Research Ethics is an area concerned with the protection of humans participating in research projects, which may include surveys, questionnaires, interviews and focus groups to name but a few. The ethical review will also help protecting the researcher and the good name of the university in case of the unlikely litigation. It is mandatory that all research conducted in UCD or by UCD staff or students that involve humans is ethically reviewed and approved by the UCD Human Research Ethics Committee. All researchers must adhere to the UCD Code of Good Practice in Research’. 

UCD Office of Research Ethics (2014)

Have you sought ethical approval/exemption?

Before you begin your research, it is important that you clarify if you will need to seek ethical approval or exemption from the UCD Office of Research Ethics. You should consider these key ethical issues (Boyes, 2013) related to accessing students and/or staff data for teaching and learning research purposes:

 

Important elements to note before you begin research:

• If you are conducting research on UCD students to put into the public domain, you need ethical approval.
• If you are working on standard educational practices, this may fall under one of the criteria for ‘ethical exemption’ as determined by UCD research ethics. Whilst you may not require ethical approval here, you will still need to apply for an exemption.
• You must seek approval before you gather any data
• You may come across one of the common dilemmas that researchers have experienced when researching their teaching. Boyes (2013) provides some examples including the use of control groups, where one group is purposively denied a known beneficial intervention; researchers who are also the students’ assessors; or inadvertent identification of participants. If you are in any doubt, contact the UCD Ethics Office for clarification.
• UCD Research Ethics sessions provide the opportunity to learn more about seeking ethical approval/exemption, and/or one-to-one advice. For more details contact researchethics@ucd.ie.
• Here is a Sample Information Sheet and Student Consent form for Interview and Focus Groups. This form would need to be adapted to cover any research aims and ethical issues you identify in your study.