FASS-LUMS Research Ethics Committee
Ethical Approval Form for UG and taught PG students
If as part of any student project you collect personal/sensitive data on living people
which would identify them, you need to ensure you are compliant with the UK Data
Protection Act 2018 and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
This means that you should gain consent from participants, only collect information
needed for your project, handle and store all data securely and anonymously where
possible and you should be informing participants of:
Your study objectives
How long you will retain their information
How you will secure their data before it is anonymised or deleted
How a participant could withdraw their data from the project
An appropriate person to receive complaints, e.g. your supervisor
This should be part of your project design and you should discuss this with your
supervisor
This form should be completed for each project involving the collection of data from
human participants that you undertake on your UG or MA programme (including as
part of your taught modules, self-directed study and UK/MA dissertation). The form
must be approved and signed by your module convenor or dissertation supervisor
PRIOR to any data collection taking place. A completed copy of your form should be
given to your module convenor/dissertation supervisor.
When you submit the completed form to your module convenor or supervisor, you
must give them time to read it carefully and suggest amendments. You must allow
time to many any amendments they might suggest before beginning your data
collection.
When you complete this form you may want to consult relevant guidelines for ethical
research, such as by the ESRC. Please note: if your study involves the use of data
from social networking sites or other online data, you are still asked to complete this
form, in particular if the data you will use could be considered private and/or deals
with sensitive or personal topics.
Name of student, Department, e-mail address:
Module this application is related to:
Name of module convenor/supervisor:
Project title:
Overall aim of the project and research questions (please be brief, no more
than 4-5 sentences)
What will be the research methods?
Who are the intended participants (e.g. students at Lancaster University, Care
Givers etc.) and how will you recruit them (e.g. printed advertisement, email,
word of mouth, social media, etc.)?
Where will the research be carried out and do you have permission from the
organisation(s) concerned (e.g. the school you want to work in)?
Do any of the aspects of the study pose any risks to the participants’ physical
or emotional well-being (e.g. might they find taking part embarrassing or may
they be asked to discuss topics which are emotionally upsetting)?
If any of such risks may arise, please explain how you intend to deal with these and
protect participants from unnecessary harm or distress.
Does your project involve vulnerable groups (e.g. children, older people,
disabled people, prisoners)?
If you involve vulnerable groups, please explain briefly what you intend to do protect
them and their interests and to avoid causing any harm or distress.
Does your project involve covert methods or any form of deception or limited
disclosure (this may be necessary in some forms of experimental research)?
If yes, please explain briefly why this is necessary.
What types of participant personal data will you record (e.g. name, age, sex
occupation, academic qualification, address, health information, IP address
etc.)
How will you ensure that data participants share with you will only be used in
such a way that they cannot be identified? (e.g. will you use pseudonyms; will
you use aggregated data so that individuals’ views cannot be identified; will
you use anonymised quotes?) How will you ensure that participants’ personal
data will be kept confidential (e.g. that it will be stored securely and separate
from the research data)?
Who will the data be disclosed to, both internally (e.g. to supervisor) and/or
externally (e.g. student projects with businesses or other external partners)?
Will participants be given accessible information explaining: the general aim of
the study; what they wlll be expected to do; how their data will be stored and
how you will use their data in the essay/dissertation?
Please include a participant information sheet and consent form with this application
(for template information sheets and consent forms see here….)
You must submit a copy of your participant information sheet to your departmental
administrator.
Student signature
Date
-------------------------------------------------
---------------------------
Approval
Module convenor / dissertation supervisor
Date
--------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------