Minimal Risk Review

Minimal Risk Review is intended to provide a more rapid review for projects that involve only a minimal amount of risk, just slightly above what would be encountered in daily life.   To read more about studies eligible for minimal risk review, go to Section II.D. of the UW Human Subjects Manual at www.washington.edu/research/hsd/policy/.  

If your study meets minimal risk criteria, complete form UW 13-11, which can be downloaded atwww.washington.edu/research/hsd/policy/.   A guide offering question by question clarification for filling out the application can be found at www.washington.edu/research/hsd/qa/.   When the application is final, including a signature from your faculty advisor if you are a student, give the form plus consent form and other materials to David Takeuchi for review signature. The form will be returned to you for copying and delivery to the Human Subjects Division at 3945 15th Avenue N.E.

The following is an example of a study that might be eligible for a minimal risk review:

• For the purposes of dissertation research, a doctoral student will receive data that includes codes that anyone can link back to identify subjects.  The data is not of a sensitive nature.  The student has devised and explains in detail on the human subjects application a system to carefully guard the confidentiality of the subjects.  

The following might also be eligible for a minimal risk review:

• A researcher will interview key personnel at various social service agencies about welfare-to-work legislation.  With the subject's consent, the interview will be audiotaped and transcribed.  Voice recordings of subjects are de facto identifiable.  If a subject was identified and the information s/he gave was critical of an employer, it could pose a risk to the subject's employment status.  The study might be approved for minimal risk review if the student outlines appropriate mechanisms to minimize the risks of invasion of privacy and breach of confidentiality.