The university provides training in many aspects of research. We have a subscription to the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (www.citiprogram.org). All researchers need training in Research Responsibility, which covers basic principles of ethics for all disciplines. Any student who aspires to conduct research needs to know about problems such as data falsification, plagiarism, and so forth, which can plague scholarship from the humanities to biomedical studies. The CITI offers Research Responsibility courses in many specific areas of study. For grant proposals, all researchers involved, including students, must undergo this training and obtain a passing certificate to include with an application. Further research ethics training is needed for most studies. We offer training in Laboratory Animal Welfare for animal research, which is overseen by the Institutional Animal Care and Use committee. We also offer training for human research, which is overseen by the Institutional Review Board. Training in Human Research Ethics must be completed prior to submitting applications to Cayuse IRB. All students and at least one of the co-investigators must complete CITI Human Research Ethics training. The certificate is valid for five years.
The curriculum chosen needs to be of the appropriate level for your particular research projects. Some studies are primarily social science with questionnaires or interviews. Others are biomedical with invasive procedures such as blood draws. CITI human research offers several “Lerner groups” to choose from, including Dental/Nursing/Biomedical and Social/Behavioral Researchers. Another learner group is called Archive/Records/Specimens, which is appropriate for those who are researching medical charts or existing data sets. Faculty conducting research in learning and teaching may complete the streamlined unit on Pedagogical/educational Research. Finally, students who are simply collecting anonymous questionnaires or conducting other low-risk projects may complete “Students conducting no more than minimal risk research.” When in doubt, discuss your curriculum with the IRB Chair (IRB@udmercy.edu).
The CITI courses can be completed over several sessions. Quizzes are given following the reading material. When the required modules are successfully completed, a Course Completion Report is available for printing. Five years after you have completed the Basic Course, you will take the Refresher Course.
