Engagement

Research at DRC

DRC Research Request Policy and Procedure

The Disability Resource Center (DRC) at Florida International University (FIU) is proud to be a collaborator with both internal and external researchers! We understand this kind of collaboration is the only way to help develop new and cutting-edge support services for people living with disabilities. If you are conducting research (at any level) and are interested in working with the DRC to access our population of FIU students with disabilities, please adhere to the information below.

• Research policies
  • No more than three Research Requests will be approved per semester.
  • No more than one study will be approved per specific population sub-type.
  • Priority will be given to FIU Professors working towards tenure and Graduate Students working on a Thesis or Dissertation.
  • Undergraduate students working on a class’ research paper, research not related to a grant, or research that is not an FIU Professor’s research will only be allowed to interview DRC staff and have access to commonly available aggregate and descriptive data from the DRC’s yearly report.
  • There are no fees associated with conducting research at the DRC. Any tools, technology, data collection and management instruments, general materials, research subject compensation, parking & transportation fees, research software, or supplies associated with a study must be provided by the researcher at their own expense.
  • The DRC can assist with general office supplies (pens, pencils, erasers, post-its, paper clips, basic calculators, etc.) and paper for printing up to 15 sheets per day as per our student provision guidelines.
  • For researchers who do not live in the general FIU area, there is no hotel/temporary housing available in our On-Campus Housing facilities. Please ask a member of our leadership team for assistance in obtaining housing or hotel accommodation recommendations in the local area.
  • If conducting research in person at the DRC, access to conduct your research will most likely be approved at either our Modesto Maidique Campus (GC-190) or Biscayne Bay Campus (WUC-131) offices. This will be decided in consultation with the researcher.
    • For more information about our campuses and various centers, please visit: https://www.fiu.edu/locations/index.html
  • If deemed necessary, access to our student population can be terminated at any time by the DRC.
• Research request procedure
  1. All requests must be submitted to the DRC before the start of the semester data collection is expected to begin.
     1. Requests may be accepted after the start of the semester if procedural circumstances prevented them from being submitted on time.
  2. All submissions must be made via e-mail to drc@fiu.edu.
     1. Email should be addressed to “DRC Leadership Team”
     2. Email subject line should contain your name, semester you are anticipating starting your data collection and the words “Research Request” immediately after, (Ex: “John Smith Fall 2018 Research Request”).
  3. All requests must contain the following to be considered “complete”:
     1. Approval from FIU’s Institutional Review Board (IRB)
        1. For more information about FIU’s IRB’s Policies & Procedures, please visit http://research.fiu.edu/irb/
     2. IRB approval from the researcher’s home institution (for external researchers only)
     3. All marketing materials including: Flyers, Posters, E-mail Announcement Verbiage, etc. For review purposes, please provide only PDF or JPEG files of your Flyers and Posters. Printed copies can be supplied after the request’s approval.
     4. Specific details about the population you would like the DRC to target in its announcement (age group, class rank, major, accommodation profile, diagnostic profile, veteran, athlete, etc.)
     5. A copy of the informed consent form that will be given to your research subjects.
     6. A copy of your research proposal including the survey or questions you will be using.
     7. All details about space, instrumentation, or technology you will need to use at the DRC’s facilities.
     8. If your data collection requires that you to be located at a location other than the DRC’s campus offices, please specify the location. Please allow extra time for our response to your request since this will involve coordination with other campus partners.
     9. If coming to the DRC or FIU in person to conduct research, please include your tentative schedule for the time you will be collecting data
  4. Please allow 1-2 weeks for consideration and response after a complete request has been submitted (please allow more time if additional campus partners need to be involved). A member of the DRC’s leadership team will communicate and coordinate your data collection experience at the DRC directly with you.