ethics checklist for dissertation

Research Ethics

How to apply for a formal ethics review.

To START the formal ethics review, you need to complete an  Online Ethics Checklist .  Log in using your University credentials and click on ‘ Create’  to begin.

You must not start your research data collection activity or approach your research participants UNTIL you have completed an online ethics checklist and the checklist has been AUTHORISED online. Research ethics forms an integral part of proper scientific conduct, which we expect all staff and students to adhere to.

General Information

Completing the Online Ethics Checklist

Before completing the checklist you should read:

Research Ethics Code of Practice Code of Good Research Practice

Guidance on how to complete the online ethics checklist:

• Postgraduate Research Students
• Undergraduate and Postgraduate Taught Students

Completing the online ethics checklist:

Section 1: Researcher/Project Details

• The summary should be no more than 500 words and written clearly and free from jargon. Please explain any technical terms or discipline-specific phrases. Do not attach a research protocol in place of completing the summary section.
• Briefly outline the overall aim of your research and brief justification for undertaking the research. Please explain your main method(s) e.g. survey, interviews, observation (overt or covert), focus group or lab based tests (this not an exhaustive list).
• Briefly outline any ethical issues but note that if you intend to involve human participants , you will be prompted to address anticipated ethical issues as you work through the checklist (section 3). If you are not working with human participants or their data there may be other ethical considerations such as  managing risks of research misuse ?

Section 2: Filter Questions

• The questions that appear in Section 3 are based on the filter questions you select, so it is important that you select only those filter questions that are relevant to your project.  However, do not avoid filter questions to side-step answering questions relevant to your research!
• Click on the help guides if you are unsure if a question applies to your research or not.

Section 3: My Research

• The questions appear in ‘blocks’ and all questions within a block must be completed.  Please remember to save any new information given before moving in-between sections.  The PDF checklist  is generated based on the answers you give to the questions in Section 3.  This is the document Reviewers will download to assess the ethical viability of your project.

Section 4: Attachments/Researcher Statement

• Do not forget to download the correct version of  PI Sheet Template and Participant Agreement Form template .
• Remember that throughout the online ethics checklist, you will find help guides by clicking information icon.

Points to remember

If you intend to  conduct interviews/focus groups (any other face to face activities with participants) ,  please make sure you  attach  a Participant Information Sheet (PI Sheet) and Participant Agreement Form (PAF), any recruitment adverts, interview protocol, observation schedules or debrief information sheets to your checklist.  If you are conducting a survey, attach a copy of the questions.

• PI Sheet/PAF templates are available,  so please make sure you download an up to date version  every time  you submit a checklist for a new project.  If you’re seeking an Amendment, you may need to consider whether a revised PI Sheet/PAF is required.

Gatekeepers:   If you need to use a gatekeeper to access participants, please confirm who the Gatekeeper is and their involvement.  You should obtain a written agreement from the Gatekeeper, which clarifies their role & responsibilities and which should contain an acknowledgement that they support the research. Confirmation needs to be agreed before data collection commences .

Referral Services:  If it is explicit in your participant information that you intend to refer participants to third party referral services e.g. the Samaritans, the referral service should be informed of the planned research activity before the data collection starts; this is both courteous and professional.  Confirmation that this will be done should be made clear within the summary when completing the checklist.

Questionnaire/Online Surveys:  When  conducting survey/questionnaires  the questionnaire should be designed to include a short version of the PI Sheet (preamble) to be used for informing participants about the ethical dimensions of your questionnaire/survey.  You should ensure that their consent to participate is recorded (particularly if collecting personal information).  There is a  template  available to download and adapt.

Recruitment Materials:  Attach a copy of correspondence you intend to distribute e.g. poster, recruitment email etc. Remember you must display the Ethics ID  on any flyers, posters or social media posts.

Other Useful Documents and External Resources

Other useful documents:

• Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Guidance
• Research Ethics Supplementary Guide For Reference by Researchers Undertaking Journalism and Media Production Projects
• Research Data Management

External resources

We recommend that you also familise yourself with the professional association guidance which is relevant to your field of research.  Some are listed below, together with other external resources which you may find useful.

