Conducting Research at NWCC
Research conducted at NWCC requires approval from the External Research Committee, which can be contacted through the Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness. Any individual (NWCC personnel or an external researcher) must request authorization to conduct research, including research that involves surveys or questionnaires administered to any group of employees and/or students, focus groups or other interviews, or information from electronic data files. This policy applies to all research requests to use Northwest Mississippi Community College (NWCC) students, faculty, staff, or data, and is not conducted directly by NWCC for the primary purpose of institutional research.
Approval Process:
- Individuals conducting research on two or more of Mississippi’s community and junior colleges who wish to include subjects from NWCC should first obtain permission to conduct the research from the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges (MACC). The application and instructions checklist for such research can be found on the Mississippi Community College Board (MCCB) web page.
- Individuals who wish to conduct research for external purposes which only includes subjects from NWCC should provide a document describing all the pertinent aspects of their research, according to the guidelines in the application.
- The completed application, along with IRB approval from the cooperating agency, MACC Approval if required, any informed consent forms, and any survey or interview instruments should be emailed to the chair of the External Research Committee at research@northwestms.edu.
- The External Research Committee will review the application and determine whether the research request is approved and will communicate their decision to the Principal Investigator in an official approval letter from the college.
- SUBMISSION OF AN APPLICATION TO NWCC DOES NOT EQUAL APPROVAL. YOU MAY NOT BEGIN THIS RESEARCH UNTIL YOU HAVE AN APPROVAL LETTER.
- NWCC reserves the right to terminate any and all external research at the discretion of the President or the External Research Committee.
- All inquiries and proposals should be submitted in electronic form to research@northwestms.edu.
Guidelines:
- All internal research will be conducted to the highest ethical standards. NWCC students, faculty, and staff participating in research must be fully informed as to the purpose of the research, risks and benefits, and what participation will entail; give their consent to participate; and be free to withdraw from the research at any time.
- NWCC, its students, faculty, and staff involved in external research will not be identified when findings are presented or published.
- The researcher agrees to inform the Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness when the research is complete, and to provide Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness a copy of the results of the study.