Some kinds of research do not require IRB review. For example, you do not need to go through the IRB if:

• You are only carrying out a class project that won't be presented beyond your class or archived/published;
• You are engaging in a Venture Grant project that has no academic component and your intent is only to learn about an area of personal interest or engage in a personal growth project;
• NEW: You are only carrying out scholarly and journalistic activities that include the collection and use of information in which the focus is directly on the specific individuals about whom the information is collected; these activities include oral history, journalism, biography, literary criticism, legal research, and historical scholarship; some documentary projects may be included. More information is available in the Projects not Federally Defined as Research form.
• You are not interacting with living people (e.g., if you are only analyzing texts or carrying out ecological research); or
• You are only carrying out non-participant observation in a public place (the Worner quad, Acacia Park, etc.) and not interacting with the people you observe.

In all other cases, you need to interact with the IRB. This may involve a query by email, filling out one of the exemption forms, or filling out the regular application form.