Have a suggestion?

Click here to suggest a blog item.

Newsletters Archive

Catch up with DonationCoder by browsing our past newsletters, which collect the most interesting discussions on our site: here.

Editorial Integrity

DonationCoder does not accept paid promotions. We have a strict policy of not accepting gifts of any kind in exchange for placing content in our blogs or newsletters, or on our forum. The content and recommendations you see on our site reflect our genuine personal interests and nothing more.


Latest News

July 19, 2022
Software Update

Jan 3, 2022
Event Results

May 13, 2020
Software Updates

Mar 24, 2020
Mini Newsletter

Dec 30, 2019
Software Updates

Jan 22, 2020
Software Updates

Jan 12, 2020
Newsletter

Jan 3, 2020
Event Results

Jan 2, 2020
Software Updates

Dec 30, 2019
Software Updates

April 27, 2019
Software Updates

Feb 26, 2019
Software Updates

Feb 23, 2019
Software Updates

Feb 14, 2019
Software Updates

Jan 6, 2019
Event Results

Dec 2, 2018
Software Updates

Nov 13, 2018
Software Releases

July 30, 2018
Software Updates

June 24, 2018
Software Updates

June 6, 2018
Software Updates

Apr 2, 2018
Fundraiser Celebration

Apr 2, 2018
Software Updates

Feb 24, 2018
Software Updates

Jan 14, 2018
Major Site News

Jan 10, 2018
Event Results

Latest Forum Posts

Our daily Blog

This page spotlights the most interesting posts collected from our forum every day.

You are viewing a specific blog item. Click here to return to the main blog page.

On Medical Research Bureaucracy and the Institutional Review Board

Screenshot - 3_29_2018 , 7_47_39 PM_thumb001.png
I read this story about a doctor trying to get permission to do a harmless research study by giving people a simple questionnaire, and the loopholes he eventually gave up trying to jump through.

I have had some limited experience with big government bureaucracies, and his conclusion here really mirrors my thoughts:

I sometimes worry that people misunderstand the case against bureaucracy. People imagine it’s Big Business complaining about the regulations preventing them from steamrolling over everyone else. That hasn’t been my experience. Big Business – heck, Big Anything – loves bureaucracy. They can hire a team of clerks and secretaries and middle managers to fill out all the necessary forms, and the rest of the company can be on their merry way. It’s everyone else who suffers. The amateurs, the entrepreneurs, the hobbyists, the people doing something as a labor of love. Wal-Mart is going to keep selling groceries no matter how much paperwork and inspections it takes; the poor immigrant family with the backyard vegetable garden might not.

Bureaucracy in science does the same thing: limit the field to big institutional actors with vested interests. No amount of hassle is going to prevent the Pfizer-Merck-Novartis Corporation from doing whatever study will raise their bottom line. But enough hassle will prevent a random psychiatrist at a small community hospital from pursuing his pet theory about bipolar diagnosis. The more hurdles we put up, the more the scientific conversation skews in favor of Pfizer-Merck-Novartis.

http://slatestarcode...29/my-irb-nightmare/



Share on Facebook