Instructions for Ethics Proposal Preparation
Psychology Department
College of William & Mary
5. Brief description of research aims
It is inappropriate to provide a comprehensive review of the literature or a full
research proposal here. Please follow the APA style for writing and referencing. You
should keep this description succinct (1-2 pages double-spaced), but provide enough
information that will enable the reviewer to answer the following questions with respect
to your proposed research –
(1) What are the specific goals of this research?
(2) Is the researcher familiar with past research, theories, methodologies related to
this proposal?
(3) What is the relevance of proposed research to past research or theories?
(4) What considerations have gone into the research design to satisfy the goals
outlined in (1)?
6. Participants in this research
If participants are to be recruited from the campus population, provide a brief
description of how these volunteers will be obtained. Special caution should be applied if
these participants are involved in research that is being undertaken by their professor or
TA (see also instructions regarding inducements).
If participants are to come from another type of population, it may be necessary
for the researcher to gain further ethical access to this population. For example, if
children from a day-care center are to be involved, then the researcher should first
approach the day-care to find out what additional steps they must take to satisfy approval
of access to these children. This may include an additional ethics proposal to the
controlling body responsible for these individuals. It may also be necessary for the
researcher to submit an additional ethics proposal to the College’s Protection of Human
Subjects Committee. See information provided at the following website: . See
information provided at the following website:
http://my.wm.edu
After logging into my.wm.edu, researchers should click on the self-service tab to submit
(and for further information about how to submit) a protocol to the College’s Protection
of Human Subjects Committee. Researchers should check with the Chair of the
Psychology Department’s Internal Review Board before deciding whether to make such
submissions.
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7. Participants under the age of 18 years
Children under 18 years of age require formal approval from their legal guardian
or parent to participate in the research and this approval should be clearly shown on the
consent form. Information should be provided about how the guardian or parent will be
informed to the purposes of the study and of any methodological concerns that may arise
during the research. Provide a description of the methods that will be followed by the
researcher to assist the child in understanding (to the best of their ability) the
requirements of their participation, and furthermore, how the child can express their wish
to discontinue participation.
8. Informed consent
A sample Consent Form is provided at the end of these instructions. If informed
consent cannot be obtained, then you must explain why it cannot be collected from the
participants in your research. You should also provide information describing how your
participants will be protected from unethical research practices. Please note that the APA
suggests that some specific research projects do not require informed consent to be
collected from participants, and these are listed below:
(1) research is conducted in commonly accepted educational settings and involves the
study of normal educational practices, instructional strategies, or effectiveness of
or the comparison among instructional techniques, curricula, or classroom
management methods and that would not reasonably be assumed to create
distress or harm
(2) research involves only anonymous questionnaires, naturalistic observations, or
certain kinds of archival research for which participants cannot be identified and
for which disclosure of the participants’ response would not place them at risk of
criminal or civil liability or be damaging to the participant’s financial standing,
employability, or reputation or that would not reasonably be assumed to create
distress or harm
(3) research is conducted in organizational settings and concerns factors related to
job or organization effectiveness for which participants cannot be identified and
for which disclosure of the participants’ responses would not place their
employability at risk.
For a sample of a more detailed consent form see Appendix A.
9. Access to questionnaires
Researchers should only use questionnaires or tests that they have created, or ones
that are published in the public domain. For example, researchers can use a test that is
published in full in a journal article without the permission of the authors. However, tests
that have been copyrighted by the authors or a test publishing company can only be used
with permission from the relevant people or through purchase of the requisite number of
tests. Researchers are advised not to use tests or questionnaires that could be used by
clinical faculty as part of their training or research practices.
You must provide evidence of one of the following when using questionnaires or
instruments that you have not created:
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(1) describe the location of this material in the public domain (e.g., published in full
in a journal article or at a Web site), or
(2) describe how you have received permission from the authors (or satisfied the
copyright requirements) to use their materials in your research, or
(3) provide evidence that you or someone related to your research (e.g., College,
Government agency) has paid for the instruments to be used in your research.
10. Use of voice or image recording
If you are using voice or image recordings in your research, regardless of whether
it constitutes experimental stimuli or participants’ responses, informed consent is
required from the appropriate individuals before they provide the recordings. Provide
evidence that you satisfied this requirement. The use and storage of these recordings
should be described as well. The APA provides the following guideline regarding
recording voice and images:
Psychologists obtain informed consent from research participants prior to
recording their voice or image, unless the research consists solely of naturalistic
observations in public places and it is not anticipated that the recording will be used in a
manner that could cause personal identification or harm.
11. Harm or discomfort to participants
The answer to this question should be “no” except under unusual circumstances.
If an answer of “yes” is provided, strong justification will be needed and extra steps
outlined to reduce the effects as much as possible. In addition, participants must be
warned appropriately in the informed consent form, and very thorough debriefing should
be provided
12. Instructions regarding deception
Deception can take many forms with some less of an ethical concern than others.
The general forms of deception used in psychology experiments are: providing
misleading information or feedback, and using pseudosubjects or confederates.
There are numerous negative consequences that can result from the use of deception
in research, such as: deceived participants can react differently in subsequent experiments
and develop a negative attitude to psychological research; or participants may feel
deceived and experience negative feelings, including a lowering of self-esteem.
