ABSTRACT
Chapter 6 offers a justice-driven, future-oriented reconceptualization of IRBs and Writing Studies research. The core argument of Chapter 6 is: IRBs are entities conceptually and practically concordant with Writing Studies research design and practice. IRBs are a cornerstone of robust research communities and facilitate balanced research praxis on behalf of participants and the broader human community. Chapter 6 offers methods for participating efficaciously in the policy process—all while broadening and strengthening the field in service to communities. Chapter 6 demonstrates how the local and global, the theoretical and applied, the broad and focused are married in the implementation of this public policy from three frames. First, the necessity that research is born out of local efforts to solve local problems. Second, this localism parallels the localism researchers experience with IRBs, which are guided by foundational principles that broadly concern the human community but are applied in local contexts for the protection of local communities and individuals. Finally, whether there is some benefit to participants engaging in research, or if the benefit is instead broader and scalable to more global contexts, researchers must provide a balanced assessment as to the scale of impact research has within a specific context. This last chapter offers methods for deepening researchers’ ethical understandings and strengthening their research designs through methodological transparency and justice-driven research design.
