1. An Independent Research Project may be initiated in two ways: a) a faculty member may propose a research project or b) a student may write his or her own research proposal, solely authored or co-authored with other students and/or faculty. In the latter case, the student(s) must have the approval and sign-off of the proposal by the faculty member serving as the Instructor for the course offering prior to its submission to the Research Sequence Chair.
2. A proposal for an Independent Research Project must include the title, a statement of purpose of the research project, research methodology, the research tasks to be required from the student, and the intended field(s) of practice Specialization(s). The proposal, especially if faculty generated, should also include other pertinent information such as a syllabus with a schedule of formal classes, a list of research tasks, reading list, timing of assignments, grading criteria, and other instructional information. The level of student effort expected for an Independent Research Project should be equivalent to other advanced research courses (i.e., approximately five hours per week, not including the time necessary to complete the final paper).
3. An Independent Research Project may consist of the entire research process including problem formulation, data collection/analysis, and reporting, or it may include only one or more of these major activities. If only some research activity or activities will be included, the research experience for students should be sufficiently substantive that the final paper will demonstrate a clear understanding of the meaning of the tasks within the context of the entire research process.
4. The research methodology should be explicit and logically sound for the research problem and ethically appropriate for studying the population involved. Each independent Research Project proposal must be submitted to the Research Sequence which will determine if it qualifies as satisfying the advanced research requirement. Since projects involving data from or about human subjects must be approved by IRB (see 5) and all proposals must be approved by the student's Specialization Chair, an Independent Research Project proposal should be submitted to the Research Sequence Chair and the Associate Dean for the Masters Program according to the following schedule:
For the Spring Semester: faculty proposals by September 30th, student initiated proposals by October 30th.
For the Fall Semester: faculty proposals by February 28th, student initiated proposal by March 28th
Proposals submitted after these dates will not be considered by the Research Sequence Faculty. After the deadlines in each semester, members of the Research Sequence Committee meet to review each proposal. Applicants are invited to the review meeting so that they can respond to any questions and concerns raised by the Committee.
5. If the SOWK 789 Project involves collecting data from or about human subjects or conducting secondary analysis, the proposal must be approved by the School of Social Work’s Human Subjects Protection Committee and the University of Maryland Baltimore Institutional Review Board prior to implementing any parts of the research. According to federal regulations, research is defined as “a systematic investigation including research development, testing and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge.” The web site of the UMB Human Research Protections Office (HRPO) includes necessary information about the IRB process (e.g., investigator toolkit, policies and procedures, contact information for staff) for all UMB affiliated investigators - medschool.umaryland.edu/hrpo/.
The campus uses a web-based system to manage all human research protocol submissions called the Biomedical Research and Assurance Network (BRAAN). The proposal for the SOWK 789 must clearly state the IRB status of this proposed research (e.g., not submitted yet, pending, approved, renewed with modification, etc.). Even if this proposed research is expected to qualify for an exemption, the request for exemption must be approved by the IRB before the course may begin. Regardless of the specific IRB status, before students may participate in the proposed SOWK 789 research, the faculty member must submit a modification request to the IRB to add all enrolled student researchers to the research team for this protocol. Before IRB will grant permission for these student researchers to be added to a research team, IRB staff will search for documentation that each student has completed all required CITI training modules (see below). Questions about these procedures should be directed to the Chair of the School of Social Work’s Human Subjects Protection Committee.
All affiliated UMB faculty conducting research and students who are enrolled in a SOWK 789 Independent Research Project course are required to complete the Social and Behavioral Modules of the CITI Course in the Protection of Human Research Subjects. The SOWK 789 course syllabus should detail this requirement and the methods planned by the instructor to collect the completion certificates from students before beginning any research activities. If a faculty member or student researcher has previously completed the basic CITI course, they are required to complete an annual CITI Training Refresher Course. The course instructor is responsible for collecting and affirming that all members of the research team are up to date with required CITI training. To register and complete the CITI training, the faculty member should direct students to the CITI web site: https://www.citiprogram.org/default.asp
6. Decisions by the Research Sequence will be forwarded to the author(s), the Instructor, and the Associate Dean for the Masters Program. Subsequent to approval by the Research Sequence and prior to registration, the Independent Research Project proposal must be submitted to the Chairs of appropriate Specializations so that the published description of the course may specify the student specializations that approve this SOWK 789 course as a required advanced research elective.
7. The expected outcome of an Independent Research Project is a research report, including an abstract, authored or co-authored by the student(s), in journal article, American Psychological Association (APA), or other standard academic style. This report with the Instructor's signature of approval should be submitted to the Associate Dean for the Master's Program.