• UKRI - Research Ethics Framework
• MRC – Managing risks of research misuse
• Ethics Guidelines for Internet-mediated Research (The British Pschological Society)
• UK Research Integrity Office: Good Practice in research: Internet-mediated research 2016
• Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research  – designed to support educational researchers
• The British Psychological Society – Code of Ethics and Conduct (2018)
• Ethics Guidelines for Research with Children and Young People
• Ethical Research involving children
• The Human Tissue Act 2004 –  Research
• Social Research Association - Research Ethics  (providing ethical guidance in social research)
• British Educational Research Association
• Market Research Society - Ethics

UKRI GDPR and Research  – An Overview for Researchers.  Compiled with the support of the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UKRI have provided a GDPR overview for researchers, which sets out guidance and signposts to further sources of information.

If planning research overseas you should determine whether ethics approval is required in the country you are visiting:

• The  International Compilation of Human Research standards , provided by the US Office for Human Research Protections is a useful reference document which details Research Ethics Committees in over 100 countries (they focus on research involving humans).  If a local ethics committee does not exist, advice/approval from the organisation or community where the research will be conducted should be sought.
• European Network of Research Ethics Committees  – EUREC is a network of existing national Research Ethics Committees (RECs) associations, networks or comparable initiatives on the European Level.
• ClinRegs - an online database of country-specific clinical research regulatory information designed to assist in planning and implementing international clinical research.
• The Campus Database - launched by the European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network (ECRIN), the Campus Database, is an online database which includes country-specific information on regulatory and ethical requirements in clinical research across Europe.

Keeping your information secure

The University's Data Protection website has information on Data Protection and Research , Privacy Notices, Information Security and much more.....  Some highlights are given below:

• Guidance on keeping you and BU safe and other useful guidance and policies on  protection against unauthorised recording, access, use, disclosure, modification, loss or destruction of information.  If you intend to use mobile devices – please refer to the Mobile Device Security Guide (staff version) or Mobile Device Security Guide (student version).
• Recognise a data breach – A data breach is a security incident in which information is accessed without authorisation. If you’re ever concerned about a potential data breach at BU, it’s important to call the IT Service Desk as quickly as possible on 01202 965515 (option 1).  See Policy for more details.

Do you plan on making a transfer of personal data outside the UK?  If so, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has guidance on International Transfers .  Please note that you must speak to Legal Services before any transfer (which includes personal data) is made, particularly if the Reciever is not part of BU.

• If you’re collecting data outside of the UK, you need to be aware of restrictions regarding the transfer of data to and from the UK.  To help navigate this complicated area of law, there is a useful website https://www.dlapiperdataprotection.com (made available from DLA Piper) which compares data protection laws from around the world; for the transfer of data please click on the tab ‘Transfer’.
• Familiarise yourself with the different  Information Classification Types  (also see  flow chart ) so you know the correct handling procedures.

Useful links on the anonymisation of data and the use of anonymised data:

Guidance from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO):

• https://ico.org.uk/media/1061/anonymisation-code.pdf

Guidance from the UK Data Service:

• https://www.ukdataservice.ac.uk/manage-data/legal-ethical/anonymisation/
• https://www.ukdataservice.ac.uk/manage-data/legal-ethical/anonymisation/qualitative

Guidance from the UK Anonymisation Network (UKAN): 

• The Anonymisation Decision-Making Framework 

Specific Information

Additional information for staff.

The Review and Approval Process

All Research ethics checklists are reviewed and approved by an appropriate central research ethics panel :

Please note:  If you are a member of staff registered on a part-time PhD and you are seeking approval for research in relation to your PhD, please complete the checklist as a Postgraduate Researcher and not a member of Staff.  The review and approval process for postgraduate research will apply.

• OEC workflow process - low risk  projects
• OEC workflow process - high risk  projects

General Information:

• The system identifies risk  by the responses you give to the questions raised in the checklist.

What to expect when completing the checklist  – this guide provides an overview of the questions you will be prompted to answer.

You must n ot start your research data collection activity  UNTIL  you have completed an online ethics checklist and the checklist has been  APPROVED .

Post Ethics Review

We have guidance on how to manage your study files, how to apply for an Amendment, should you need to change your research protocol, project dates etc and the monitoring of research projects.

Additional Information for Postgraduate Research Students

You must not start your research data collection activity or approach your research participants UNTIL you have gone through the ethics review process (this usually means completing an online ethics checklist, receiving a Favourable Opinion (from the Reviewers) and the checklist has been APPROVED online.

Your checklist is automatically sent to the supervisor you selected to check before proceeding for further review.  (At this stage, the status of your checklist will change to ' submitted ').

