Table 1.
Sample Characteristics (N = 552).
| n | %* | |
|---|---|---|
| Respondent’s Institution Type** | ||
| University/College Setting | 294 | 53.3% |
| Other (e.g. Commercial IRB, Federal Agency, Research Center, Public Institution) | 111 | 20.1% |
| Hospital/Medical Setting | 105 | 19% |
| Nonprofit/NGO/Foundation | 39 | 7.1% |
| Did Not Answer Question | 3 | 0.5% |
| Existence of standard operating procedures (SOPs) that describe IRB/HRPP’s process for requesting outside expert/consultant review | ||
| Do Not Have SOPs | 286 | 51.8% |
| Do Have SOPs | 160 | 29% |
| Did Not Answer Question | 106 | 19.2% |
| Respondent’s Primary Role/Position at Institution** | ||
| HRPP Leadership (IO, Chair, Manager) | 344 | 62.3% |
| Educator | 92 | 16.7% |
| Other (e.g. Government Employee, Research Staff, Student) | 58 | 10.5% |
| HRPP Staff (IRB Members & Admin) | 31 | 5.6% |
| Compliance/QA Staff | 6 | 1.1% |
| Did Not Answer Question | 21 | 3.8% |
| Total IRB panels at Institution | ||
| 1 | 383 | 69.4% |
| 2 | 50 | 9.1% |
| 3 | 25 | 4.5% |
| 4–10 | 52 | 9.4% |
| 11–15 | 2 | 0.4% |
| 15+ | 1 | 0.2% |
| Did Not Answer Question | 39 | 7% |
| Number of Staff/Administrators Supporting Institution’s IRB | ||
| 0–5 | 458 | 83% |
| 6+ | 63 | 11.4% |
| Did Not Answer Question | 31 | 5.6% |
| Total Active Human Subjects Research Projects Within IRB/HRPP’s portfolio*** | ||
| 0–500 | 393 | 71.1% |
| 500+ | 96 | 17.4% |
| Don’t know | 33 | 6% |
| Did Not Answer Question | 30 | 5.4% |
| Type of Research Predominantly Reviewed at Institution | ||
| Social/behavioral/educational | 317 | 57.4% |
| Biomedical/clinical | 112 | 20.3% |
| Both equally | 88 | 16% |
| Did Not Answer Question | 35 | 6.3% |
*
Response to the required question “Does the IRB (or IRBs, if multiple panels exist) at your institution use outside experts or consultants to assist with IRB review?” Percentages may not add up to 100% due to missing data.
**
Categories for this question were sourced from the PRIM&R Workload and Salary Survey. Respondents were asked to select the category most representative of their institution and we consolidated into the four categories shown here.
***
“Active” is defined as any nonexempt project initially approved or reapproved under continuing review in the last 12 months. Respondents were asked to estimate.