Institutional Review Board (IRB)

What is IRB?

In order to conduct research at Kaiser Permanente, a complete research application must be approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) prior to starting any research activities. The purpose of the IRB is to ensure that the safety, welfare and rights of the research participants are protected.

Information about the role of the Northern California IRB in research can be obtained on the Kaiser Foundation Research Institute (KFRI) web site

Some of the questions the IRB asks about the research include:

• What is going to happen that would not otherwise be happening?
  
• What is the researcher going to tell subjects about the research? Is it accurate?
  
• Are there risks in what is going to be done? How big are those risks? What is being done to minimize those risks? What is the researcher planning to say to people about the risks? Is this accurate?
  
• Are there any benefits to the individual of participation in the research? What are those benefits? What is the researcher planning to say to people about the benefits? Is this accurate?
  
• Will the research benefit society? How great are those benefits?
  
• Do the societal and/or participant research benefits outweigh the risks?

Questions developed by
Southern California
Research Team