Research Requiring Ethics Approval

When Do I Require Ethics Approval?

If you plan to conduct research that involves human subjects, you are required to seek, and receive, ethics approval from the appropriate research ethics board/committee before proceeding with your study.

You require ethics approval for the following situations:

• You are interacting with, manipulating, or putting individual(s) in a certain situation -- for the purpose of study. This may take the form of interviews, survey questionnaires, controlled experiments, and/or observations
• You are collecting information from secondary sources/non-public sources about (an)other individual(s). For example, you need ethics approval to use information that has been collected by someone else for a different purpose. You also require ethics approval to use data that you collected for a purpose other than the one you now want to use them for, if the new use is not covered by an earlier ethics approval.
• You are using data in a private database that identifies and/or has personal information about individuals.

 

Do I Require Ethics Approval if I am Engaged in Outside Professional Activity?

You require ethics approval for Outside Professional Activity (OPA) that falls into any of the above categories, if such activity meets both of the following criteria:

• You plan to disseminate material from that activity in the public domain
• That dissemination will be associated with the University of Calgary

 

It is advisable to seek ethics approval if there is a chance that you may use OPA material for future research purposes.

As a Student, do I require ethics approval to undertake research that is conducted outside the auspices of the University of Calgary or its programs?
No.

Do I require Ethics Approval if my research will be conducted outside of Canada?

You are required to get University of Calgary ethics approval, irrespective of the location of the research activity.
Note: In addition to University of Calgary ethics approval, you may also, in some cases, be required to obtain ethics approval from relevant authorities in the country where the research will be conducted.

You can get further information on these issues at:
U of C Ethics Policy Statement

Do I require Ethics Approval when I make changes to a protocol that has already been approved or the time frame for my research changes?

Yes, you require ethics approval, if there is a change or modification in the design, consent process, methodology, or time frame of the original protocol. You should submit a letter for ethics review of the amendment(s) to the Board/Committee which granted the original approval. The letter must provide a detailed description of the change(s) that are planned. The letter may be sent by regular mail or as e-mail.You can get further information at:
U of C Ethics Policy Statement (Sections 4.4 and 4.4a)

Student research may or may not require official ethics approval under the following circumstances:

• If students are only consulting university or public libraries, archives, or public information on the internet, official ethics approval is not required.
  However, if students obtain data from an online or email forum that is private or is normally only available to subscribers, or from documents that are confidential or privately or corporately owned by others, ethics approval is required.

   

• If studentsÕ interview questions ask institutions and their employees for information that would normally be provided to your students or to the public upon request (i.e. asking a nonprofit organization about what the organization does and why, asking a librarian how to find a book), official ethics approval is not required.
  However, if questions are asked about personal behaviors, opinions or experiences, ethics approval is required.

   

• If students are conducting a community service learning project, and communicating with their approved community partner or client contact person to receive guidance necessary to conduct a community service-learning project on their behalf, official ethics approval is not required.

   

  However, if community partners are asked to provide organizational or personal information to students as research data to be used in an assignment, ethics approval is required.

• If students are naturalistically observing a public space or public event and do not simultaneously record data, such research does not require official ethics approval.
  However, if students are simultaneously recording data in public (e.g. taking notes, sketching, or taking photo/video/audio recordings, either obviously or secretly), official ethics approval is required.

Province of Alberta FOIP guidelines (Freedom of Information and Privacy Protection Act) may restrict how students and instructors may obtain or use participantsÕ personal contact information or private documents. See http://www.ucalgary.ca/archives/FOIP/FOIP.html

 

• If students are being recruited as participants, instructors must ensure that U of C studentsÕ personal data is obtained and used ethically.

   

• FOIP also regulates how U of C instructors keep studentsÕ research reports secure (as well as all other assignments).