3.16: School of Medicine Medical Education Research Policy

All research involving medical students or the MD program requires approval by the Director of Evaluation and Instructional Development. Proposals can be written at any time throughout the year and must be submitted to the Director of Evaluation and Instructional Developmentfor review and approval. Submissions should be no more than 2 pages (single-spaced) and must include the following information:

  1. Title of project
  2. Research question(s) and specific aims
  3. Hypotheses (if applicable)
  4. Background information and preliminary literature review (1-2 paragraphs, include references at the end)
  5. Target population of the research activity
  6. Research activity setting
  7. Proposed methods (observation, intervention)
  8. Intended data analysis plan (qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods)
  9. Statement of protection of research subjects or proposed plan, including Stanford IRB review and approval if already obtained, or a written statement from the IRB that they have reviewed your project and determined IRB oversight is not required.
  10. Study personnel (including research mentor(s) if applicable)
  11. Funding source (if applicable)

In addition, the requester should include a statement of support from the faculty course or clerkship/residency director of the study setting, if applicable. Ideally, you should make every effort to collaborate with those individuals.

Important: Straightforward evaluation of existing curriculum for the purpose of program improvement is generally not considered research and would not require review and prior approval. In general, any data gathering and analysis with the intent to disseminate findings to a broader scientific community would be considered research and should be reviewed and approved by the Associate Dean of the Office of  Medical Education, in addition to review by the Stanford Human Subjects Research and Institutional Review Board http://humansubjects.stanford.edu/.

For more information, please visit the Evaluation and Instructional Development website: https://med.stanford.edu/evalandidev/research.html

updated August 2023