Research Ethics

Relevant Links

Overview

At the University of Prince Edward Island, the Research Ethics Board (REB) is responsible for ensuring research is conducted in an ethical manner. Ethical conduct in research is one of the stated goals of the UPEI REB which is found at the Research Ethics Page on the UPEI website.

The policies and procedures which the REB administer are:

  • Developing policies regarding ethical issues relating to the use of human participants in research and experimental teaching protocols;
  • Reviewing for ethical approval all protocols requiring the participation of human participants;
  • Reviewing annually all policies regarding ethical issues relating to the use of human participants in research projects to ensure that policies remain current;
  • Dealing with matters concerned with human-based research referred to the REB by the President of UPEI;
  • Preparing an annual report for submission to the President;
  • Participating in continuing education organized by UPEI research administrators for the University community in matters relating to ethics and the use of human participants1

To comply with the standards of practice within Canada, the UPEI REB follows the Tri-Council's Policy for Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans. The stated aim of this policy is "to promote the ethical conduct of research involving humans."2

This statement is linked on the webpage of the UPEI REB and is also available on the Panel on Research Ethics page which is managed by the Government of Canada. The page contains all of the information a researcher would need to conduct research in an ethical manner. It provides information for individual disciplines or research conducted with specific cultural groups. The page contains a series of resources and support documents to provided researchers with information on how to perform ethical research. One of these supports is a tutorial which provides researchers with hands-on experience in ethical research. The Panel for Research Ethics page provides information on ethical data collection in a specific instance .3

The Panel on Research Ethics also provides a glossary of terms which describes and defines the terms used in research ethics.4

The University of Prince Edward Island maintains a list of policies and procedures on its website which relate directly to the responsible conduct of research. Two of these policies are of particular importance concerning the collection of data and conducting research in general: Responsible Conduct of Research, Scholarly and Creative Work; and Procedures for Stewardship of Research Records and Materials at UPEI.

 

Consent

The Panel for Research Ethics webpage provides researchers with guidance on gaining consent in an ethical manner. Section 3, Consent, describes the consent process and how researchers can gain consent in accordance with their REB. The section begins by defining consent in the context of research and provides three top-level concepts which govern consent;

  1. Consent shall be given voluntarily.
  2. Consent can be withdrawn at any time.
  3. If a participant withdraws consent, the participant can also request the withdrawal of their data or human biological materials.

These three concepts are fundamental to the understanding of consent. The section then proceeds to define informed consent which ensures that each participant is aware of the research in which they are participating and provides twelve principles of informed consent are listed and then expanded upon. The section also describes the methods by which a participant is allowed to withdraw from a study and the requirement of the researcher in these situations. An important aspect of consent which is discussed in this section is decision-making capacity as it relates to participants in a study who are children or those who have others who make informed decisions for them.5

 

Data and Information: Use and Collection

The Panel for Research Ethics provides researchers with guidance on how to properly collect and maintain data. Section 5, Privacy and Confidentiality, outlines how to collect data and information without breaching the privacy of a subject. The section begins by outlining the ethics involved with collecting data that contain with identifiable information. This section describes how to ensure confidentiality when the information being collected has information which could identify and individual within a group.

The section then explains the importance of safeguarding information that has been collected. It outlines the requirements for the researcher to ensure data is safeguarded in both physical and digital formats, and describes the institutional requirements to provide infrastructure for safeguarding. The section ends by describing the need to gain consent from subjects when completing a secondary analysis of data and issues with data linkage. The section notes that data linkage has greatly expanded with new technologies, but warns that new technologies increase the risk of confidential data being released.6

 

First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples of Canada

The Panel for Research Ethics devotes an entire section of their policy to Research Involving the First Nations, Inuit and Metis Peoples of Canada. They note the unique histories, cultures, and traditions of those communities. In the past research has been conducted that did not respect Aboriginal peoples so the Tri-Council seeks to conduct research in concert with Aboriginal peoples, in the hopes it will be to their benefit. The section describes the ways in which a researcher can conduct research while respecting the histories, culture, traditions, and governance structure of Aboriginal peoples. It also describes the obligation of a researcher to respect the community customs and codes of practice while interacting with Aboriginal peoples. Community engagement and mutually-beneficial research are also important aspects of this section, as well as the importance of privacy and confidentiality. Safe-guarding data to ensure confidentiality is an important aspect of any research or data collection.7

 

The Panel for Research Ethics webpage contains additional information on ethical data collection and dissemination including sections related to specific types of data such as genetic information and clinical information.

References

1 University of Prince Edward Island. (2009, March 15). University of Prince Edward Island Research Ethics Board Policies and Procedures. Retrieved from http://files.upei.ca/research/research_ethics-board_policy_and_procedures.pdf

2 Government of Canada. (2015, February 13). Panel on Research Ethics: TCPS 2 (2014)— the latest edition of Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans. Retrieved from http://www.pre.ethics.gc.ca/eng/policy-politique/initiatives/tcps2-eptc2/introduction/#tocIntro-1

3 Government of Canada. (2014, December 18). Panel on Research Ethics: TCPS 2 - Introduction. Retrieved from http://www.pre.ethics.gc.ca/eng/policy-politique/initiatives/tcps2-eptc2/introduction/

4 Government of Canada. (2016, June 10). Panel on Research Ethics: Glossary. Retrieved from http://www.pre.ethics.gc.ca/eng/policy-politique/initiatives/tcps2-eptc2/glossary-glossaire/

5 Government of Canada. (2015, September 11). Panel on Research Ethics: 3. The Consent Process. Retrieved from http://www.pre.ethics.gc.ca/eng/policy-politique/initiatives/tcps2-eptc2/chapter3-chapitre3/

6 Government of Canada. (2016, November 18). Panel on Research Ethics: 5. Privacy and Confidentiality. Retrieved from http://www.pre.ethics.gc.ca/eng/policy-politique/initiatives/tcps2-eptc2/chapter5-chapitre5/#toc05-1

7 Government of Canada. (2015, January 7). Panel on Research Ethics: 9. First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples of Canada. Retrieved from http://www.pre.ethics.gc.ca/eng/policy-politique/initiatives/tcps2-eptc2/chapter9-chapitre9/#toc09-1