Teaching · For Teachers

Research with people, or not: settle it before the first survey goes out.

Answer a short set of questions about your study’s purpose, data and participants. The summary tells you whether it looks like human subjects research under the federal definitions, which rules come into play in a school, and which office makes the decision.

Screen a projectWhat you get
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Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the For Teachers toolkit, $79 for 72 items.

The screening checklist

One record per project, keyed by a project code. No participant is named here. The example is made up.

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What you get

Teaching · For Teachers$5 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
For each project, answers on purpose, data, participants and approvals, with a summary of what they suggest, the rules that apply and the next steps.
Who it is for
Teachers studying their own classes, graduate students in education, outside researchers and the district staff who field research requests.
Format
Browser checklist. Several saved records; printed with the summary or as a blank screening form; CSV with one row per project; export and import a file.
Access
$5 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the For Teachers toolkit ($79) and the Teaching Suite pass ($199), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The For Teachers space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions about an order, access or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.
Drawn for this page. A study reaches students only through the gate: an IRB determination and the district’s approval come first.

How to use it

  1. Start a record with a project code.
  2. Describe the project, your role and what the results are for.
  3. Answer the research and human subjects questions honestly; mark not sure when you are.
  4. Mark the data you plan to use and any sensitive survey topics.
  5. Read the summary and contact the IRB and district before collecting anything.

Screen a project

What the screening is for

The federal definitions

Under the Common Rule, research is a systematic investigation designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge, and a human subject is a living person about whom a researcher obtains information through intervention or interaction, or obtains identifiable private information. Studies that are both are reviewed by an Institutional Review Board, which may find them exempt. The researcher does not make that call.

Schools add their own rules

Research with children brings extra protections, including parent permission and the child’s assent. FERPA protects education records, and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment covers surveys that ask students about eight protected topics such as mental health, religion or family income. Many districts also require their own research approval.

What this form is not

It is a screening aid, not a determination or legal advice. Only an IRB or your institution’s designated office can decide that a study is exempt or approved. Records use a project code and stay in this browser.

Sources

  1. Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects (the Common Rule), 45 CFR 46.102 (definitions of research and human subject) and 46.104(d)(1) and (d)(2) (exemptions for normal educational practices and for tests, surveys, interviews and observation).
  2. 45 CFR 46 Subpart D, 46.401 to 46.409 (additional protections for children, including permission and assent), and 34 CFR Part 97 (the Department of Education’s adoption of the Common Rule).
  3. Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, 20 U.S.C. 1232g and 34 CFR Part 99.
  4. Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment, 20 U.S.C. 1232h and 34 CFR Part 98 (surveys on protected topics).
  5. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Human Research Protections. Human subject regulations decision charts (hhs.gov/ohrp).

The example project is made up. The checklist screens a project; it is not legal advice and it cannot grant an exemption or approval. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.