What requires ethics review?
Definition and Criteria for Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement Projects
- QA and QI projects assess how an organization, group, faculty, department, or program is doing and is an activity undertaken by members of the University for administrative or operational reasons.
- For a QA/QI project to be exempt from ethics review, all of the following must apply:
- the project must be within the mandate of Yukon University or according to the terms and conditions of employment or training,
- the project must be a review of practices and procedures designed to identify possible improvements,
- the project only involves participation of Yukon University employees, students or alumni and relates only to the specific site or area such as the department, program, school, faculty, employee group, or key informants such as co-op employers, and
- results tend to be local to Yukon University such that they are not generally available for public release outside the institution however in some instances dissemination or publication may mean the results are shared at a conference or other public means or with a Ministry or accrediting body.
- Faculty, staff, or students who are looking to conduct a QA/QI project should contact Dawn Macdonald, Institutional Research and Planning to discuss their project. Even though a QA/QI project may not require ethics review, there may still be ethical issues or sensitivities that have to be considered.
Guidelines - Remote Data Collection
- Ethical Considerations for Doing Research Remotely
- Documentation of Oral Consent Template
- REB Guide: Using Video-Conferencing platforms for data collection from human participants
- Using Zoom for research involving human participants
- REB Guidelines for Interviews on Zoom
- Using Microsoft Teams for research involving human participants
- Consent Form considerations for Videoconferencing
General REB Guidelines and Templates
- Course-based research guidelines
- Course-based research assignments involving human participants: student agreement
- Research Assistant confidentiality agreement
- REB reviewer consent form checklist
- Reviewer comments and recommendation checklist
- Recruitment Poster Guidelines and Template
- Yukon University letterhead template
- Draft guidelines concerning incentives, honoraria, reimbursement and compensation in research and scholarly activities
- Requirements for Online Surveys
- REB Guidelines for using Social Media in Research
Consent to participate in a research study should be understood as a process. Researchers should plan for and determine the steps by which consent is initially obtained and the steps by which it is reviewed throughout the study. In order for participants to give meaningful consent, they should be able to clearly understand the following.
- Intent of the research
- What they are being asked to do
- If any risks are involved
- How their information will be used
Consent Guidelines and Template
- Consent form guidelines
- Consent form template Pdf and Word format
Online Survey - Consent Process
Is informed consent from survey respondents needed?
Yes, all potential participants must have the opportunity to give informed consent before starting a survey (TCPS2 2022- Chapter 3). A signed consent form is not always needed (Chapter 3 Article 3.12) . In most cases for survey research that is of minimal risk, the completion of the survey will be accepted by the REB as evidence of consent to participate.
For online surveys the first window of the survey should consist of project information and a statement such as "by entering the survey, I indicate that I have read the information provided and agree to participate." A print button should be provided and participants should be encouraged to print a copy or save a pdf of the consent information for their records.
What is considered Minimal Risk?
If potential subjects can reasonably be expected to regard the probability and magnitude of possible harms implied by participation in the research to be no greater than those encountered by the subject in those aspects of his or her everyday life that relate to the research, then the research can be regarded as within the range of minimal risk.
Minimal risk research:
- draws participants from the general adult population, who are capable of giving free and informed consent, and may not include vulnerable subjects such as children and persons who are who not legally competent to consent;
- does not involve any personal, sensitive or incriminating topics or questions which could place participants at risk;
- does not manipulate behaviour of participants beyond the range of “normal” classroom activity or daily life;
- does not involve physically invasive contact with the research participants;
- does not involve deception;
- does not involve undue or excessive offers of benefit (e.g. an offer of payment in relation to research participation that would exceed the normal range of benefits open to the research participant); and
- may be eligible for delegated ethics review.
Considerations for Assessing Risk
- Will participating in this research cause participant(s) to be at risk physically?
- Will participants be unduly vulnerable for any reason (e.g., disability, age, culture, social/economic status)?
- Will participants feel any pressure or obligation to participate in this study, whereby they may not have volunteered under other circumstances (e.g. adult learners registered in programs; workplace employees; agencies receiving funding or other forms of support from the University)?
- Are their risks in confidentiality (e.g., might the information be of interest to a law enforcement agency)?
- Will participants suffer undue psychological stress?
- Might individuals or groups be stigmatized by participating in the study?
- Might individuals' or groups' reputations be at risk by participating in the study?
- Might individuals or groups be at risk with regards to political and/or immigration status by participating in the study?
Lakehead University has details on what is considered minimal risk research.
University of Northern British Columbia - Research Risk Assessment Guidelines
The Panel on Research Ethics (PRE) has developed information to support participants in understanding what it means to participate in research.