Your checklist is initially reviewed by your Supervisor and they can send the checklist back to you if questions have not been answered correctly or you have not attached supporting study documentation such as an participant information sheet, participant agreement form or questionnaire. If your Supervisor returns the checklist to you online, comments will be included in the email notification from 'research ethics'. (At this stage the status of your checklist will change to ' open ').   If you need to reply to the automated email (e.g. if you have a question about the comments made), please click 'reply all' , so that your Supervisor is copied into your response (if their email address is missing - add it, as they need to be able to respond to your enquiry).

When your Supervisor is happy with the checklist and supporting documents, they will either:

• forward your checklist for ‘low risk’ projects onto an appropriate departmental Ethics Champion (at this stage the status of your checklist will change to ' reviewed ') OR
• forward your checklist for ‘high risk’ projects onto an appropriate central research ethics panel (REP) (at this stage the status of your checklist will change to ' forwarded ')

What happens when your checklist is forwarded to one of the two central research ethics panels?

Panels are operating normally but online via Teams

You will be invited to attend a Panel meeting and you should be accompanied by a member of your Supervisory Team (usually your first supervisor). Once the Panel is ready we will add you to the meeting so please ensure you are online.         

Panel meetings are informal and you will be asked questions about your ethics checklist project.  You will be expected to demonstrate an awareness and engagement with research ethics principles and attending Panel allows for clarification on points of uncertainty and aids the review process.

Time management - plan ahead - ethics approval can take between 2 - 6 weeks

• The system identifies risk by the responses you give to the questions raised in the checklist.
• If you know it's going be identified as high risk, make sure you build in sufficient time to allow for the review process into your research timetable – plan ahead!
• OEC workflow process - high risk projects
• OEC workflow process - low risk projects
• The system identifies  risk  by the responses you give to the questions raised in the checklist.

You must not start your research data collection activity  UNTIL  you have gone through the ethics review process and completed an online ethics checklist and the checklist has been  APPROVED .

Additional Information for Undergraduate & Postgraduate Taught Students

You must not start your research data collection activity or approach your research participants UNTIL you have completed an online ethics checklist and the checklist has been APPROVED.

Your checklist is automatically sent to the supervisor you selected to check before proceeding for further review.  (At this stage, the status of your checklist will change to ' submitted ').

Your Supervisor can send the checklist back if questions have not been answered correctly or you have not attached the correct paperwork (e.g. participant information sheet, participant agreement form or questionnaire). When your Supervisor is satisfied that the checklist is complete, they will:

• approve ‘Low risk’ projects (at this stage the status of your checklist will change to ' approved ')
• forward ‘High risk’ projects to designated Ethics Programme Team (at this stage the status of your checklist will change to ' forwarded '). 

What happens when my checklist is forwarded to an Ethics Programme Team?

• Your checklist will undergo an additional review.  Teams can send the checklist back for further changes if they consider questions have not been adequately addressed.

Time management - plan ahead - ethics approval can take up to 2 weeks

See  Review & Approval Flowchart

• The system identifies  risk  by the responses you give to the questions raised in the checklist.

You must not start your research data collection activity  UNTIL  you have completed an online ethics checklist and the checklist has been  APPROVED .

Once your online ethics checklist has been APPROVED, the online form cannot be edited.  If your project changes as you progress, you need to consider whether your current ethics approval is still relevant.  If you need to make changes, these changes need to be approved.  Click the link ' post ethics review ' for information on how to submit an Amendment Request Form.

Ethics review: example of checklist

Example of an ethics checklist to be completed for an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) research project.

Ethics review: example of checklist (Microsoft Word)

Microsoft Word , 39 KB

An ethics checklist should be completed for every ESRC research project. This is an example of a checklist that could be used to determine the level of potential risk or harm from a proposed project.

This is the website for UKRI: our seven research councils, Research England and Innovate UK. Let us know if you have feedback or would like to help improve our online products and services .

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• Knowledge Base

Methodology

• Ethical Considerations in Research | Types & Examples

Ethical Considerations in Research | Types & Examples

Published on October 18, 2021 by Pritha Bhandari . Revised on May 9, 2024.

Ethical considerations in research are a set of principles that guide your research designs and practices. Scientists and researchers must always adhere to a certain code of conduct when collecting data from people.

The goals of human research often include understanding real-life phenomena, studying effective treatments, investigating behaviors, and improving lives in other ways. What you decide to research and how you conduct that research involve key ethical considerations.

These considerations work to

• protect the rights of research participants
• enhance research validity
• maintain scientific or academic integrity

Table of contents

Why do research ethics matter, getting ethical approval for your study, types of ethical issues, voluntary participation, informed consent, confidentiality, potential for harm, results communication, examples of ethical failures, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about research ethics.

