Tonight I took a tutorial required for anyone seeking approval from the IRB.  At this point I’m not sure whether I will collect data this semester, since my paper will be a “theoretical framework” paper and not a research one per se.  However, it’s good to take the tutorial and be made aware of the protocols for research.  I thought it was important that research show benificence, respect, and justice.  We should be reminded to always treat others according to those standards.

When I was an undergrad, I conducted research in Israel/Palestine during the summer of 1995.  I had to get IRB approval back then.  That made sense, although I mostly interviewed scholars for their information, anything they might share in a lecture.  However, I did interview a couple of Jewish extremists who lived in Kiryat Arba (neighboring the Palestinian town of Hebron).  People who honored the memory of Baruch Goldstein (who opened fire in a mosque in February 1994 and killed 29 people).  To my mind, these people suffered from paranoia (or were a few fruitloops short of a bowl, to quote the man who taught my Sunday School class when I was 15). Perhaps for that reason they would fall in the “vulnerable populations” category I learned about in the IRB tutorial! jk