Recruitment of Participants by Non-College of Charleston Researchers

Non-College of Charleston researchers are required to gain official IRB permission to recruit if they are utilizing College of Charleston resources or personnel to access members of our College community.  This includes requests for e-mail lists, advertisements in College publications, posted flyers, and/or requests for announcements in classes, departments, student groups, or College services.

Often faculty and staff are contacted through membership lists of their professional organizations where the College e-mail has been included; this does not fall under the purview of our IRB.  However, any access to our students through their official College e-mail would require IRB permission.

If the outside researcher has received College of Charleston IRB permission to recruit, then that approval must appear in all recruitment materials

Definitions

External Researcher - a person not employed by the College of Charleston or otherwise affiliated with the College.

Jurisdictional IRB – the primary Institutional Review Board that has approved the External Researcher’s protocol.  This is usually the external researcher’s home institution.

Sponsor – College of Charleston faculty, staff, or administrator who will serve as the College contact person for the research. 

Fee Schedule (Effective: 4/1/2006)
Type of Review Fee
Application Fee*   $250
Administrative review for exemption          $200
Initial IRB review (expedited or full)    $950
Major modification         $400
Minor modification            $200
Continuation      $400

*A non-refundable application fee of $250.00 must be sent at the time the External Request to Recruit Research Participants is submitted.  Checks should be made payable to the College of Charleston and sent to the Office of Research and Grants Administration, College of Charleston, 66 George Street, Charleston, SC 29424

The fee may be waived for 

  • Undergraduate and Graduate Student projects 
  • Post-doctoral Fellowships
  • Studies with No Funding or Internal Department Funds Only

Following receipt of the application fee or waiver, Research Protections and Compliance will review the application to determine whether or not the protocol is complete and meets criteria for on campus recruitment of research participants.  Incomplete applications and projects that do not have a benefit to the College of Charleston community will not be considered for approval. 

Complete applications meeting the criteria for recruitment will be forwarded for review.  Unless waived, the application fee and payment for initial review must be received prior to College of Charleston review.

Unless the fee for modification and/or continuation is waived, payment must be received prior to consideration for review.

Application Review

The application will be reviewed either administratively for exemption or by expedited or full IRB process as appropriate.  All applications not approved by a jurisdictional IRB may not be administratively reviewed for exemption.

Recruitment may be approved for a period up to the expiration date of the jurisdictional IRB approval, or one year for projects which do not have jurisdictional IRB approval.

The researcher must use the recruitment and consent materials bearing the College of Charleston Permission to Recruit.

The IRB reserves the right to grant or deny permission to external investigators to recruit subjects on campus. The decision of the IRB to deny permission for participant recruitment by an external investigator may not be reversed by any other College of Charleston authority.

Decisions made by the IRB to grant permission to an external investigator to recruit research participants on campus may be reversed by the Board of Trustees of the College or by the President of the College, acting on their behalf, if it is in the best interests of the College to do so.

Form: External Request to Recruit Research Participants


July 3, 2012
Updated September 20, 2016