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SCHOOL RESEARCH ETHICS ASSESSMENT FORM
BRUNEL LAW SCHOOL RESEARCH ETHICS COMMITTEE
BRUNEL UNIVERSITY
This checklist, based on the Research Ethics Review Checklist from the ESRC Research Ethics Framework, was designed to help determine the level of risk of harm to participants’ welfare entailed in any proposed research within the Law School at Brunel University. The form must be submitted to the BLS Support Office (Elliott Jaques Room 006), Brunel Law School, Brunel University.
This assessment form should be completed for every empirical research project at Brunel Law School by students and by staff that involves human participants. It is used to identify whether a full application for ethics approval needs to be submitted. If a full application is required, then the University Research Ethics Committee’s full Application Form for Research Ethics Approval must be used. The full Application Form for Research Ethics Approval can be downloaded from the following Web site: https://intra.brunel.ac.uk/m/UREC/Forms%20Policies%20and%20Procedures/Forms/AllItems.aspx
Please use the Word version (not the PDF version) when using the full Application Form for Research Ethics Approval.
Before completing this form, please refer to the General Ethical Guidelines and Procedures, as well as the Code of Research Ethics, developed by the University Research Ethics Committee (both forms can be downloaded from the link above). The principal investigator at Brunel University (and, when the student is the principal investigator, the student’s immediate supervisor at Brunel University) must support the need for, and relevance of, research involving human participation, although responsibility for exercising methodological and ethical judgment in this review falls to the Law School REC.
This assessment form must be completed and ethics approval given before potential participants are approached to take part in any research. Penalties may apply if students approach participants without ethical approval.
Section I: Project Details
1. Project title:
Section II: Applicant Details
2. Name of researcher (applicant):
3. Status (please select): Undergraduate Student/Postgraduate Student/Staff
4. Discipline : Law
5. Email address:
6a. Contact address:
6b. Telephone number
Section III: For Students Only
7. Module name and number:
8. Supervisor's or module leader's name:
9. Email address:
10. Contact address:
Supervisor: Please tick the appropriate boxes. The study should not begin until all boxes are ticked:
c The student states that he or she has read the Brunel University Code of Research Ethics.
c The topic merits further research.
c The student will possess the skills to carry out the research by the time that he or she starts any work that could affect the well-being of other people. He or she will be deemed to have acquired such skills on attending the relevant research skills seminars provided by the Law School.
c The informed consent form and debriefing form for participants are attached.
c I have reviewed the submission and support the proposal for human participation as part of the planned research.
Additional comments from supervisor:
______
Supervisor’s signature Date
Section IV: Research Checklist
Please answer each question by ticking the appropriate box:
YES / NO1. Does the study involve participants who may be particularly vulnerable and/or unable to give informed consent, thus requiring the consent of parents or guardians? (e.g. children under the age of 16; people with certain learning disabilities) / c / c
2a. [For staff only:] Does the study involve participants who are your own students? / c / c
2b. If the answer to Question 2a is Yes, then will your students be unable to give informed consent? / c / c
3a. Will the study require the co-operation of a ‘gatekeeper’ to allow initial access to the groups or individuals to be recruited? / c / c
3b. If the answer to Question 3a is Yes, then will the study involve people who could be deemed in any way to be vulnerable by virtue of their status within particular institutional settings? (e.g. students at school; certain disabled people; members of a self-help group; residents of a nursing home, prison, or any other institution where individuals cannot come and go freely) / c / c
4. In situations where participants are not going about their daily business, but gathered for the purpose of a study, will it be necessary for participants to take part in the study without their knowledge and consent at the time? (e.g. covert observation of people in non-public places) / c / c
5. Will the study involve discussion by or with respondents or interviewees of their
own involvement in activities such as sexual behaviour or drug use, where they
have not given prior consent to such discussion? / c / c
6. Is pain or more than mild discomfort likely to result from the study? / c / c
7. Could the study induce psychological stress or anxiety or cause harm or negative consequences beyond the risks encountered in normal life? / c / c
8. Will the study involve prolonged or repetitive testing? / c / c
9. Will financial inducements (other than reasonable expenses and compensation for time) be offered to participants? / c / c
10. Will the study involve recruitment of patients or staff through the NHS? / c / c
11a. Are you undertaking this study as part of your work placement? / c / c
11b. If your answer to Question 11 is Yes, then has the employer at your work placement failed to conduct its own research ethics review? / c / c
Please provide appropriate documentation in support of your application (e.g., informed consent forms, debriefing forms, survey questionnaires, interview protocols, copies of approved ethics forms from external organisations).
Give a brief description below of the procedures you will use to gather your participants, including the criteria for their inclusion and selection, and whether and how confidentiality or anonymity will be retained.
Research Integrity
Have you completed the Research Integrity Online Training relevant to your field of research (via Blackboard Learn – Brunel Graduate School Research & Teaching Courses – Research Integrity)?YES / NO
If no, have you completed any other form of training linked to research integrity?
YES / NO
If yes, please provide brief details.
For final year undergraduate students, please attach two copies of this form, completed and signed by you (but leaving the supervisor’s section blank) and any necessary documentation, to your 1,000 word dissertation outline. You should not submit the form directly to your supervisor for approval. The form will be passed on to the supervisor together with the dissertation outline.
