Recruiting Volunteers from the Harvard University Community

In response to a multitude of requests to recruit Harvard students, faculty, and staff for research purposes, the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences in conjunction with the Harvard University Area Institutional Review Board (IRB) office has adopted the following guidelines. These guidelines were created in an interest to limit the research burden placed on these populations, to protect the privacy of those affiliated with Harvard University, and to be respectful of their time.

Recruiting Harvard College Undergraduates

Internal Recruitment Requests

If you are an internal researcher that is affiliated with Harvard University, and are interested in recruiting Harvard College students, the Harvard University Area IRB office and the Office of Undergraduate Education (OUE) review research proposals that involve Harvard College students to protect the privacy of our community and integrity of the educational process, as well as to avoid survey fatigue.

Harvard-affiliated researchers who wish to survey or otherwise study the undergraduate population must follow IRB procedures prior to starting research. As the IRB process includes vetting by OUE when undergraduates are involved, please be aware that this may result in a delay or denial of access to this population. Please be sure to build time into your research to address any IRB or OUE concerns.

Generally, such concerns are related to what impact the research may have on the well-being of undergraduate students, and/or recruitment techniques. Please be aware that while Harvard affiliated researchers may recruit via email listservs of which they are already members, or mailing lists that agree to forward their requests, they may not ask residential staff or leadership to forward recruitment materials on their behalf.

Harvard-affiliated researchers may wish to use the Harvard Department of Psychology’s Study Pool to find subject participants. Please see https://studypool.psychology.fas.harvard.edu for more information.

External Recruitment Requests

We regret that we cannot permit non-Harvard affiliated researchers access to our student body for research purposes.

Recruiting Harvard University Graduate Students, Harvard Faculty, or Harvard Staff

Internal Recruitment Requests

If you are an internal researcher that is affiliated with Harvard University Area, and are interested in recruiting Harvard University graduate students, faculty, or staff as research subjects, please do the following:

As part of the Harvard University Area IRB review process, the Harvard researcher will mark the populations to be included in their research in the HUA Protocol Template (HRP-503).
The Harvard researcher should contact the School that the graduate students, faculty, or staff is affiliated with. Documentation of this approval should be included with your IRB submission to the HUA IRB.
Approval to recruit the population identified will be highlighted in your Harvard University Area IRB approval or determination letter.

For Harvard researchers affiliated with Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, or the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, please contact the Harvard Longwood Campus IRB.

External Recruitment Requests

Researchers not affiliated with Harvard University who wish to recruit graduate students, faculty, or staff as research participants are required to submit a recruitment request to the Harvard University Area IRB Office before beginning their research project. All requests will be screened by the Harvard University Area IRB; we also require research projects to have obtained prior approval through the non-Harvard researcher’s home IRB.

If you are an external researcher, and are interested in recruiting Harvard University Area graduate students, faculty, or staff as research subjects, please send an email to cuhs@harvard.edu that includes the following information:

An overview of your project, including a rationale and specific procedures for recruiting Harvard University Area graduate students, faculty, or staff as participants.
A copy of the completed research protocol application, including any data security plans, that was approved by your home institution’s IRB, along with the IRB’s approval letter
All relevant study materials (e.g., recruitment materials for Harvard University participants, interview questions, surveys)

Staff from the Harvard University Area IRB will contact you and may request more information if necessary. Harvard University Area IRB staff will act as a liaison with the Harvard School or Department. Please know that the decision to recruit is finalized once you receive official notice (typically via email) from the Harvard University Area IRB that confirms or denies approval to recruit at Harvard University.