Research ethics matter for scientific integrity, human rights and dignity, and collaboration between science and society. These principles make sure that participation in studies is voluntary, informed, and safe for research subjects.

You’ll balance pursuing important research objectives with using ethical research methods and procedures. It’s always necessary to prevent permanent or excessive harm to participants, whether inadvertent or not.

Defying research ethics will also lower the credibility of your research because it’s hard for others to trust your data if your methods are morally questionable.

Even if a research idea is valuable to society, it doesn’t justify violating the human rights or dignity of your study participants.

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Before you start any study involving data collection with people, you’ll submit your research proposal to an institutional review board (IRB) .

An IRB is a committee that checks whether your research aims and research design are ethically acceptable and follow your institution’s code of conduct. They check that your research materials and procedures are up to code.

If successful, you’ll receive IRB approval, and you can begin collecting data according to the approved procedures. If you want to make any changes to your procedures or materials, you’ll need to submit a modification application to the IRB for approval.

If unsuccessful, you may be asked to re-submit with modifications or your research proposal may receive a rejection. To get IRB approval, it’s important to explicitly note how you’ll tackle each of the ethical issues that may arise in your study.

There are several ethical issues you should always pay attention to in your research design, and these issues can overlap with each other.

You’ll usually outline ways you’ll deal with each issue in your research proposal if you plan to collect data from participants.

Voluntary participation means that all research subjects are free to choose to participate without any pressure or coercion.

All participants are able to withdraw from, or leave, the study at any point without feeling an obligation to continue. Your participants don’t need to provide a reason for leaving the study.

It’s important to make it clear to participants that there are no negative consequences or repercussions to their refusal to participate. After all, they’re taking the time to help you in the research process , so you should respect their decisions without trying to change their minds.

Voluntary participation is an ethical principle protected by international law and many scientific codes of conduct.

Take special care to ensure there’s no pressure on participants when you’re working with vulnerable groups of people who may find it hard to stop the study even when they want to.

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Informed consent refers to a situation in which all potential participants receive and understand all the information they need to decide whether they want to participate. This includes information about the study’s benefits, risks, funding, and institutional approval.

You make sure to provide all potential participants with all the relevant information about

• what the study is about
• the risks and benefits of taking part
• how long the study will take
• your supervisor’s contact information and the institution’s approval number

Usually, you’ll provide participants with a text for them to read and ask them if they have any questions. If they agree to participate, they can sign or initial the consent form. Note that this may not be sufficient for informed consent when you work with particularly vulnerable groups of people.

If you’re collecting data from people with low literacy, make sure to verbally explain the consent form to them before they agree to participate.

For participants with very limited English proficiency, you should always translate the study materials or work with an interpreter so they have all the information in their first language.

In research with children, you’ll often need informed permission for their participation from their parents or guardians. Although children cannot give informed consent, it’s best to also ask for their assent (agreement) to participate, depending on their age and maturity level.

Anonymity means that you don’t know who the participants are and you can’t link any individual participant to their data.

You can only guarantee anonymity by not collecting any personally identifying information—for example, names, phone numbers, email addresses, IP addresses, physical characteristics, photos, and videos.

In many cases, it may be impossible to truly anonymize data collection . For example, data collected in person or by phone cannot be considered fully anonymous because some personal identifiers (demographic information or phone numbers) are impossible to hide.

You’ll also need to collect some identifying information if you give your participants the option to withdraw their data at a later stage.

Data pseudonymization is an alternative method where you replace identifying information about participants with pseudonymous, or fake, identifiers. The data can still be linked to participants but it’s harder to do so because you separate personal information from the study data.

Confidentiality means that you know who the participants are, but you remove all identifying information from your report.

All participants have a right to privacy, so you should protect their personal data for as long as you store or use it. Even when you can’t collect data anonymously, you should secure confidentiality whenever you can.

Some research designs aren’t conducive to confidentiality, but it’s important to make all attempts and inform participants of the risks involved.

As a researcher, you have to consider all possible sources of harm to participants. Harm can come in many different forms.

• Psychological harm: Sensitive questions or tasks may trigger negative emotions such as shame or anxiety.
• Social harm: Participation can involve social risks, public embarrassment, or stigma.
• Physical harm: Pain or injury can result from the study procedures.
• Legal harm: Reporting sensitive data could lead to legal risks or a breach of privacy.

It’s best to consider every possible source of harm in your study as well as concrete ways to mitigate them. Involve your supervisor to discuss steps for harm reduction.

