The reason I've been off the grid for awhile is that I've been working like mad trying to get my research put together and submitted for IRB approval. IRB=Institutional Review Board and they're the hospital folk who make sure that research is ethical. At least, that's how it began. As you can imagine, once a committee gets a little bit of power, it eventually gets puffed up with its own importance and puts more and more regulations on what should be a simple process.
My research, which is required to graduate from fellowship, is a very simple mail-out survey. In order to get permission for that, I have to submit to the IRB no fewer than 15 documents. One of them is 11 pages long. With apologies to the members of my family who actually like this stuff, I have to say that I've hated this experience so much that I'd rather take out my own tonsils with a melon baller than ever have to do research again.
Yesterday, I finished up the IRB paperwork and now I'm just waiting for my mentor to OK it and I'll submit it for approval next week. Here's crossing my fingers...
Do you want me to keep a melon baller handy in case it is not approved?
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And this is why I'm going into medicine and not the basic sciences. I almost got a PhD before I realized that my whole professional life would revolve around writing grant proposals, trying to get published, dealing with people like the IRB and always in a constant battle over research space. Yuck! No thanks.
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