By Michael Silver, on July 2, 2014

This summer I thought it would be a good idea for my intern and I to work on a research project together. Believing it would be fun for a student to research a topic that interests them and involving my intern in work where she could take the lead, we embarked on the research project journey together.

Our project involves Teen Court. Teen Court is a diversion program sponsored by the YWCA where young adults who get in trouble admit guilt and participate in a quasi-court proceeding to determine how many community service hours and other constructive punishment options are given to them.

Those of you who have taken Analysis and Evaluation know that juvenile offenders scream: CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 18 and PRISONERS! We need IRB certification!

We started with getting Wake Forest University IRB certification because that is where my intern attends school. We found a faculty supervisor and submitted our application.

While that application is pending, we also had to submit an application for research approval to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety. We need this application because the data we would be collecting would come from this agency. Both applications are currently pending. Assuming we get approval, we will start our project 3 weeks after we first came up with the idea.

The IRB process is meticulous, frustrating, and exciting all at the same time. Hopefully, I will be updating everyone that we have been approved by all research oversight agencies and we can get started with the study. Wish us luck!