Tell your audience what an IRB is. Share the history of unethical treatment of human subjects and express the need for the protection of human subjects by explaining the Nuremburg code and the details of other notoriously unethical experiments, such as the Tuskegee experiment (1928), in which African American men infected with syphilis were denied treatment for extended periods, and the Stanford prison experiment (1971), in which college students were voluntarily recruited to partake in a prisoner/prison guard simulation. Students playing the role of prisoner were brutalized by their prison guard classmates, resulting in both physical and mental abuse suffered by subjects in both groups.
Explain how the IRB monitors research. Give an example of a proposed experiment using human subjects, and explain the process of gaining approval by an IRB. Be sure to use an example that fits the subject area in which you are teaching.
Explain the importance of compliance with the IRB. Tell your audience what the consequences are of failing to comply with the regulations of an IRB. Give specific examples, including the legal ramifications and the negative impact that non-compliance can have on one's research career. Consider the following: A researcher who does not honor informed consent documents (a standard requirement of the IRB) risks litigation from subjects or organizations involved in the study. Additionally, researcher who fails to seek approval from the IRB risks the possibility of his work being denied publication from academic journals, as well as the inability to present the work at academic conferences.