Week 13 18/10/21
Research Ethics
Research Must Comply with all Legal
Requirements
Relevant legislation:
 Data Protection Act - superseded
by the GPDR
 Human Tissue Act – medical
research
 Mental Capacity Act – more
vulnerable participates
 Health and Social Care Research
Governance
Research Must Conform to Agreed
Standards of Good Practice
Declaration of Helsinki
ESRC = Economic and Social Research
Council – Research Ethics Framework
Essential principles can be categorised as:
 Beneficence – do positive good
 Non-malfeasance – do no harm
 Integrity
 Informed consent
 Confidentiality/anonymity
 Impartiality
SHU Ethics Guidelines
SHU Research Ethics Committee
guidelines – you must engage with the
SHU ethics guidelines.
In ‘Everyday Language’
Ethical research demonstrates:
 Consideration towards the
participants.
 Strenuous efforts on the part of
the researcher to minimise bias as
much as is possible – positionality.
 About approaching the research
with an open mind and acceptance
of difference and different
viewpoints.
Don’t describe ethical principles, just
mention how you have done it.
 How you applied ethics
Ethics in Systematic Reviews
Vergness, Marchael-Sixou, Nabet, Maret
and Hamel (2010) recommend the:
 Ethical assessment of studies to be
included based on the most
fundamental ethical principles.
 Avoidance of sources with
insufficient reporting of ethical
considerations.
 Acknowledge – as having done so
– or sources that ignore one of
more fundamental ethical
principles.
 Reporting of ethical assessment of
original studies.
Confidentiality and Anonymity?
Confidentiality:
 Information given to the
researcher is kept secret by them,
and not communicated to others,
other than by the writing of the
report, where identities of
participants are anonymised and
protected.
Anonymity:
 Participants names or job titles are
not used in reporting the research
– use numbers, letters or
pseudonyms – nor setting details.
You need to adhere to the principles of
the General Data Protection Regulations
(GDPR) 2018 which supersede the Data
Protection of 1998.
Seeking Informed Consent
 Participant information form
 Participant consent form
 Seeking consent for use of imag