We hope that the Research Exchange will provide a useful forum for researchers to discuss the logistics and ethics of both human subjects research and current IRB policies and procedures.

We also hope the Exchange can successfully make research more accessible to members of the writing community without brining harm to the writers who participate in studies archived and discussed on this site.

With this in mind, we ask the following: 

• Anyone who files a research report should indicate whether and how they sought permission to collect and share information;
  
• Researchers should make sure they adhere to their own institutions' IRB policies, and they should take care to ensure reports published to the Exchange do not violate the terms of consent they established within their own studies;
  
• Additionally, Exchange contributors should state clearly the terms under which they and other visitors to the site can use data for subsequent studies and publications.

These points are especially important for researchers who upload raw data (e.g., survey responses, writing portfolios), since doing so without express permission and without first removing all identifying information may compromise participants' anonymity, confidentiality, and/or good faith.

FERPA Home Page at U.S. Department of Education

CCCC Guidelines for the Ethical Conduct of Research in Composition Studies