- What is research ethics?
- Moral principles that guide the responsible conduct of research
- All researchers should follow the local ethical guidance relevant to their projects and should include an ethical statement in their work
- Ethical approval must be obtained from a regulatory body
- Why is it important to gain ethical approval for your project?
- Helps researchers think about the ethical implications of their research
- Supports accountability and transparency of your research
- When you do apply for ethical approval?
- Ethical approval should be obtained once your research proposal is finalised and before data collection begins.
- Getting informed consent
- If you are conducting observational or clinical research, informed consent should be obtained prior to collecting data.
- Provide participants with adequate information on the project, including the aim, how data will be collected, what participating involves, any associated risks and harms and what will happen to data and what is will be used to do.
- Consent forms can be used to obtain written consent
- Verbal consent is acceptable in certain circumstances
- Maintaining confidentiality and anonymity
- Appropriate procedures should be used to ensure confidentiality and anonymity
- Confidentiality means ensuring participant’s data is kept private from those not involved in the research process
- Anonymity refers to protecting participants’ identity
- In circumstances were it is not possible to maintain anonymity and confidentiality, researchers should acknowledge this and inform participants
- Outline benefits and harms of research
- Researchers should consider the benefits and value of their research and whether the benefits outweigh any associated harms.
- Benefits may be direct to individual patients or to the wider society.
- Harms include direct harm related to an intervention or psychological variables related to the nature of the study.
- Attempts to reduce any harms should be explicit
- Data security
- Researchers must ensure that all data is securely stored
- Research misconduct
- Plagiarism- the appropriation of another person’s ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit.
- Fabrication– making up data or results and recording or reporting them.
- Falsification– manipulating research materials, or changing or omitting data or results such that the research is not accurately represented in the research record.
- Key points to add to your manuscript
- A statement on ethical approval is mandatory.
- The regulatory body provided ethical approval must be stated
- Researchers should be explicit in the methodology section on informed consent, anonymity, confidentiality.
- Research integrity
- Research should be transparent about any conflicts of interest
- Withholding information from participants should be justified
- Ensure that all authors do meet the criteria for authorship and acknowledge those who do not meet criteria but contributed
