Since beginning the research class I began working on the IRB (Institutional Review Board) application using IRBNet.org a couple of days ago.  It is quite an application.  It is long and requires attention to thinking about one’s proposed project ethically. One must think about informed consent, screening, seeking volunteers, creating flyers and ads, special procedures used in the research, and numerous other aspects of performing research using human subjects.

I have found that thinking about my project from an ethical perspective sheds new light on ethical aspects of research.

Until now, I have not had to deal with the IRB.  I elected to do a project that involves the IRB because I want to do further research and I want to have the experience of working with the IRB. I believe that If I do not take the opportunity to work with the IRB now, that I will shy away from working with IRBs in the future.

One of my fears is that I will not obtain IRB approval early enough and that my interviews will have to be done hastily, so that the analysis, discussion and the ultimate completion of the project will take longer than I expected. The project is to be completed by the end of the semester…

I am still reading articles-articles I found at the seminary library, articles on our databases, and articles found at the end of the articles…I haven’t perused the Dissertation Abstracts yet.

Today I am reading more articles and organizing them, working on the introduction and fine tuning the research instrument. Since I am planning to perform in-depth interviews, I expect to have to record the interviews and I must obtain a digital recorder, which is an extra expense this semester.

The work on the project is progressing. It is progressing slooooooowly, but progressing nevertheless.