Sample Data & IRB Process
Sample Data for Stats Classes
A couple times each year a statistics professor will ask if I have any interesting data sets he or she can use in class. What I've included here is a small data set (Bowled Away by Free M&Ms) that asks a deceivingly simple question–" Will your bowl size influence how much you eat and does it influence men and women similarly?" You can find more background for for this study in Chapter 3 of Mindless Eating. The data is in an Excel spreadsheet and can be downloaded below.
Getting IRB (Human Subjects) Approval
Until a few years ago, some research in business schools, and often that related to sensory studies and food intake, was given a general class of approval or exemption by the Institutional Review Boards (IRB) at some universities. Today, each study planned by university researchers must be submitted to that university's Institutional Review Board to insure it will not harm the participants in any way. This is good because it protects participants and professors alike.
People sometimes ask if it is hard to get IRB approval for food psychology and behavior studies. Initially it can be difficult, but given their helpful advice, it eventually becomes easier.
If you are new to food and behavior research, what might be most helpful are some tips about writing your IRB proposal, along with examples of successful Food Psychology and Behavior proposals that have been approved.
I'm a member of Cornell's IRB Human Subjects Committee. Yet these tips do not represent any policy or any bias of the committee. They are simply ideas I have learned over the past 9 years, and I hope they will make it easier for you to do research in this important area. My colleague Collin Payne has combined my thoughts with his to help you down this initially frustrating road.