The APA provides the following guidelines regarding the use of deception in
psychological research:
(a) Psychologists do not conduct a study involving deception unless they have
determined that the use of deceptive techniques is justified by the study’s
significant prospective scientific, educational, or applied value and that effective
non-deceptive alternative procedures are not feasible.
(b) Psychologists never deceive prospective participants about research that is
reasonably expected to cause physical pain or severe emotional distress.
(c) Psychologists explain any deception that is an integral feature of the design and
conduct of an experiment to participants as early as feasible, preferably at the
conclusion of their participation, but not later than at the conclusion of the
research.
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If deception is involved, you will need to provide participants with very thorough
debriefing that explains the deception and the need for it. Describe how this will be
achieved.
13. Instructions regarding inducements
Inducements to individuals to participate in research can take many forms. Here
are some common examples: money, course requirement, course credit, and professional
service. The APA provides the following guidelines regarding the offering of
inducements:
(a) When offering professional services as an inducement to obtain research
participants, psychologists make clear the nature of the services, as well as the
risks, obligations and limitations.
(b) Psychologists make reasonable efforts to avoid offering excessive or
inappropriate financial or other inducements to obtain research participants
when such inducements are likely to coerce participation.
The APA provides the following recommendations regarding student participants:
(1) When psychologists conduct research with students or subordinates,
psychologists take special care to protect the prospective participants from
adverse consequences of declining or withdrawing from participation.
(2) When research participation is a course requirement or opportunity for extra
credit, the prospective participant is given the choice of equitable alternative
activities.
(3) If these students are members of a class that you currently teach, you must
include an acknowledgement in the consent form that their participation will not
have any consequences to their assessment or other related involvement in the
class. If they are members of a class you do not teach, but the class teacher is
involved in the research project, that person must provide the acknowledgement
described previously.
14. Description of methodology
The methodology section of the proposal must begin with an enumerated list of
supplemental material included. Informed Consent and Debriefing are to be included in
this list in addition to other supplements. See sample below.
Sample Beginning of Methodology Section
14. Methods
The proposal includes the following supplements:
(1) Informed Consent Form
(2) Instructions to be read to participants
(3) Smith-James Personality Questionnaire
(4) Stimulus Image Set
(5) Post-test questionnaire
(6) Debriefing Form
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Supplements are normally attached the end of the proposal. Each supplement attached
should be in the same order as listed at the beginning of the Methodology section, and
each attached supplement must be clearly labeled in exactly the same manner as it is
listed (e.g., the Smith-James Personality Questionnaire must be clearly labeled as such).
In the remainder of the Methodology section, only include information or descriptions
that have not been included in responses to the previous questions. These will probably
include a summary of the sequence of instructions or activities to occur, and details
regarding the recording of responses. Specialized equipment requires a full description
and you must provide information regarding any safety concerns. You should provide a
description of how the collected data will be stored to maintain confidentiality or
anonymity. You should also provide a timetable for data collection and storage, as well
as, name any individuals who will have access to these data.
15. Instructions for debriefing
The ethics review committee takes debriefing very seriously as it can satisfy a
number of important goals for research. These goals include:
(1) educating participants about the research and research practices in general,
(2) detecting any distress or concerns that may have arisen during the research,
(3) alleviating any concerns or distress that may have arisen, and
(4) illuminating interesting aspects of the study that need to be addressed by the
researcher in future research.
Debriefing should include the following components:
(1) explanation of the hypotheses and the rationale underlying them,
(2) explanation of how the hypotheses are related to tasks performed by the participant,
(3) opportunity for participants to ask questions and have those answered in an
informative way,
(4) opportunity to find out more about the study at some later time, and in particular,
information about the findings and conclusions of the research.
If the participants are to come from the 201-202 research pool you should provide
these participants with information during debriefing that educates them to the purposes
of the research and informs them of important research methodology considerations.
If deception was involved in the research, an additional requirement is to reveal the
deception and explain why it was necessary. This may require alleviation of any
additional concerns or negative feelings that may have arisen from the participants after
finding out they had been deceived and how they were deceived.
The APA has provided the following guidelines regarding debriefing of participants:
(a) Psychologists provide a prompt opportunity for participants to obtain information
about the nature, results, and conclusions of the research, and psychologists take
reasonable steps to correct any misconceptions that participants may have of
which the psychologists are aware.
(b) If scientific or human values justify delaying or withholding this information,
psychologists take reasonable measures to reduce the risk of harm.
(c) When a psychologist becomes aware that research procedures have had a
harmful impact on the individual participant, the psychologist takes reasonable
steps to ameliorate the harm.
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Sample Research Participation Consent Form
Psychology Department
College of William & Mary
Title of Project: ________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Researcher(s): _________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
This is to certify that I, _______________________________________________ have
been given the following information with respect to my participation in this study.
1. Purpose of the research:
2. Procedure to be followed:
3. Discomforts and risks:
4. Time duration of participation:
5. Statement of confidentiality:
6. Voluntary participation:
7. Incentive for participation (e.g., course credit, payment):
8. Termination of participation:
9. Questions regarding the research should be directed to:
10. Questions or concerns regarding participation in this research should be directed to:
I agree to participate in this study and have read all the information provided on this
form.
Name (please print) : ________________________________________________
Signature : ________________________________
Date : ________________________
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