Postgraduate students planning to undertake research involving human participants as part of their degree are also required to complete two copies of this form, completed and signed by you (but leaving the supervisor’s section blank) and to attach it to any documentation required to accompany this form such as informed consent forms, debriefing forms, survey questionnaires, interview protocols, copies of approved ethics forms from external organisations.
N.B. Please note that postgraduate students must also attach an outline of about 500 words to the Checklist detailing their research question (and any sub-questions), the background context for the study, the rationale for the element of the research proposing human participation, the student’s proposed research strategies and the questions each is intended to answer, and how the student proposes to use the data gathered. This will help inform the School REC’s decisions as to methodological and ethical propriety.
All students undertaking empirical research involving human participation are required to retain a copy of the ‘approved’ ethics Checklist form, and to submit this with their dissertation (bound in the Appendix). Any such student dissertation that is submitted without an approved ethics form, may be subject to penalties. Students must consult the appropriate module or degree convenor for details of potential penalties for such a failure.
Members of staff who are the primary researchers at Brunel University, whether collecting data with or without the aid of students, must submit ethics forms to the School Research Ethics Committee.
The BLS Support Office (EJ006) will distribute the School Research Ethics Assessment forms for review.
If you have answered Yes to any of the questions in Section IV pertinent to the kind of research to be undertaken, then you may need to describe more fully how you plan to deal with the ethical issues raised by your research. That is, you may need to submit your plans for addressing the ethical issues raised by your proposal, using the University Research Ethics Committee’s full Application Form for Research Ethics Approval, which must be sent to the Law School Research Ethics Committee that will distribute this form to fellow members of the School Research Ethics Committee. This does not mean that you cannot do the research, only that your full proposal may need to be approved by the School Research Ethics Committee.
If you answered Yes to question 10, then you will also have to submit an application to the appropriate external health authority ethics committee, after you have received approval from the School Research Ethics Committee.
Please note that it is your responsibility to follow the Code of Research Ethics, developed by the University Research Ethics Committee, as well as any relevant academic or professional guidelines in the conduct of your study. This includes providing appropriate documentation as described above, and ensuring confidentiality in the storage and use of data. Any significant change in the question, design or conduct over the course of the research should be notified to the School Research Ethics Officer (Dr Federico Ferretti) and may require a new application for ethics approval.
Name of Principal Investigator at Brunel University (please print): ______
Signature of Principal Investigator at Brunel University: ______
E-Mail Address: ______
Date: ______
Please place two copies of the printed and signed approval form in the BLS Support Office (EJ006), Brunel Law School, Brunel University, OR follow the procedure you have been provided with by your module convenor or research supervisor.
This request for expedited review has been: (1) Approved (no additional ethics form is necessary)
(2) Declined (full University ethics form is necessary)
Signature of School Research Ethics Officer: ______
Date: ______
Suggested Classification of Risk in Relation to Research Ethics Applications
The following are suggested criteria for determining risk levels. They should be used in a way that takes full account of circumstances faced by the researcher.
Low Risk
· Based on research methods drawn up to elicit data where, for example:-
o Topics have very low risk of causing distress
o Respondents are not classed as being from a potentially vulnerable group (e.g., children), or include clients of the researcher
o Questionnaires are to be completed solely by the respondent and administered and returned anonymously
o Focus groups with low likelihood of causing distress
· Risk to researcher and respondent of carrying out the research process are negligible, in terms of likelihood of occurrence and severity of outcome – e.g., researcher has no direct contact with respondents
· If a gatekeeper is involved, their permission is already in place.
Medium Risk
· Topics and methods that may cause moderate distress to respondents – sources of help available should be detailed
· Research involving respondents from a potentially vulnerable group –how the ethical issues arising will be dealt with must be detailed. Some vulnerable groups may be high risk
· Researcher will directly collect data from respondents in a medium risk setting, such as a public place or office of an organisation with the organisation’s knowledge and consent – full risk assessment details required
· Material inducements/incentive will be offered to participants
· Setting unfamiliar to researcher – this may also be classed as high risk.
High Risk
· Any research involving:
o Human tissue or other biological material – Human Tissue Act applies
o NHS patients or facilities
o People using social care services
o Social Services, particularly if three or more different Social Services areas are to be included, when Association of Directors of Social Services (ADSS) approval will be required
o Those whose ability to consent is in doubt – legal competence to consent
o Members of any vulnerable groups, including refugees and asylum seekers, children in care or at risk of going into care or where potential respondents could be considered in a dependent position (e.g., researcher’s own students or clients/patients)
· Research where the risk of distress, or the potential level of distress, embarrassment or harm, that might be caused to the participants or researcher is particularly high. Topics such as death and bereavement or sexuality would probably come into this category, at least in most settings
· Research that may touch on, or elicit information about:
o Illegal behaviours by the respondent or others
o Risky behaviours by the respondent or others
· Focus groups where the researcher is the sole facilitator – how they will deal with problems such as if one person becomes distressed, or requires attention need addressing
· Research overseas where the setting is unfamiliar to the researcher
· Lone working by researcher – particularly if the researcher is planning to visit the home of the respondents.
NOTE: None of these higher risks would necessarily preclude research being carried out, but merely require that all matters had been adequately thought through, and sufficient measures taken in response to risks that might have been identified.