In class on Friday we met in groups to discuss our IRB. I was able to read two other IRB proposals and get some good insight about how others were putting together their project. I got some insight from our instructor about minor changes I could make to help improve the process of getting approved. The main thing that I learned about the IRB is that I want to help the committee to see that my project is ethical and will not cause any harm to informants. I hope that the IRB understands that my project involves minor risks, so to make this clear I made some changes. My India proposal is mainly for my benefit to make sure that I think about all aspects of the project. The proposal has helped me to get out loose ends that I might not have thought about. The proposal was actually very helpful for doing my IRB because a lot of the questions were very similar.
Working on my proposal and IRB over the semester has given me the time necessary to narrow down my topic enough to decide exactly what I want to do. It has allowed me to talk with people, look up resources, and put together data that will be helpful for while I am in India. That's not to say that I am done and ready to go to India because I still have a lot to do. To keep a list of things that I still need to work on:
Finish the last parts of my IRB and put together a final draft
Figure out which schools we will go to in Coimbatore
Make sure my survey is worded and put together the way I want
Figure out anywhere else I can find informants if the universities and colleges don't allow us
These are the major things right now. I am excited to continue to think about each of these and come to some decisions! Being able to think about my IRB and proposal has allowed me to become more aware of what needs to be done before I leave. I guess the mentality before you leave is that all you need to do is put together a survey and go over to India to gather the data, but there is much more to it than that. This class takes lots of time and thought but it is needed for such a big project.
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