French, B.F.

Associate Dean for Research
ROAR Research: Monitoring Access to the ROAR Student Population

Background: The ROAR student population at Washington State University (WSU), like any otherstudent population at WSU, is a potential source of information for research to inform educational
systems and policies to aid the improvement of these systems and promote student success, performance,and achievement, broadly defined. Two main issues need to be clear when accessing the ROAR student
population for research.
The first issue involves the two components of institutional vulnerability and conflict of interests, asdefined in the Institutional Review Board member handbook (Amdur & Bankert, 2007). The concern isthat the participation in research by this population may not be truly voluntary. It is assumed that any
research protocol submitted with the aim to access the ROAR population will clearly document how thisis handled, and will be vetted by the WSU IRB board, as such issues are with all research protocols. No
additional oversight seems to be needed beyond what is required in the IRB guidelines.
The second issue involves the number and magnitude of the research protocols active at a given time withthe ROAR population. There is no strict oversight by the IRB for this issue. Thus, it is proposed that theROAR leadership team (RLT) track the (a) number of research protocols recruiting ROAR students, and(b) extent of involvement of ROAR students required by each protocol. The goal of this tracking is toensure that the student population is not being asked to be involved in too many studies or too manystudies that require major time commitments. The students’ involvement in research should not be
disruptive to the students’ progress in the program.
Tracking Implementation: To implement this tracking, a person with a proposed study would (a)complete the Research Study Access (RSA) form found on the ROAR website, (b) submit this to the RLT
through the director, and (c) meet with the RLT if requested. The RLT would log these requests in a RLTmaintained database, review the RSA from, and see if there is consensus by the RLT that the proposed
study fits within the scope of the ROAR program, given other research occurring at that time. The review
process should not take more than 21 days.
If the RLT judges the number and magnitude to be too great with an additional proposed project, as tojeopardize the students’ program progress, the RLT will ask the researcher with the new proposed project
to wait to recruit students until another current study has finished data collection. This monitoring will
require any researcher, associated with the ROAR program or not, seeking to recruit ROAR students tosubmit their approved IRB application to the RLT prior to beginning any aspect of the study, including
participant recruitment activities. The monitoring of research activities should be noted in the ROAR
policies and procedures and noted on program information where appropriate (e.g., student and parent
information, website). This will help to ensure awareness of this monitoring.
Goal of Research Monitoring: This active monitoring should allow researchers to have fair and equal
access to the ROAR student population, while maintaining a reasonable level of student time spent insuch research activities. This proposed monitoring also honors the student’s independence to decide what
they wish to participate in, and not treating this population differently than required by IRB standards orstandard practice typically found in school districts. This is important because we would not want
additional policies to do more harm than good to this student population (Amdur & Bankert, 2007).
Reference
Amdur, R. J., & Bankert, E. A. (2007). Institutional review board member handbook (2nd Ed.).
Jones and Bartlett, Boston, MA.

French, B.F.

Associate Dean for Research

ROAR Research Study Access Form
Instructions: Please complete this form and submit it to the ROAR director. The proposal should belimited to two pages. If you have questions please schedule a meeting with the director who can answer
questions or place you in contact with faculty who can assist. The ROAR leadership team will review theproposed work, may request to meet with you, and respond to you within 21 days of the outcome of thereview. Please note that this review does not bypass the requirement to submit an IRB. All approved
studies will require an approved IRB.
Project Title:
Principal Investigator’s Name:
Principal Investigator’s Department, Email, and Phone Number:

Project Purpose:

ROAR sample requested (Students, Staff, Faculty, Parents):

Describe why ROAR participants meet the purpose of the project:

Describe participant involvement including time duration of involvement: