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Oral Histories and the W&M IRB

Summary

This document serves as guidance for those seeking nuanced information about the scope of the IRB regulations as related to oral history, journalism, biography and historical scholarship.

Full Description

IRB Review and Oral Histories  

This document serves as guidance for those seeking nuanced information about the scope of the IRB regulations as related to oral history, journalism, biography, and historical scholarship. Before reading this guidance on Oral Histories, please review “IRB Guidance: Is it research?” and “Is it Human Subjects’ research” to understand the regulatory definitions of research and human subject. 

What is “Oral History?” 

Oral history is the field of study and a method of gathering, preserving, and interpreting the voices and memories of people, communities, and participants in past events. Oral history is when the collection and use of the information is limited to recounting or documenting information about specific individuals themselves. There is no intention to generalize to other individuals, groups, or situations. Oral history is made up of materials on events, situations, policies, institutions, or systems without the intent to form hypotheses, draw conclusions, synthesize information about, or generalize findings. Such oral histories will not involve drawing broad conclusions about the population, cultures, norms, and practices.  

While official guidance from related to oral history has not been released, draft federal guidance and the provide some direction regarding intended interpretation. The preamble indicates that the scholarly and journalistic activities are excluded from the definition of IRB-overseen research when  

• the collection and use of the information is limited to recounting or documenting information about specific individuals themselves and 
• is not for generalizing to other individuals, groups, or situations.

According to OHRP, oral history interviewing activities, in general, are not designed to contribute to generalizable knowledge and do not meet the definition of research offered by the Department of Health and Human Services. The W&M IRB recognizes this and concurs that the majority of oral history interviewing projects probably do not constitute research.  

• However, some oral history projects may meet the definition of IRB regulated research (because they involve other research procedures or because the oral history project interviews are used for more than documenting or recounting an individual's experience).  
• The IRB needs to make decisions about projects on a case-by-case basis. Researchers can submit an “Oversight Determination Form” in SPARCS Cayuse for an official decision.

To assist individuals in determining when/if oral history activities require IRB review and approval, we have provided the following information from Michael Carome (OHRP). This information represents a response to Northern Illinois University’s request for clarification regarding oral history projects. 

When Oral Histories do not require IRB review:  

• Is the intent of the project to only document a specific historical event or the experiences of individuals without an intent to draw conclusions or generalize findings? If yes, then this is considered oral history and not regulated by the IRB. 
• Is the intent of the project solely to document an individual’s life history or individuals’ reflections on past events with the aim of documenting an individual’s experiences? If yes, then this is considered oral history and not regulated by the IRB. 

When Oral Histories do require IRB review:  

If the answers to some of the questions below are “yes,” it is likely that you are completing regulated research involving human subjects and the project needs IRB review and approval before any recruitment, consent, data collection, or analysis of private (or once private) identifiable/re-identifiable data occurs. 

• Does the project involve a systematic investigation such as answering a research question, creating a methodical procedure and plan to answer the question? 
  • Does the project involve a prospective research plan that incorporates data collection and data analysis? 
  • Are you systematically analyzing the information and putting the analyzed information in context of other ideas or events?  
• Is the research question and design theoretically grounded? 
• Will the project design be informed by the empirical findings of other research? 
• Will the project be analytically robust where information is analyzed to make suggestions and provide findings to be used by others?  
• Are the project activities designed to draw general conclusions, inform policy, or generalize findings beyond a single individual(s) or an internal program(s)? 
  • Is the project’s goal to contribute to generalizable knowledge such as the findings being expressed in theories, principles, or statements of relationships that can be generally applied to other experiences? 
  • Is the information collected done so for the purpose of making broad statements (conclusions) about a group of people, procedures, or programs?
  • Will the findings from the project contribute to a theoretical framework or an established body of knowledge? 
  • Will the information expand the knowledge base of a scientific discipline? 
  • Is the publication, presentation or other distribution of the results intended to inform the field of study.
    • Distribution of results may involve an oral presentation such as a lecture or conference talk, a written presentation such as a published research article, scholarly book, conference poster, other display that is made available to persons beyond the University? 
• Is it likely that members of the public will make inferences from the data you are collecting and findings you plan to share, his is an indicator the research is designed to contribute to generalizable knowledge? 
• Are the findings intended to inform a larger study, the design of a device, drug, or biologic, or to aid in future planning of research activities? 
• Are the results intended to be used to develop, test, or support theories, principles, and statements of relationships? This includes pilot work and some feasibility studies (refer to pilot and feasibility SOP). 
• Are the primary beneficiaries of the study other researchers, scholars, stakeholders, and practitioners in the field of study where they may use the end product to inform their daily practices, policy, or their research design, instruments, devices, data collection methods, and drugs or biologics? 
• Are the findings intended to be replicated in, or transferable to other settings? 
  • Generalizability is applied by researchers in an academic setting. It can be defined as the extension of research findings and conclusions from a study conducted on a sample 
  • Transferability is applied by the readers of research. Although generalizability usually applies only to certain types of quantitative methods, transferability can apply in varying degrees to most types of research including Qualitative research. Unlike generalizability, transferability does not involve broad claims, but invites readers of research to make connections between elements of a study and their own experience 
• Is the intent to create a repository of information or archives for the purpose of providing a resource for others to do research?  

