Research Review Board

Requests to Conduct Research at OCC

Oakland Community College (OCC) will consider requests from individuals seeking to conduct primary or secondary research on its students, employees or operations in accordance with the conditions, requirements, and procedures outlined below.

Conditions and Requirements:

1. Individuals seeking to conduct research at the college must provide the OCC Research Review Board (RRB) with the following documentation. Proposals with incomplete documentation will not be considered.

a. Letter of recommendation from their faculty sponsor on official university letterhead.
b. Complete Institutional Review Board (IRB) application and IRB letter of approval.
c. Signed OCC Acknowledgement and Approval Agreement.
d. Note: The OCC RRB may require additional information related to the proposed study (Informed Consent, Proposal, Sample Email, etc).

2. Research activities must not be disruptive to:

a. Classroom instruction
b. Normal college operations

3. Studies that involve primary data collection must result in a dataset that is not personally identifiable and protects the identity of all participants.

4. Individuals participating in the research do so voluntarily and may withdraw from the study at any time without reason or harm.

5. Personal contact information (home or e-mail address) of students or college staff will not be provided to the researcher unless prior approval is obtained from the student or staff member.

6. The College is not responsible for logistical or technical problems associated with conducting the study.

7. All costs associated with the study are the responsibility of the researcher and not the responsibility of the College. In certain cases, the researcher may be required to reimburse the college for direct as well as indirect costs related to the study.

8. The researcher is required to provide the OCC RRB with updates of the study when there are change of plans.

9. The researcher is required to respond within seven (7) days to all inquiries by the OCC RRB concerning matters related to the research project.

10. The researcher will provide the college RRB with a copy of the study results prior to publication and/or public release.

11. The College reserves the right to suspend the study at any time if the IRB approved research protocol or college policies are violated, or if the researcher engages in unprofessional or unethical practices.

12. Decisions of the College RRB are final and may not be appealed.

Procedures:

1. All required documents must be submitted electronically to the OCC Research Review Board at OCCRRB@oaklandcc.edu.

2. The OCC RRB will evaluate the proposed study based on established college policies, institutional priorities, professional standards and the studies potential impact on college resources.

3. The OCC RRB reserves the right to reject a request based on any reason deemed detrimental to students, staff or the college.

4. The requester will be notified by the OCC RRB as to the disposition of their request within twenty-one days of submitting all required and requested documentation.

Members of the OCC RRB:

  • Chief Strategy Officer
  • Provost
  • Director of Analytical Studies
  • Director of Curriculum, Student Learning & Evaluation
  • Faculty Representatives