Research Integrity and Ethics - School of Education and Professional Development

Students on undergraduate, taught MA degrees and PGR PhD/EdD modules

Many students on taught courses have to collect primary data as part of their assessed work, especially for their dissertations but also for other modules. Students need to submit E2 (Ethocs consideration of approval form) to their tutor or supervisor along with their E1 (Proposal form) prior to collecting any data. To complete form E2 students are required to have read and understood one of the following sets of ethical guidelines depending on their project: 

• British Educational Research Association's (BERA) Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research (2018)
• British Association for the Study of Religions (BASR) ethical guidelines for research (2019)
• British Association of Social Workers (BASW) Code of Human Research Ethics (2010)

Ethics will be addressed as part of students' research training. Students and their tutors or supervisors should specifically identify and discuss the ethical implications of any proposed research projects. The tutors or supervisor should normally be in a position to provide ethical approval where students' projects are straightforward.

Informed consent for research with young people

• If the young person is under the age of 16, consent from a parent or guardian is required. (Form E4).
• If the young person is aged 16 or 17, consent from a parent or guardian is normally required. If this is not possible and the young person is taking part in organised support provided by social work, youth work, probation or a similar service, organisational consent should be secured (Form E5).
• If the young person is 18 or over, there is no need for parental or organisational consent. The young person can provide consent in their own right unless an Education and Healthcare Plan is in place. In this case, parental/guardian consent is required for individuals up to and including the age of 25. If this is not possible, organisational consent is required(Form E5).     

If tutors or supervisors have any concerns or doubts about providing ethical approval, they should submit the proposal and form E2 to the School Research Integrity and Ethics Committee (SRIEC) (through the Chair, Professor Robin Simmons) for formal approval.

The Chair will convene SRIEC, made up of members of SREC, to examine the proposal in relation to the appropriate guidelines. After consideration the committee will:

• approve the proposal
• approve the proposal subject to revision (to be confirmed by the chair of full committee)
• reject the proposal and ask the student to re-submit

Students must not commence any data collection without signed ethical approval, so sufficient time should be allowed for this process. Students must retain the signed ethical approval form and submit these with the relevant assignment, dissertation or thesis.

These are forms you may need to complete depending on the requirements of your module and your particular area of study. Your tutor/supervisor will advise you which ones are necessary

E1	E1 Dissertation/PGR taught module proposal form
E2	E2 Approval form
E3	E3 Participation information sheet
E4	E4 Participant consent form
E5	E5 School or organisation consent form

Postgraduate Researchers (PGR) (PhD/EdD and MAs by Research degrees)

Ethics will be addresses as part of students' research training. Students have to submit their Research Plan (RP) to the School Graduate Education Group (SGEG) for formal approval. For EdD students this procedure is part of successfully completing Module 4. The RP includes a specific section on ethics which needs to be satisfactorily completed and should reference the appropriate guidelines to demonstrate how these have informed the research design:

• British Educational Research Association's (BERA) Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research (2018)
• British Association for the Study of Religions (BASR) ethical guidelines for research (2019)
• British Association of Social Workers (BASW) Code of Human Research Ethics (2010)

Informed consent for research with young people

• If the young person is under the age of 16, consent from a parent or guardian is required. (Form E4).
• If the young person is aged 16 or 17, consent from a parent or guardian is normally required. If this is not possible and the young person is taking part in organised support provided by social work, youth work, probation or a similar service, organisational consent should be secured (Form E5).
• If the young person is 18 or over, there is no need for parental or organisational consent. The young person can provide consent in their own right unless an Education and Healthcare Plan is in place. In this case, parental/guardian consent is required for individuals up to and including the age of 25. If this is not possible, organisational consent is required(Form E5).     

In most cases members of the SGEG should be able to approve the proposal but if there are doubts or concerns about its ethical implications these should be referred to the SRIEC through the Chair (Professor Robin Simmons) for formal approval.

The chair will convene SRIEC, made up of of members of SREC to examine the proposal in relation to the appropriate ethical guidelines. After consideration the committee will:

• approve the proposal
• approve the proposal subject to revision (to be confirmed by the chair of the full committee)
• reject the proposal and ask the student to re-submit

Students must not commence data collection without signed ethical approval, so sufficient time should be allowed for the approval process. Students must maintain the signed ethical approval form and submit these with their dissertation/thesis.

Integrity and ethics will need to be specifically addressed in your research plan and proposal.

The following may be of interest as examples of:

• E2 Approval form
• E3 Participation information sheet
• E4 Participant consent form
• E5 School or organisation consent form

Staff, independent and funded empirical research

The School applies a rigorous internal peer and ethical review process to all applications for research funding. The purpose of this process is to provide support to staff during the grant application process and ensure that all applications are of the highest possible standard and this includes issues related to Research Integrity and Ethics.

All independent and funded research requires peer and ethical review, this includes research that is being ethically reviewed by another institution. In all cases you will need to complete a Staff Research Peer-Ethical Review form (available to staff from the HudCRES Sharepoint site) which should be returned to HudCRES@hud.ac.uk

The proposal will be reviewed by members of SRIEC.

The outcome of this process will be to:

• Approve
• Approve Subject to Recommendations
• Approve Subject to Conditions
• Request Further Information to be supplied
• Refer to full SRIEC meeting
• Reject

Induction for new staff

As part of their induction a dedicated training session will introduce new members of staff to ethical and integrity procedures and will be led by the chair of SRIEC.

Training

Disciplinary focused training will take place on a yearly basis and will be led by the chair of SRIEC.

The following may be of interest as examples: 

• E3 Participation information sheet
• E4 Participant consent form
• E5 School or organisation consent form

Informed consent for research with young people

• If the young person is under the age of 16, consent from a parent or guardian is required. (Form E4).
• If the young person is aged 16 or 17, consent from a parent or guardian is normally required. If this is not possible and the young person is taking part in organised support provided by social work, youth work, probation or a similar service, organisational consent should be secured (Form E5).
• If the young person is 18 or over, there is no need for parental or organisational consent. The young person can provide consent in their own right unless an Education and Healthcare Plan is in place. In this case, parental/guardian consent is required for individuals up to and including the age of 25. If this is not possible, organisational consent is required(Form E5).