Application Process

All human subjects research conducted by Center for Justice Innovation employees must be reviewed and approved by the IRB prior to the initiation of the project.

The Center for Justice Innovation IRB defines human subject as a living person about whom you want to get:

• Data through intervention or interaction with the individual, or

• Identifiable private information (e.g., name; birthdate; address; social security, docket, or NYSID numbers; criminal history/rap sheet; school records; etc.).

Research in this case refers to a systematic investigation designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge.

• Systematic investigation – This applies to your project if you have a plan that includes data collection (for example gathering numbers in the form of program attendance, criminal history, closed-ended survey questions; or stories or opinions in the form of interviews, focus groups, or observation) and data analysis to answer a research question.

• Generalizable knowledge – This applies to your project if you have designed it so you can draw general conclusions (i.e., knowledge gained from your project could be applied to populations outside of your specific study population), so that you can inform policy or so you can influence the academic conversation about your topic.

All human subjects research conducted by any external researcher without a home IRB (e.g., an IRB affiliated with the organization or institution by which they are employed) and conducted at a Center for Court Innovation operating project or worksite or using Center for Court Innovation data must likewise be reviewed and approved by the IRB prior to the initiation of the project.

The Center for Court Innovation IRB defines human subject as a living person about whom you want to get:

• Data through intervention or interaction with the individual, or

• Identifiable private information (e.g., name; birthdate; address; social security, docket, or NYSID numbers; criminal history/rap sheet; school records; etc.).

Research in this case refers to a systematic investigation designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge.

• Systematic investigation – This applies to your project if you have a plan that includes data collection (for example gathering numbers in the form of program attendance, criminal history, closed-ended survey questions; or stories or opinions in the form of interviews, focus groups, or observation) and data analysis to answer a research question.

• Generalizable knowledge – This applies to your project if you have designed it so you can draw general conclusions (i.e., knowledge gained from your project could be applied to populations outside of your specific study population), so that you can inform policy or so you can influence the academic conversation about your topic.

Examples of projects that do not fit the IRB’s definition of human subjects research:

Quality Improvement or Program Evaluation—Data gathered solely for internal or ongoing program or organizational use does not need to be reviewed by the Center for Justice Innovation IRB. If, however, the results of this data collection will be disseminated to parties outside of CJI and the immediate stakeholders, or will be presented to government funders with the purpose or likelihood of effecting city policy and therefore applied to a population larger than the one involved in the analysis, then the research must undergo IRB approval.

Databases/Secondary Analysis of De-Identified Data—If you are conducting a secondary analysis using publicly available data and you will not be merging the data sets in such a way that individuals might be identified OR supplementing the public data with potentially identifiable data, then your study does not require IRB review. If you plan to obtain data that were collected by someone else and do not contain any names, phone numbers, emails, ID numbers, or other information that could be used to identify the participant, you do not need IRB review for your secondary analysis. If you have any way to access a code to re-identify the data, you need IRB review before conducting the secondary analysis.

If you are an external (non-Center for Justice Innovation staff) investigator looking to conduct research at Center for Justice Innovation operating projects; with Center for JUstice Innovation staff, clients or program participants; or using human subjects data from Center for Justice Innovation, you must work with the IRB at your home institution to secure approval of your protocol.

Once this is secured, prior to initiating data collection you must submit the following to the Center for Court Innovation IRB:

• documentation of that approval;

• a copy of your IRB application and all supporting documents (e.g., consent forms, interview protocols, etc.);

• a letter of support from the project director or program manager of the Center for Court Innovation project or site where you will conduct your research.

All staff who will be coming into contact with identified data (e.g., conducting interviews, organizing surveys, uploading audio data, managing or working with databases, etc.) are required to undergo certification in ethical research with human subjects. See the Center for Justice Innovation Guide for Researchers for short, online course options. Certificates must be submitted to the IRB prior to data collection.

Submitted applications must include the appropriate completed application, as well as all support materials (e.g., instruments, consent forms, recruitment flyers, outreach scripts, safety protocol for fieldwork projects, etc.). Forms and templates can be found here.

The review status depends on the anticipated level of risk to participants. Application forms include a worksheet at the beginning that will help you determine which review category your project falls under. Each type of review—exempt, expedited, and full board—requires a different amount of time between proposal submission and final approval. For information purposes, the typical length of reviews is listed below.

• Exempt review—10 business days

• Expedited review—15 business day

• Full board review—15 business days from quarterly meetings dates. The meeting schedule and submission deadlines are listed on the home page.

There are three possible decisions the Board could make about your project:

• Approved—This is considered final approval and means the project requires no additional modifications or change. Data collection can begin immediately upon receipt of this letter.

• Approved with Conditions—This is by far the most common decision the Board comes to. It means the overall design and materials meet the IRB’s standards for protection of human subjects, but there are a series of modifications or changes the IRB requests be made before data collection begins. These changes need to be made as outlined in the letter the Board will issue, and then resubmitted. Once the IRB has reviewed and finds them satisfactory, you will be notified via a final approval letter. Data collection can begin immediately upon receipt of this letter.

• Further Review Required—This means the study as proposed has such grave and/or numerous potential threats to the protection of human subjects that the CCI IRB votes for the principal investigator to rethink the design and/or materials. This decision requires that the entire application packet be submitted again for fresh consideration. As with the prior decision, the PI will receive a letter outlining the areas of concern to the IRB and the items that need to be addressed within a future resubmission.