Human Research Ethics - what
are they and where can we get
some?
The 30 second ethics summary:
Who
What
Where
When
Why
How
Everyone who is doing ‘human research’
Approval by an ethics review body
Office of Research Integrity or Faculty HEAG
After you have established your research plan
but before you start collecting data
National and Deakin requirement
Submit your project for review
Respond to requests for more information or
amendments
What is it all about?
Research Ethics
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Research Merit & Integrity
Justice
Beneficence
Respect for persons
National Statement
Privacy
Trust and Ethics
research participants may enter into a
relationship of trust with researchers whom
they may not know but need to trust. This trust
adds to the ethical responsibility borne by
those in whom it is placed…[M]any who
contribute as participants in human research
do so altruistically, for the common good
without thought of recompense for their time
and effort. This underscores the importance of
protecting research participants.
National Statement, page 3
What is human research?
And who needs ethics approval?
Any research activity that involves human
participation, including completion of
questionnaires, interviews, focus groups,
conduct of tests, etc is considered human
research.
Access - for research purposes - to human
tissue or to identified personal information that
is not already on the public record is also
considered human research.
All human research needs ethics approval
What is ‘ethics approval’?
Answer 1
Approval by an ethics review body. At
Deakin this means DU-HREC or a faculty
HEAG
Answer 2
Applying broad ethical principles to the
responsible conduct of research and to the
use of research data in your project
What are the review bodies looking
for?
• Compliance with the National Statement
• Compliance with privacy requirements
• Compliance with any other relevant
guidelines or legislation
• Whether the project will meet community
standards for being ‘ethically acceptable’
Where do we go for ethics approval
and information?
Deakin Research Integrity website
http://www.deakin.edu.au/research/integrity/
Ethics Advisors:
Sally Fornaro
sally.fornaro@deakin.edu.au
924 46090
Carly Harrison
carly.harrison@deakin.edu.au
522 72975
Human Research Ethics Guidelines
When should I apply?
• You must have ethics approval before you
commence data collection
• However applying for ethics approval before
you have clarified your research program will
create more problems than it solves
• Talk to you supervisor, who will be able to
advise you
• If in doubt, talk to Sally or Carly
Thought Experiment
• Imagine that you are a participant in your
own research
– You don’t know anything about the project
– You don’t know the person conducting it
• What are the stages that you need to go
through?
– What information would you want?
Things to consider before you
apply
Who are the participants?
– The ‘kind of people’
– The individuals to be approached
How will they be recruited?
– General recruitment through flyers/local papers
etc
– Specific recruitment through clinics/community
centres/clubs etc.
How will consent be managed?
– Consent by the individual
– Consent by a parent/guardian/carer
What will you be asking them to do?
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Experiment
Questionnaire
Interview
Access to records
Capture images
What will you do with their information (data)?
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Feedback to participants
Use in the research
Storage
Disposal
Why do I need ethics approval?
Short answer
– Deakin as a commonwealth funded
organisation is required to ensure that human
research is appropriately reviewed
– You cannot obtaining your degree if your
research is not appropriately approved
– If your project is grant funded, funds can’t be
released without approval
– To publish your research
Longer answer
– The review process gives you an opportunity
to obtain input from many different
perspectives – this can be extremely
valuable. A senior academic at Deakin has
told me more than once that he never had a
project that wasn’t improved by going through
the ethics process.
– It allows you to think through your research in
a different way, from a different perspective.
How do I get ethics approval?
The National Statement defines risk in three levels:
Projects involving risk of harm are considered more
than low risk and require review by a fully constituted
Human Research Ethics Committee (at Deakin, by DUHREC)
Projects involving no greater risk than discomfort may
be considered low risk and may received expedited
review (at Deakin, by HEAG)
Projects involving no greater risk than inconvenience
may be considered negligible risk and are eligible for
expedited review or (if they involve only existing sets of
non-identified data), for an exemption from review
HEAG Process
Review by circulation within the faculty
For more information…
Arts &Education:
Kylie
Koulkoudinas 522 72368
Business &Law: Katrina Fleming
HMNBS:
17174
Penny Andrews
522 73362
925
or Jane Moschetti
Science &Tech: Sandra Dunoon
or Teresa Treffry
33535
522 72270
556
DUHREC Process
• Monthly meetings with set deadlines
• Submission through the Deakin Research
Integrity Human Ethics Unit
• Contact:
Vicky Bates
research-ethics@deakin.edu.au
925 17123
For more about human ethics…
Information about ethics training and assistance
sessions is available on the RSD Event
Registration System
Regular sessions include:
Human Research Ethics Seminars –
Introduction to ethics concepts and processes
NEAF Workshop – in the computer lab, set up
your NEAF account and get familiar with the
form
Pre-submission clinics – one on one
consultation with an ethics advisor to discuss