The Consent Process for Oral Histories 

When IRB approval overlaps with oral history, the Informed Consent process and consent form must be separated from any documents that include exculpatory language of "release" or “data ownership.” For these documents, please do not provide them to the IRB office for review, but you should use the . For questions about this template please reach out to SWEM Library. 

IRB approval is not needed to disseminate oral history recordings, transcripts, or summaries of experiences to the following Libraries’ Special Collections, but you likely need to use the . for information release: 

•  

Example Projects 

1. An oral history video recording of interviews with holocaust survivors is created for viewing in the Holocaust Museum. The creation of the videotape does NOT intend to draw conclusions, inform policy, or generalize findings. The sole purpose is to create a record of specific personal events and experiences related to the Holocaust and provide a venue for Holocaust survivors to tell their stories.  
   • This is not regulated by the IRB because the intent is not to draw conclusions, inform policy or generalize the findings.  
2. An open-ended interview of surviving Gulf War veterans to document their experiences and to draw conclusions about their experiences, inform policy, or generalize findings.  
   • IRB Approval is required for this project because it is intended to draw conclusions, inform policy, and generalize findings.  
3. Open ended interviews are conducted with surviving Negro League Baseball players to create an archive for future research.  
   • IRB Approval is required for this project since the intent is to collect data for future research. 
4. A faculty member creates a collection of videos of open-ended interviews of nursing home residents experiencing shelter-in-place and lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sole purpose of the videos is to create a historical record of personal events and experiences during this time. The information will not be analyzed to inform policy, draw conclusions, or generalize the experiences to a larger population. 
   • This is not regulated by the IRB because the information will not be used to inform policy, draw conclusions, or generalize the findings.  
5. A faculty member is planning to conduct oral histories to gain an understanding of the impacts of 9/11 on post-traumatic stress disorder. The faculty member wants to work with support groups to take life histories to see how events of 9/11 impacted the rest of their lives. One goal of the project, in addition to understanding general ways in which 9/11 affected the subsequent lives of individuals, is to make assessments that will allow the faculty member to make predictions about the kind of situations that may contribute to development of PTSD. 
   • IRB Approval is required for this project.  
6. A biographer gathers documents/artifacts, analyzes speeches, reviews news articles, collects photographs, conducts interviews with the governor, aides, supporters and detractors, state representatives, and family members, to publish an account of her term in office. 
   • This is not regulated by the IRB because as described, the purpose is to document an individual’s experience as governor and not to draw conclusions generalizable to others.  
7. The same biographer as example 6, using the same methodology (gathering artifacts, analyzing speeches, conducting interviews, etc.) but now with the aim of conducting an intersectional examination of race and gender dynamics of women of color holding leadership positions historically held by white cisgender men. 
   • IRB Approval is required for this project because the project is designed to apply a theoretical framework, to analyze the information to draw conclusions, and develop insights and knowledge that can be generalized to others.  
8. A journalist conducts interviews with people protesting with #BlackLivesMatter and with a spokesperson from the city police department. The aim is to present a representative and informative picture of current events to the public. 
   • This is not regulated by the IRB as the purpose is to provide public information and no theoretical analysis is intended. 

 This Guidance was Adapted from the Following Resources  

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