Make sure to disclose all possible risks of harm to participants before the study to get informed consent. If there is a risk of harm, prepare to provide participants with resources or counseling or medical services if needed.

Some of these questions may bring up negative emotions, so you inform participants about the sensitive nature of the survey and assure them that their responses will be confidential.

The way you communicate your research results can sometimes involve ethical issues. Good science communication is honest, reliable, and credible. It’s best to make your results as transparent as possible.

Take steps to actively avoid plagiarism and research misconduct wherever possible.

Plagiarism means submitting others’ works as your own. Although it can be unintentional, copying someone else’s work without proper credit amounts to stealing. It’s an ethical problem in research communication because you may benefit by harming other researchers.

Self-plagiarism is when you republish or re-submit parts of your own papers or reports without properly citing your original work.

This is problematic because you may benefit from presenting your ideas as new and original even though they’ve already been published elsewhere in the past. You may also be infringing on your previous publisher’s copyright, violating an ethical code, or wasting time and resources by doing so.

In extreme cases of self-plagiarism, entire datasets or papers are sometimes duplicated. These are major ethical violations because they can skew research findings if taken as original data.

You notice that two published studies have similar characteristics even though they are from different years. Their sample sizes, locations, treatments, and results are highly similar, and the studies share one author in common.

Research misconduct

Research misconduct means making up or falsifying data, manipulating data analyses, or misrepresenting results in research reports. It’s a form of academic fraud.

These actions are committed intentionally and can have serious consequences; research misconduct is not a simple mistake or a point of disagreement about data analyses.

Research misconduct is a serious ethical issue because it can undermine academic integrity and institutional credibility. It leads to a waste of funding and resources that could have been used for alternative research.

Later investigations revealed that they fabricated and manipulated their data to show a nonexistent link between vaccines and autism. Wakefield also neglected to disclose important conflicts of interest, and his medical license was taken away.

This fraudulent work sparked vaccine hesitancy among parents and caregivers. The rate of MMR vaccinations in children fell sharply, and measles outbreaks became more common due to a lack of herd immunity.

Research scandals with ethical failures are littered throughout history, but some took place not that long ago.

Some scientists in positions of power have historically mistreated or even abused research participants to investigate research problems at any cost. These participants were prisoners, under their care, or otherwise trusted them to treat them with dignity.

To demonstrate the importance of research ethics, we’ll briefly review two research studies that violated human rights in modern history.

These experiments were inhumane and resulted in trauma, permanent disabilities, or death in many cases.

After some Nazi doctors were put on trial for their crimes, the Nuremberg Code of research ethics for human experimentation was developed in 1947 to establish a new standard for human experimentation in medical research.

In reality, the actual goal was to study the effects of the disease when left untreated, and the researchers never informed participants about their diagnoses or the research aims.

Although participants experienced severe health problems, including blindness and other complications, the researchers only pretended to provide medical care.

When treatment became possible in 1943, 11 years after the study began, none of the participants were offered it, despite their health conditions and high risk of death.

Ethical failures like these resulted in severe harm to participants, wasted resources, and lower trust in science and scientists. This is why all research institutions have strict ethical guidelines for performing research.

If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• Normal distribution
• Measures of central tendency
• Chi square tests
• Confidence interval
• Quartiles & Quantiles
• Cluster sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Thematic analysis
• Cohort study
• Peer review
• Ethnography

Research bias

• Implicit bias
• Cognitive bias
• Conformity bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Availability heuristic
• Attrition bias
• Social desirability bias

Ethical considerations in research are a set of principles that guide your research designs and practices. These principles include voluntary participation, informed consent, anonymity, confidentiality, potential for harm, and results communication.

Scientists and researchers must always adhere to a certain code of conduct when collecting data from others .

These considerations protect the rights of research participants, enhance research validity , and maintain scientific integrity.

Research ethics matter for scientific integrity, human rights and dignity, and collaboration between science and society. These principles make sure that participation in studies is voluntary, informed, and safe.

Anonymity means you don’t know who the participants are, while confidentiality means you know who they are but remove identifying information from your research report. Both are important ethical considerations .

You can only guarantee anonymity by not collecting any personally identifying information—for example, names, phone numbers, email addresses, IP addresses, physical characteristics, photos, or videos.

You can keep data confidential by using aggregate information in your research report, so that you only refer to groups of participants rather than individuals.

These actions are committed intentionally and can have serious consequences; research misconduct is not a simple mistake or a point of disagreement but a serious ethical failure.

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