Not every project involving people requires IRB review, and it is genuinely hard to tell from the inside of your own work which category yours falls into. The Research Compliance Screener is a short online tool from the Office of Research Integrity and Compliance (ORIC) that helps you find out. Answer a few questions about your project, and you will get a clear sense of whether it needs compliance review and, if so, what kind, before you invest time in a formal submission.
It takes about five to ten minutes.
Find out what your project needs before you file anything
Opens in a new window. You will receive a copy of your responses by email.
What the Screener Is
Federal regulation defines human subjects research as a systematic investigation designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge that involves living individuals. That definition is clear enough on paper and surprisingly slippery in practice. A course redesign, a program evaluation, a performance piece, a quality improvement effort, and a dissertation study can all look alike at the planning stage.
The screener asks a short series of questions about your purpose, your methods, and whether other people are involved. It is meant to save you effort: rather than guessing at which form to file, or filing a full protocol for something that never needed one, you get a read on where your project sits and what the appropriate next step is.
This is a tool, not a requirement
With one exception noted below, no one is obligated to complete the screener. It exists because faculty, staff, and students kept asking the same reasonable question: does my project need IRB review or not? You are welcome to skip it and file a protocol directly, or to contact ORIC and simply ask.
When the Screener Is Most Useful
These are the situations where people most often find the screener worth the ten minutes.
Studying your own classroom
Scholarship of teaching and learning work, where student reflections, assignments, or outcomes might be analyzed or shared beyond the course. This is one of the hardest calls to make on your own.
Creative and pedagogical work
Performances, exhibitions, films, design projects, and conference presentations, particularly when participants or their contributions appear in the finished work.
Program evaluation and assessment
Quality improvement work that stays internal usually looks different from the same work once you decide to publish or present it. The screener helps you see which one you have.
Using existing records
Student records, patient records, employee data, or any dataset about identifiable individuals, including data your unit already holds.
Early-stage thesis and dissertation work
Running the screener alongside your advisor before the proposal defense can catch design issues while they are still easy to change.
Anytime you are simply unsure
If you have found yourself wondering whether this counts as research, that hesitation is exactly what the screener was built for.
Timing matters more than paperwork
Where compliance review does turn out to be needed, it has to happen before data collection begins. Approvals cannot be granted after the fact, and that is the situation the screener is best at helping you avoid. Running it early costs you ten minutes; discovering the issue late can cost you a publication, a presentation, or a graduation timeline.
If You Are Applying for URC Funds
The screener is required for University Research Council funding
Applicants seeking URC funds must complete the Research Compliance Screener as part of the application process. Submit it early enough that any compliance review it identifies can be underway before your funding decision, so an award is not held up waiting on a protocol.
Before You Start
Have the following in mind. The clearer your description, the more useful the result.
- Project title and personnel. Everyone involved, including student researchers and the faculty advisor if a student is leading the project.
- A brief summary of the project. Roughly 150 to 300 words covering your purpose, your approach, your timeline, and what you expect to produce. Write plainly and skip the specialized terminology.
- Who is involved and how. Describe your participants, how you will recruit them, and what you will ask them to do.
- What data you will gather or use. Note whether it is identifiable, de-identified, or already existing, and how you will store it.
- Whether any participants belong to a protected group. Minors, pregnant women, incarcerated individuals, and cognitively impaired individuals all carry additional requirements.
- Where the work is headed. Publication, conference presentation, thesis or dissertation, internal use only, or something else. This one often decides the answer.
If you are not sure how to answer something
Answer honestly and note your uncertainty in the summary field. The screener is designed to surface exactly these gray areas, and describing what you are actually doing is far more useful than trying to guess the right answer.
What You’ll Learn
The screener points you toward one of four paths.
| Likely path | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Not human subjects research | Your activity is creative, pedagogical, or administrative in nature and no IRB protocol is needed. If you would like written confirmation for your records, ORIC can provide it. |
| Exempt review | The project is research but falls into a federally exempt category. A short protocol is still submitted and reviewed, and you wait for the exemption determination before beginning. |
| Expedited review | The research involves no more than minimal risk to participants and can be reviewed by a designated reviewer rather than the full board. |
| Full board review | The research involves greater than minimal risk, protected populations, or sensitive topics, and goes to the convened IRB. Plan for additional lead time. |
ⓘ Keep in mind: Where a project sits near the line between research and creative activity, ORIC may follow up with a question or two before pointing you in a direction. Responding promptly is the best way to keep your own timeline on track.
Common Questions
Do I have to complete this?
Only if you are applying for URC funds. For everyone else it is entirely optional, offered because it usually saves time rather than adding a step.
Is this the same as an IRB protocol?
No. The screener is a preliminary tool that helps you work out whether a protocol is needed at all. Protocols are submitted separately in Cayuse.
Can I skip it and file a protocol directly?
Yes. If you already know your project needs IRB review, go straight to Cayuse. The screener is for when the answer is not obvious.
I am a student. Who completes it?
Either you or your advisor may submit it, but list your faculty advisor on the form and make sure they have seen your project description first.
Is this only for funded projects?
No. Funding has no bearing on whether an activity is human subjects research. Unfunded projects follow the same compliance rules.
Do class assignments need review?
Course activities that stay inside the classroom usually do not. If results will be presented or published outside the course, the screener is worth running.
Ten minutes now can save days later!
Questions about your project? researchcompliance@uca.edu
Office of Research Integrity and Compliance · University of Central Arkansas