What role does the Institutional Review Board (IRB) play in research?

The Institutional Review Board (IRB) plays a crucial role in safeguarding the rights and welfare of research participants by ensuring that research complies with ethical standards. This includes evaluating study protocols to ascertain that they minimize risks to participants, secure informed consent, and maintain confidentiality. The IRB's purpose is to provide a level of oversight that ensures ethical conduct in research, particularly involving human subjects, which helps to protect participants from potential harm and to promote ethical standards across all research activities.

The other options describe roles that are not typically aligned with the responsibilities of an IRB. For instance, while funding is an essential aspect of research, it is usually managed by grant agencies or institutional funding bodies, and not the IRB. The IRB does not conduct research studies or directly recruit participants; instead, their focus is on the evaluation and approval of proposed research to ensure that it meets ethical guidelines.