Ethics procedures for students completing a
degree in the Department of Journalism Studies,
2013-14
Please read the ethical guidance on the department's website in
conjunction with this document. This can be found at:
www.sheffield.ac.uk/journalism/ethics/student-procedures
The online guidance provides an overview of the overall context. This
document provides information about the specific procedures used in
relation to ethical practice.
Introduction
The University requires that all students undertaking research that involves
‘human participants’ should undergo an ethics review. The review is
designed to identify those areas that require some consideration of the
potential impact of the work on the person carrying out the research and
the person who will be involved in the research.
The University considers all activities that involve ‘human participants’
as ‘research’ activities in as much as they raise issues to do with how
researchers treat and deal with their research subjects, for example. Details
of the University’s procedures can be found at:
www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/other/gov-ethics/ethicspolicy/general-principles
As a student in this department, you are likely to be involved in a range of
activities that involve you dealing with ‘human participants’, e.g.
interviewing people, which means that, following University guidelines, it is
classed as a form of research. This being so, you are therefore required to
complete an ethics review.
To ensure that your activities as a Journalism Studies student comply with
the University’s requirements and with good ethical practice generally,
the department has created its own procedures to deal with the range of
circumstances that are likely to involve Journalism Studies students. These
procedures are designed both to alert you to the need to consider the
ethical dimensions of your routine and non-routine activities and to enable
you to obtain ethical clearance as efficiently as possible.
Our procedures are as follows. It is important that you follow these as
failure to do so could have consequences for your assessments.
All students are required to sign a form that outlines issues of ethics that
relate to journalism in general and university practice, more specifically.
The document alerts you to issues that you may need to consider and
gives you guidance as to which documents you may also need to be aware
of in order to practise as a journalist. The form can be found online at
www.sheffield.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.323252!/file/ethics-approval-formstudents.docx
When you have to complete that form depends on your year of study (but
you will have to complete one for every year of your study!).
First year students will complete the form in semester 2
Second year students in semester 1 of their second year
Third year students in semester 1 of their third year
Postgraduate students on professional practice courses (MA Web,
Broadcast, Print and Magazine) will complete the form in semester 1
In all the above cases, a member of staff will discuss the forms when
he/she circulates them to you and asks you to complete it.
Postgraduate students on Global Journalism and International Political
Communication are required to complete an ethics approval form when
they write-up their dissertation proposal form for JNL6210. Copies of the
form for this group of students are available online (link) and further
information will be supplied in due course.
PLEASE NOTE
In addition to completing this form, students who may be considering
doing research (or interviews) which are likely to raise concerns over and
above those identified on the form or in University guidelines should alert
their supervisor BEFORE carrying out the research. Examples of this would
be carrying out interviews with certain groups of people, or carrying out
certain types of interviews without appropriate consent. In effect, students
need to be alert to the possibility that their work may require research
ethics clearance because it has certain aspects to it that could raise
concerns.
In such circumstances, consult your tutor beforehand and he/she will
advise you on how best to carry out your research and what sorts of ethics
clearance – over and above the form mentioned above – is required. In
some circumstances this would mean that you would need to complete a
form that assesses the nature of the ethical concerns that may arise. This
form, the Ethical Approval Form, can be found at:
Please note that if a student fails to complete and hand in the appropriate
form or forms, they run the risk of incurring a penalty. The form/s cannot
be completed retrospectively.