Undergraduate Students as Researchers

Undergraduate Researchers

Undergraduate students leading their own research projects should complete and submit the Undergraduate Student Request for Protocol Approval application if their study includes the collection of primary data, or the Analysis of Existing Data Request for Protocol Approval application if their project is limited to the analysis of existing data.

Students should meet with their faculty advisor to finalize a draft of the protocol before submitting it to the IRB. (See Advisors section below for more information.)

Undergraduate students involved in research projects led by graduate students, faculty researchers, or research staff should be listed as members of the Duke Research Team (Section 2) on their protocol application.

Undergraduate students can be added to approved and active protocols using the Additional Personnel Request form.

Certification and Training

All researchers at Duke must complete the research with human subjects certification requirement before the IRB can approve a protocol submission.

Undergraduate students who may interact with minors must also complete the Youth in Duke Programs training. For more information, visit the Youth in Duke Programs website.

The IRB and funding sources also may require researchers to undergo additional training.

Advisors

As described in our policy on advisors, Duke undergraduate will need to identify a faculty advisor as the Principal Investigator (Section 2) on their Undergraduate Student Request for Protocol Approval or the Analysis of Existing Data Request for Protocol Approval application. The faculty advisor must be listed on the protocol application at the time of submission. The IRB cannot review an undergraduate student protocol without a faculty advisor listed. While a student may be the primary researcher on a protocol, the IRB considers the faculty advisor the responsible investigator for the overall conduct of the research.

The faculty advisor will need to attest that they will take responsibility for the conduct of the research by signing the assurance section (embedded within Section 2) of the protocol application. Electronic signatures are acceptable.

Students should meet with their faculty advisor to finalize a draft of the protocol before submitting it to the IRB.

The listed advisor on the protocol application does not need to be the undergraduate’s major advisor.

Collection of Sensitive Identifiable Information

Application: This policy applies to Duke undergraduate students (currently enrolled or recently graduated), named or unnamed on the protocol documents, who have any role in conducting a research project that will involve the collection of sensitive and identifiable data about Duke undergraduate students.

Definitions:

• Sensitive data: information that, if divulged, could damage a person’s reputation in their family and community, their employability or insurability, their access to services or benefits afforded to others or result in disciplinary or legal consequences. Some examples may include illegal behavior, sexual preference, citizenship/immigration status, academic performance, health status.
• Identifiable data: information about a research participant that directly identifies them (such as name, social security number, email address, Duke UniqueID or NetID, photographs and audio recordings), or when combined with other information (such as race/ethnicity, age, place of employment) would allow them to be identified.

The Campus IRB takes very seriously the privacy and confidentiality concerns of undergraduate students, especially when participating in research where undergraduate students have any role in the collection of sensitive and identifiable information about them.

The Campus IRB reserves the discretion to request additional risk mitigation strategies on a case-by-case basis when reviewing research applications that involve the collection of sensitive and identifiable data about Duke University undergraduate students. 

To protect the privacy of undergraduate students participating in studies that collect sensitive information, undergraduate student researchers should avoid, to the greatest extent possible, collecting identifiable information about students.

When the collection of sensitive and identifiable information is unavoidable, it may be required that the undergraduate student have no direct interaction with the undergraduate student participants and the involvement of a non-undergraduate student (e.g., graduate student member of the team, faculty advisor, or another third party)to strip the identifying information from the study data before it is made available to the undergraduate student for analysis. 

Periodic Check-in of an Approved Protocol

Generally, approved protocols are assigned an expiration date that is 364 days from the approval date.

Undergraduate students who intend to continue conducting research under an approved protocol must submit a Periodic Check-In form before the protocol’s expiration date. The Campus IRB will accept this form only if a student listed on the protocol is still enrolled at Duke.

If the research will continue after the Lead Undergraduate Researcher has graduated from Duke, the research team will need to identify a new Lead Undergraduate Researcher.

Once all students listed on a protocol have graduated, the protocol must be closed.

The only exception to this policy is if a faculty advisor listed on the protocol informs the IRB that he or she will assume primary investigator responsibilities before the protocol is closed. At that time, the protocol is no longer considered an undergraduate student protocol.

Retention of Research Records

Undergraduate students who have graduated from Duke can take their research data with them, only if the research data has been completely de-identified. Students cannot take any identifiable data from Duke upon graduation.

Research records that will not be taken with the student must be destroyed or retained by the faculty advisor.

Other Resources for Undergraduate Researchers

For information about research opportunities, visit the Undergraduate Research Support Office.

For help on survey design and methodology, visit the Duke Initiative on Survey Methodology.

For help on qualitative and ethnographic research, visit SSRI’s Initiative on Qualitative, Ethnographic, and Mixed-Methods Research.