What are the most common revisions that reviewers request from primary investigators and how can those common errors be avoided?

• Inadequate information about the rationale for the study question. Often graduate students identify the purpose of the research as being a degree requirement for their Masters or Doctoral degree. While the research requirement may be a main reason for the research, there needs to be an additional, compelling reason to involve participants in a research project. Often, then IRB reviewers ask for more information about the need for the given project. By clearly stating the need and purpose for the research on Item IIIa of the proposal form, it alleviates the extra turnaround time needed when reviewers must ask researchers to further clarify the research purpose. • Inappropriate use of the terms "anonymous" and "confidential". These two terms are often confused and improperly used interchangeably. Such inaccurate uses occur on both the proposal forms as well as on the Informed Consents. If the researcher will have any means of tracing a set of responses back to a specific individual, ...  more