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Managing ethics considerations and protocols
It is advisable for researchers, evaluators and other related practitioners to routinely check their projects to ensure they are meeting ethical requirements - especially for the social and human dimensions elements of projects. Checklists act as a memory aid to good research practice, and are also a frequently required procedure for those seeking research approval from ethics committees. Such protocols are likely to be increasingly employed to ensure compliance with research governance requirements.
In essence, an ethics form is a statement which sets out how researchers and practitioners intend to ensure compliance with each of the key principles (such as: 'informed consent', 'openness and honesty', 'right to withdraw', 'protection from harm', 'debriefing' and 'confidentiality'). Your 'ethics protocol' should set out how your study will meet these requirements where relevant. Some of these principles will be of greater importance than others for you and this should be reflected in your statement. This ethics statement should cover all the things that you talk about to potential participants in order to obtain informed consent, which would cover issues such as confidentiality, right to withdraw, feedback, etc as appropriate.
Ethics protocol and sample information and consent forms
- Social research ethics protocol to download
This form has been designed for researchers who are working independently and so do not have access to an institutional committee-based ethics process. The research ethics checklist has been designed to be relevant for a wide range of research. Particular attention has been paid to ensure it is useful for those undertaking participatory, community-based and action research approaches. It can be used as a self-check by researchers, or as the basis for a peer-review of your project with one or more external social researchers. From experience I would suggest that the review be undertaken in a collegial manner with you (or your team) as project applicant working through the questions with the peer reviewers - either face to face, or using skype or another on-line meeting tool. Feedback on this form and using it is welcomed so it can be improved for common use.
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Evaluation ethics protocol to download This form is similar to the social research one, but has been designed for evaluators. The ethics checklist has been designed to be relevant for a wide range of approaches. Particular attention has been paid to ensure it is useful for those undertaking participatory, community-based and action research approaches. It can be used as a self-check by researchers, or as the basis for a peer-review of your project with one or more external evaluators. From experience I would suggest that the review be undertaken in a collegial manner with you (or your team) as project applicant working through the questions with the peer reviewers - either face to face, or using skype or another on-line meeting tool. Feedback on this form and using it is welcomed so it can be improved for common use.
- Good Practice Guidelines for Information Sheets and Consent Forms
this document, from the UK-based Social Care Research Ethics Committee (REC), includes points to consider when designing information sheets for adults. It points out that the information sheet is best written as an invitation (the use of ‘we’ may help). Use the active tense and avoid the passive. Write in simple, non-technical terms that a lay person will understand easily. A sample consent form is also included. Another information sheet guide and sample consent form can be found at the Oxford Brookes University site.
Other selected ethics links
- ESRC framework for research ethics (FRE) The Research Ethics Framework (REF) for social science research was formally introduced by ESRC in January 2006. The dignity, rights and welfare of research participants are core criteria. The full 2010 FRE can be downloaded.
- Community-Based Research Ethics A short, but useful, introduction to community-based research ethics. The article acknowledges that community—based researchers often find that the established ethics review rocesses are not suited to their needs, and that ethical problems shift as their project progresses and thus they require a flexible ethic process that is fully integrated into all stages of their projects to deal with
unexpected issues as they arise.
- UNEG Ethical Guidelines for evaluation The UNEG ethical guidelines for evaluation are based on commonly held and internationally recognized professional ideals. These guidelines point out that aspiring to ethical conduct in evaluation is important for a number of reasons: i) responsible use of power; ii) ensuring Credibility; and iii) responsible use of resources. The document provides a good summary of the obligations of evaluators, and, in turn, evaluators obligations to participants.
- Guiding principles for evaluators This paper from the American Evaluation Association (AEA) outlines the guiding principles to be used by evaluators in order to promote ethical practice in evaluations. The Australasian Evaluation Society also has a good set of Guidelines for the ethical conduct of evaluations.
- Protocol and Guidelines for Ethical and Effective Research of Community Based Collaborative Processes This guide by Karen Firehock deals with ethics and a protocol for researching community-based collaborative processes, including factors to address in developing a research agreement with the group(s) to be researched. It is intended to help ensure that productive, ethical and accurate research can occur while providing for research that is useful to both researchers and community groups. This guide provides an ethical standard for information sharing, open processes and information dissemination. The first section of this guide describes the philosophy of the guide and provides a checklist for developing a research agreement between the researcher and the community. The sections following provide suggestions about how to implement items suggested in the checklist. Those who have a clear understanding of how to achieve items in the research agreement checklist need not read sections II through IV, or they can read only those sections that relate to a point for which greater clarification is needed. The guide is also available in pdf format.
- Community-Based Research Ethics A discussion from the University of Plymouth about the ethics of research involving human participants. Provides principles and guidance on thinking about and writing ethics and information sheets.