Bring ethical research into action with VIRB.

While anyone engaging in community-driven or people-centered research can benefit from VIRB, we’re especially focused on serving groups who might not have access to other IRBs due to cost or other administrative barriers.

Unlike those who work in a university setting, the data scientists and community researchers that work with nonprofits or independent research or evaluation firms aren’t likely to have access to IRB partners. VIRB increases awareness and access to resources so those researchers can apply best practices and research participant rights are protected. While anyone engaging in community-driven or people-centered research can benefit from VIRB, we’re especially focused on community-serving organizations and independent research firms who might not have access to other IRBs due to cost or other administrative barriers.

Conflicts of interest are a common concern when discussing IRBs that are both in traditional university-type institutions and for-profit organizations, like VIRB. IRBs associated with a university may be motivated to approve research applications, while privately held IRBs might feel pressure because there’s an exchange of money.

The Federal Government has created safeguards to mitigate undue influence in these processes — the biggest of those being the use of diverse review board rosters. IRBs are typically made up of people from vastly different backgrounds: some associated with the institution housing the board and others external to the institution.

VIRB is no exception. Our board is made up of people that are both internal and external to Viable Insights. Any time an application is submitted to VIRB, the board administrator ensures that it’s assigned to a reviewer that doesn’t have conflicts of interest.

Long story short, VIRB is separated enough from our other services where our diverse team can serve both needs

As much as we’d love to offer VIRB for free, our focus is to provide an equity-focused exchange of services. We’re committed to providing value to practitioners and their community partners while compensating board members for their time and expertise. Depending on the complexity of your application, the fees can range from $750-1250.

Some of our IRB counterparts charge $500 just to tell you whether or not you are proposing human-subjects research — to say nothing of the additional charges for the actual review. When you work with VIRB, that first hurdle of research vs. non-research is free of charge.

We want VIRB to be as accessible as possible. If our fees are a barrier to your completion of an IRB, please let us know. We’ll do everything in our power to meet you where you and your research organization are.

Our board is made up of individuals with diverse academic and experiential backgrounds, both scientific and nonscientific. Several members of VIRB are directly from the Viable Insights roster, and several others belong to other research firms and academic institutions.

Like many other IRBs, we don’t disclose reviewer identities directly. This maintains anonymity that allows our board members to discharge their reviews honestly.

Our VIRB Administrator, Phil Stoelken, is a Partner at Viable Insights. As the administrator, his primary duty is to act as an intermediary between the researcher(s) and reviewers.

Review times vary depending on whether the independent reviewer is able to expedite the application approval, or if the application requires a full-board review.

The complexity or sensitivity of the application or proposed research is the biggest factor in this process. As a general rule, expedited applications will be reviewed in 7-10 days, while full board reviews may take up to 21 days.

If your project is in a time crunch, please make that clear in the initial consultation phase. The board will make every effort to accommodate your timeline needs.

Absolutely. From our point of view, this is the benefit to adding another perspective to the review of your research. If you’re interested in receiving recommendations on your methodology or tools, we’re happy to provide add-on services for a nominal fee.

Most research projects are short-term engagements that last less than a year. When you fill out your VIRB application, you’ll be asked to indicate your project timeline. VIRB approvals typically last for one calendar year.

If your project is a multi-year engagement, our team will check in at the end of every project year to ensure continued fidelity to the approved-upon research practices. In the event that research practices need to be adjusted, the researcher is required to submit addendums to VIRB for approval. The addendum process will typically be reviewed and approved in 1-2 days.