20th March 2015
SOAS, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
RISK ASSESSMENT AND ETHICAL CLEARANCE
For UNDERGRADUATE and
POSTGRADUATE TAUGHT STUDENTS
UNDERTAKING PRIMARY RESEARCH
Guidance notes
This form is divided into two Sections: Section A consists of the request from a student on a
taught course to be permitted to undertake primary research; Section B is the response of
the Department to that request.
The form is not required for students undertaking secondary research, that is to say
research based on the analysis or reanalysis of materials demonstrably in the public domain.
For the purpose of ethical approval, all other types of research are deemed primary
research. Your supervisor will help you decide whether your research involves primary
research; if in any doubt at all whether your research is primary then complete this form.
Section A is divided into three Parts.
In Part I, which is mandatory, students must provide a general overview of their project.
Part II is a risk assessment. All students planning to carry out research away from London
must complete this part.
Part III is the ethical clearance section.
Please note 1) that covert research will not be permitted under any circumstances; 2) that to
be permitted to undertake any primary research involving research subjects, the student
must provide for approval the consent form to be presented to interviewees. While for the
ethical clearance process we require this to be in English, provision should be made for
translating it into local languages where appropriate. It should be noted that official
interviewees. That is, persons who will be interviewed as representatives of their
organisations – non-governmental, governmental, private, etc. - must return a signed copy
of the form unless in exceptional circumstances.
It may happen that individual interviewees, who are not acting as organisational
representatives, may ask to give verbal consent only, in which case their names should not
be registered on a written form since this could cause them problems. For these people an
information sheet about the project and interviewees’ rights should be provided in the local
language including local contact information. This should be read out to each interviewee
who must be given time to assimilate the information and ask questions. This information
sheet is essentially the consent form without the signature section.
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All students carrying out primary research must respect interviewees’ rights of anonymity
unless interviewees expressly ask to have their real names used.
Please note your consent form (sample form can be found at
http://www.soas.ac.uk/researchoffice/ethics/) must be attached to this document. If you
will be interviewing organisational representatives a special organisational consent form
must also be attached (sample form at http://www.soas.ac.uk/researchoffice/ethics/).
Please note that ALL applicants should also fill in their own name, supervisor’s name, and
dissertation/ISP title on Part B (on the last page of this form)
Resubmissions – if you are asked to resubmit your application following review by the
Departmental Ethics Representative responsible for your programme of study then you
must include a letter with your revised application detailing how you have responded to the
comments. Please also MAKE ALL REVISIONS USING THE TRACK CHANGES TOOL in MSWord.
Please note that if a question is not applicable to your situation you may respond N/A.
Students should ensure that their supervisor has read and approved their application, and
any subsequent resubmissions. Please submit the form via email, not on paper. The
supervisor may send in an email approving the form rather than signing it.
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SOAS, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
APPLICATION FOR ETHICAL APPROVAL
For TAUGHT STUDENTS (UG/PGT)
SECTION A – to be completed by the applicant
ALL STUDENTS MUST ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS IN PART 1.
PART I
Name of applicant:
Student ID no.
Sex
()
M
F
Dissertation/ISP
Title:
Date of submission of application:
Supervisor name and department name:
1. OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY: Describe the purposes of the research proposed. Detail the methods
to be used and the research questions and list the main types of research subjects you intend to
collect data from. Provide any other relevant background which will allow the reviewers to
contextualise your research, including a summary of what you want to learn from each interview
group. Do not list the specific questions you plan on asking.
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PART II – Risk Assessment
2. PROJECT LOCATION(S): Please give location(s) where the research will be carried out.
3. PROTECTION OF RESEARCHER (Applicant): Please state briefly any precautions being taken to
protect your health. Have you taken out travel and health insurance for the full period of the
research? If not, why not? What are the main health risks involved and how are you planning on
dealing with them? Do you have any health condition that might give you serious problems during
your fieldwork? If so, how do you plan to prevent this?
4. PROTECTION OF RESEARCHER (Applicant): Are you from this region or well acquainted with it?
Please state briefly what you consider the main safety issues to be. What precautions are you taking
to ensure your safety? Have you read FCO travel advice (see FCO website)? If this suggests the area
is dangerous what special safety precautions are you planning on taking to ensure you avoid such
dangers?
5. PROTECTION OF OTHER RESEARCHERS: Please state briefly any precautions being taken to
protect the health and safety of other researchers, field assistants, translators and others associated
with the project if this is applicable (as distinct from the research participants or the applicant).
