AN EXAMPLE OF A TYPICAL, GOOD QUALITY BBS RESEARCH ETHICS
SUBMISSION
BBS Research Ethics Approval Form: UG and PG Students
BBS is concerned to protect the dignity, rights, safety and well being of all participants in any
research study involving people. The avoidance of harm to research subjects should therefore be a
prime consideration for all BBS researchers and students. To this end, BBS has developed research
ethics review procedures that require staff and students (and student supervisors) to complete an
ethics approval application form prior to the commencement of any research project.
If the research is not NHS-based, please complete the questions below and hand the form to your
supervisor. Once your supervisor has approved and signed off the form he/she will retain it for the
duration of the student project. Your supervisor might ask you to make amendments prior to
approving it. Alternatively, the form might be referred to the BBS Research Ethics Committee for
review if your supervisor feels it is necessary to obtain additional expert opinion.
If the research is based in an NHS institution then quite separate approval processes must be
completed. In such cases, contact Linda Millward (Linda.Millward@uwe.ac.uk) or Professor Andy
Danford (Andrew.Danford@uwe.ac.uk) as soon as possible for further advice on the procedure
required. In their absence, Fiona Watt, Research Manager will deal with any queries.
Name of Student
David Ethics
Email address
David.ethics@uwe.ac.uk
Student Number
01234567
Degree Programme (eg, BABA; MAHRM, PhD)
MAHRM
Research, Postgraduate or Undergraduate status
PG
Name of student supervisor
Andy Danford
Project Title
Proposed project start date
An examination of voluntary labour turnover at
Apex Mobile Technologies
July 2009
Proposed project end date
January 2010
1. Does the research project involve any of the following risk factors:
Research involving health sector organisations
If YES, tick here:
Research involving children or other vulnerable groups If YES, tick here:
Research involving sensitive topics
If YES, tick here: X
Research involving aerospace/defence organisations
If YES, tick here:
Research involving nuclear production organisations
If YES, tick here:
2. Provide a brief outline of the aims and objectives of the proposed research project.
The research has two main objectives:
1) To provide information on voluntary labour turnover in the company to aid the HR
department in strategic decision making. Through quantitative data analysis the research
will try to identify areas in the company where voluntary labour turnover is higher than the
average.
2) To determine whether there are any issues that are causing people to leave the company of a
type that require intervention from the HR department. This will require further analysis of
the reasons that cause voluntary leavers, and potential leavers, to make their decisions to
leave along with their general perceptions of working for the company.
3) The research will also analyse senior management’s perspective on the issues highlighted by
the analysis of leavers’ data.
3. Describe the proposed research design and include details of the types of data to be collected
from human participants (for example: observation of people; number and type of people to
be interviewed, such as their job role or occupation; use of survey questionnaires and the type
of people to be included in the survey). Please include your proposed research questions.
The research will analyse secondary data which already exists on the company’s databases (and is
therefore the property of the company). The type of quantitative analysis generated will be suitable
for highlighting general trends in voluntary labour turnover (for instance, turnover by department,
occupation, grade and gender).
In addition, three types of qualitative research will be conducted.
First, transcripts of exit interviews will be provided by the company and analysis of these will focus
on the different reasons given by staff for leaving the company.
Second, the patterns highlighted by this analysis will be used to design an interview schedule for use
with a sample of 15 existing staff. Thirty minute interviews will be completed with these staff . They
will be selected from different non-management occupations and departments in the company. The
types of issues covered in the interviews will include work-related problems that may cause a
member of staff to decide to leave along with general perceptions of working for the firm such as
attitudes to management style and satisfaction with pay and conditions.
Third, interviews will be conducted with the Head of HR and the Senior Operations Manager to
discuss the issues highlighted by the research.
4. Does the proposed research contain any potentially contentious issues that might affect the
physical, psychological or emotional wellbeing of the research participants? If so, provide full
details.
The research may involve examining issues that could be sensitive to both individual participants
and company management. It may be that the reasons given by people who have left the
organisation, or who are thinking of leaving, can be potentially emotive to the individual concerned
and may well be of concern to company managers. The analysis of exit interviews will be treated
sensitively and in a highly confidential manner. Equally, the interviews with staff will be handled
carefully and sensitively. Reassurances will be given that responses will not be reported in such a
way that could cause individuals to be identified. This is also important for eliciting honest, open
answers from research participants. In addition, reassurances will be given to the company and all
participants that the research findings will be used solely for the purposes of the dissertation and will
not be made public in any other way.
5. Describe how you or your host organisation will gain the informed consent of individuals
who will participate in the research. If appropriate, please attach a copy of your draft consent
form.
The secondary quantitative data is already the property of the company and I have permission to
utilise that data.
There is an issue with the analysis of the company’s exit interview data. Although individuals who
completed the interviews are aware that a member of staff from HR would read their comments they
will not be aware that their exit interview could be used for a student research report. It will be noted
in the dissertation that such individuals who are no longer working for the company did not give
their permission for their answers to be used in this way. Since it is not possible to track down such
individuals to seek their permission to use such data I will ensure that all data are anonymised and
that any reason for leaving that is found to be highly controversial will not be referred to in the
analysis.
Prior to conducting the 15 staff interviews participants will be informed in advance of the nature of
the research and how their views will be utilised. A consent form will be designed for each
participant designed in accordance with the BBS template.
6. Describe how you will maintain the confidentiality of the research data collected. Also,
describe how you will ensure that research participants are anonymised in your data analysis.
When presenting the findings all responses contained in the primary interview analysis and two sets
of secondary data analysis will be made anonymous. Anonymised comments will only be used to
support trends highlighted in the analysis. It will be impossible to trace comments to any specific
individual and these will not be attributed to any individual job role or department. The dissertation
will only be viewed by the senior HR team and Senior Operations Manager. The Operations
Committee of the company will only see the results of the quantitative analysis. No other individual
in the company will have access to the dissertation or findings.
7. Describe how you will store your data, who will have access to it, and what happens to the
data at the end of the project.
The secondary data used for the dissertation will be stored on the company’s computer system and
can only be accessed by HR staff.
The transcripts of the interviews will be stored on my person folder on the company’s computer
system. This data is secure and will not be shared.
The interview transcript data will be destroyed once the dissertation is completed and assessed.
Student’s Signature
Date
For the attention of UG and PG RESEARCH SUPERVISORS
If you feel that this research ethics application can be approved then sign in the box below and retain
the form for the duration of the student research project. The form may need to be accessed for
ethics auditing purposes during this period.
If there are any ethical issues of a potentially problematic nature that, in your opinion, require
clarification or further scrutiny by the Faculty Research Ethics Committee then forward this form to
Linda Millward in the BBS Research Office (Linda.Millward@ uwe.ac.uk).
Student Supervisor’s Signature
Date