External Research Request
External Research Requests
Thank you for your interest in conducting research at the Long Beach Community College District! This page will provide information about the process for obtaining District approval to conduct a research project utilizing our student or employee populations for meeting requirements for a graduate level degree at an institution other than Long Beach City College.
If you are a Long Beach City College employee seeking research support from the IE Office that is unrelated to requirements for a graduate level degree, please go here.
LBCC’s Review Process
IRB
LBCC does not have an Internal Review Board (IRB), so the local review process focuses less on compliance with federal regulations for human subjects research, and more on assessing the impacts of the research proposal on District resources, including but not limited to, staff time and energy, survey fatigue, accessibility, and student needs.
An IRB application and approval from your degree granting institution are required for you to conduct research at LBCC.
Steps for Submitting an Application
Please read all of the information on this page prior to submitting your application form or sending emails. Incomplete submissions may require a longer review time and/or resubmission.
- Submit a completed application form using the link at the
bottom of this page. A PDF with the questions in the application
is also at the bottom of this page to empower you to prepare
responses before submission.
- Submit your completed IRB application and approval letter
(two separate documents) from your degree granting institution
to research@lbcc.edu with the subject line starting
with your last name and including “IRB application and
approval”.
- If your IRB requires a letter of commitment from the
District prior to approval, please email your draft IRB
application (as fully complete as possible) and remove “and
approval” from the subject line.
- If your IRB requires a letter of commitment from the
District prior to approval, please email your draft IRB
application (as fully complete as possible) and remove “and
approval” from the subject line.
- Please note that messages in the email will not be included
in the review as the application form provides space for sharing
about your proposed research.
- Once completed and submitted, your application will enter the
queue to be reviewed in the order in which it was received. Due
to the large volume of requests received, we must limit the
number of approvals. In the case of a tie when both projects
cannot be approved, the first project submitted will be
selected.
- Reviews occur monthly during the first week of each month or
in the 2nd week of the month due to District demands on the
review team’s time. All applications submitted by the time the
review team begins the review process will be included in that
month’s review. Applications submitted after the review process
commences will be included the following month.
- The review team requires one week to complete the review and
prepare documentation. Therefore, you will be informed of the
District’s decision in the 2nd or 3rd week of the
month. For example, if you submit your application on April 21st,
you will be informed in the 2nd or 3rd week of May. If
you submit your application on May 2nd and the review team
has not begun its review process you will also be informed in the
2nd or 3rd week of May. However, if the review team has
begun its review process, then your application will be reviewed
in June and you will be informed the 2nd or 3rd week of
June.
- Decisions are made based on the criteria listed in the
CRITERIA section below.
- Once the review team has completed the review, decisions will
be emailed to all applicants.
Criteria
The following criteria are considered when making approval decisions. Additional criteria may be included in the review at the discretion of the District.
- Whether a complete submission was provided
- Whether the research is a part of a dissertation, thesis, or class project (N.B. dissertations will be prioritized for consideration over class projects)
- Whether the researcher is an employee of Long Beach City College
- What research methodology is being used and what population is being focused on because we must limit survey fatigue and population-related constraints
- What local work is occurring with the population of focus
- The amount of time or energy the project may require from District staff
- How the project will benefit students
- The number of concurrent requests made to the District at a given time