Week 6
Attention Research Interns! Week 6 has officially started and we're in the IRB Submissions & Review phase!
This week, we're focusing on developing your study proforma! Here's the plan:
Weekly Schedule:
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Monday |
Divide tasks to: Prepare the Informed Consent using template given below. Finalize Ethics Review submission documents. Watch recorded session on Research Ethics submission process. |
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Tuesday |
Submit IRB application for review on literature searching, study design, and sampling. Every intern should come prepared. |
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Wednesday |
Follow up on ERC submission if needed. Begin preliminary planning for data collection. |
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Thursday |
Continue planning for data collection logistics, including any flyers/ recruitment materials. Draft the informed consent. |
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Friday |
Mentor Meeting: You will have a meeting with your mentors to discuss IRB changes if required, and discuss about data collection plan. Work on any changes required by IRB. |
Weekend Activities
Mentor Meeting
Coordinate with your group. Reach out to HR person in case of any coordination difficulties with mentor (admin@bmyhealth.com).
- Recording on Research Ethics:
2. Research including Validated Tools:
This is a commonly used approach in our interns research where they use validated scales for measuring some health phenomenon/ behaviors/ disease screening etc. In such projects, researchers have an ethical responsibility to share scoring/ screening/ individual results with participants and to provide clear, appropriate guidance on next steps including referral pathways, counselling options, and support resources. Participants retain the right to decide whether they wish to receive partial or complete results of their health, predictive, or genetic information, and this choice must be incorporated into informed consent. Results must be communicated in clear, non-technical language. In case of genetic screenings, findings may affect relatives who are not part of the study and participants’ choice should be asked for sharing information. Explain the implications during informed consent. Plans for sharing findings, and post-research responsibilities such as referral and care, thresholds for disclosure and its inclusion in consent, must be pre-specified in the IRB application. (Reference: BMY Health IRB Policy)
Please discuss with our Research Coordinators how sending information of scores and referrals to participants can be automated through Jotform and supported by BMY Health.
3. Recommended Insight: Learning Validity (Optional Session)
As you are working on proposal these days, take care of factors affecting of your design. For an idea of this, we are sharing a lecture from our Advanced Research Workshop. This concept is good to learn, not mandatory for certificate of Basic Research Workshop and post-test but we recommend watching for building stronger concepts of validity and biases. The recording is from Advanced research internship cohort.
Download Informed Consent Template:
Note: Please do not copy paste as it is for your research. This template is very comprehensive made for clinical research. Keep the consent statement precise, including only necessary information. A good example from October 2025 cohort:
https://form.jotform.com/252972887447072