Is community-based research hindered by the institutional review board? A critical case study

Bibliographic Data

ID19225835
AuthorsSarah Toledano (University of Siena, corresponding author), Cynthia Bott (University of Siena)
Year2026
Pages1-8
Publication date2026-06-12
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCommunity Development (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1557-5330 • E-ISSN: 1944-7485
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/15575330.2026.2687067
OpenAlexW7164482072
LanguageEN
References cited16

The Institutional Review Board (IRB) was created to protect human research subjects. In community-based research, the IRB protections can inhibit centering the voices and experiences of community members themselves. This paper centers on a year-long IRB review for a community-based research project where the authors attempted to center community members’ experiences and use student researchers. Ultimately, the authors decided not to pursue the research through the IRB and become consultants for the nonprofit instead. The authors of this paper adopt a critical lens as they discuss how risk aversion, paternalism, and epistemic injustice work against community-based research and offer potential solutions for IRBs and researchers to use in the future

Academic community · Human research · Injustice · Institutional review board · Research ethics · Ethics in Clinical Research · Feminist Epistemology and Gender Studies · Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics

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