Institutional Review Board (IRB)

Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) maintains an Institutional Review Board (IRB) to promote ethical treatment of human participants while supporting responsible scholarly inquiry. In developing its IRB policies and procedures, DTS has consulted peer institutions and external higher-education research compliance professionals to ensure practices reflect widely accepted standards appropriate to theological education. IRB review applies only to research involving human participants designed to produce generalizable knowledge for public dissemination such as dissertations, conference presentations, or publications; administrative, instructional, assessment, and quality-improvement activities intended solely for internal institutional use do not require IRB review. DTS employs a tiered determination process—no review, exempt, expedited, and full board—so most seminary-based educational and ministry research qualifies for no review or exempt status handled administratively. The IRB exists to protect participants rather than prescribe research methodology, emphasizing informed consent, voluntariness, confidentiality, and reasonable risk awareness, while maintaining streamlined policies suited to the mission and scope of the seminary.