6. RESEARCH PERMISSIONS (INCLUDING ETHICAL CLEARANCE) IN HOST COUNTRY AND/OR
ORGANISATION: Generally this will be unnecessary for short periods of research but advice should
be taken for those countries that require such permissions to ensure no problems ensue during your
fieldwork. Will you need to ask for research permission for this country?
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7. CONTACTS in the field. Please give the name and contact information for at least one person
whom you expect to help you in the field with such issues as locating a research area and
introducing you to potential research subjects.
Please ensure as well that we have contact information for at least one person who will be able to
locate you during your fieldwork if we are unable to locate you directly
Please also provide your supervisor with your local mobile phone number for the duration of your
fieldwork as soon as you have one.
PART III – Ethical Clearance
8. RECRUITMENT/SELECTION PROCEDURES: How will study participants be selected? Is there any
sense in which participants might be ‘obliged’ to participate – as in the case of students, prisoners,
patients, camp residents or NGO beneficiaries, for instance? (See no. 11) Entitlement to withdraw
consent and when that entitlement lapses must be indicated on the consent form used (see sample
form).
9. RISKS TO PARTICIPANTS: Have you thought carefully about what risks to your research subjects
might be entailed by involvement in the research? For instance, psychological problems from
remembering traumatic events or potential physical danger from government, gangs, rebels,
criminal organisations? Is it absolutely necessary to interview such people? How do you envisage
protecting them and ensuring information gained from or about them does not fall into other
people’s hands?
10. VULNERABLE INDIVIDUALS: Specify whether the research will include children, people with
mental illness, refugees, internally displaced persons, illegal migrants, asylum seekers, prisoners, or
members of other vulnerable groups. If so, please explain the necessity of involving these individuals
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as research participants and what will be done to facilitate their participation and reduce possible
harm to them. If working with people with physical disabilities, please explain how you will provide
any special support that they may need, for instance, in relation to communication or to access to
the interview site.
11. PARTICIPANTS IN DEPENDENT RELATIONSHIPS: Specify whether participants will include
students or others in a dependent relationship (this could affect their ability to decline to
participate). If such participants will be included what will you do to ensure that their participation is
voluntary etc.? (Dependent relationships means students/prisoners/refugees/patients of
hospitals/clinics or IDPs in camps/clients of NGOs, etc. who might feel obliged to participate since
otherwise they may think they will have problems with the authorities or those in the organisations
they depend on.)
12. CONSENT: Please give details of how consent is to be obtained. A copy of the proposed consent
form, written in simple, non-technical language intelligible to persons at the educational level of
your research subjects MUST accompany this proposal form (do not include the text of the form in
this space, attach it with your submission as a separate document). Please note, before you go into
the field your consent form should be translated into the local language of your research subjects
where appropriate. Also please note that not all participants will feel comfortable signing such a
form, in which case pressure should not be placed on them for their names to be written down on
your form and verbal consent will be held to be sufficient.
13. CONFIDENTIALITY: Please state who will have access to the data and what measures which will
be adopted to maintain the confidentiality of the research subject (e.g. will the data be anonymised
and if so in what ways?)
14. ANTICIPATED USE OF RESEARCH DATA ETC: Do you anticipate using your data beyond your
dissertation, e.g. for publishing articles or in a report for your organisation? If so, please state
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15. FEEDBACK TO PARTICIPANTS: Will the data or findings of this research be made available to
participants? If so, specify the form and timescale for feedback – e.g. an electronic copy of your
dissertation/ISP. What commitments will be made to participants regarding feedback? How will
these obligations be verified?
16. DURATION OF PROJECT
START DATE
END DATE
Signature (Proposer of research)
Date
The Supervisor is asked to certify the accuracy of the above account.
Signature (Supervisor of student)
Date
It is preferable for signatures to be electronic on the emailed form. If not possible ask your
supervisor to email their consent rather than writing it on the form. Do not send paper copies. If a
paper copy with a handwritten signature is required, you will be informed.
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PART B – Review report and decision.
To be completed by the applicant:
Name of applicant:
Supervisor
Dissertation Title:
RESUBMISSIONS – IF YOU ARE ASKED TO RESUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION
FOLLOWING REVIEW BY THE COMMITTEE PLEASE INCLUDE A LETTER WITH
YOUR REVISED APPLICATION DETAILING HOW YOU HAVE RESPONDED TO THE
COMMITTEE’S COMMENTS. Please ensure your supervisor has approved your
revisions before resubmission.
To be completed by the Reviewer, who may seek wider support if required
Reviewer's recommendation ():
Accept
Request modifications
Reject
Reviewer's Comments
Programme Ethics Representative’s recommendation:
Signature (Reviewer
Date
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