According to the federal register, this research didn't need to come to the IRB at all. We have four criticisms, listed above. The last point bears emphasizing. It is an insult to members of the congregation to imagine that only a university committee can keep them from submitting to an interview the don't want to participate in. They can say no. They DO say no. There would be no way the researcher could coerce them into an interview they didn't want to give. If the interviewer tried and became obnoxious, she would soon lose their good will and her research would be over.