Ah, the life of a humanities professor. . . reading great stuff, teaching engaged students, writing books, eating bon-bons. . .and submitting research proposals to the institutional review board (IRB).

Wait. . . What was that last bit?

An institutional review board

...is a group that has been formally designated to approve, monitor, and review biomedical and behavioral research involving humans with the alleged aim to protect the rights and welfare of the subjects. In the United States, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and HHS regulations have empowered IRBs to approve, require modifications in (to secure approval), or disapprove research. An IRB performs critical oversight functions for research conducted on human subjects that are scientific, ethical, and regulatory.

So say you're going to do a study of a new drug--you send a proposal to the IRB. If you're going to undertake an ethnography with a sensitive population, you submit your research proposal. And if you're going to pick up the phone to ask adults about their jobs as part of your research, you--you guessed it--submit to the IRB.