How does the IRB view open records?

The open records act adds a difficult twist to the protection of human data. FOIA data is technically public data but often contains much that could carry subject risk and may have been generated under conditions where there was a clear expectation of privacy. FOIA data collected prior to IRB approval could still be accessed for pre-study formation (like literature review material) but could not be used as research data (including pilot) prior to IRB review and approval.

The GS IRB would look at public data through the expectation of privacy filter and expect the researcher using such data to provide a method of mitigation for data that carries an inherent risk to the subject – (like a plan for data de-identification) to provide approval. The data would not be eligible for exemption under B4 unless obtained from the FOIA source as de-identified data.

Last updated: 2/21/2023