arts Dept. of Political Science
> 4348 TAMUS
> Texas A&M University
> College Station, TX 77843-4348
> 979-845-4232
> 979-847-8924 Fax
> [log in to unmask]
> http://perg.tamu.edu
>
>
>
--
========================================================
Moshe Haspel, Ph.D.
Director of Research and Evaluation,
Office of University-Community Partnerships
Adjunct Assistant Professor,
Department of Political Science
Mailing Address:
750 Commerce Drive, Suite 400
Decatur, GA 30030
Phone: 404-712-9370
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