What requires ethics review?
Definition and Criteria for Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement Projects
- QA and QI projects assess how an organization, group, faculty, department, or program is doing and is an activity undertaken by members of the University for administrative or operational reasons.
- For a QA/QI project to be exempt from ethics review, all of the following must apply:
- the project must be within the mandate of Yukon University or according to the terms and conditions of employment or training,
- the project must be a review of practices and procedures designed to identify possible improvements,
- the project only involves participation of Yukon University employees, students or alumni and relates only to the specific site or area such as the department, program, school, faculty, employee group, or key informants such as co-op employers, and
- results tend to be local to Yukon University such that they are not generally available for public release outside the institution however in some instances dissemination or publication may mean the results are shared at a conference or other public means or with a Ministry or accrediting body.
- Faculty, staff, or students who are looking to conduct a QA/QI project should contact Dawn Macdonald, Institutional Research and Planning to discuss their project. Even though a QA/QI project may not require ethics review, there may still be ethical issues or sensitivities that have to be considered.
Guidelines - Remote Data Collection
- Ethical Considerations for Doing Research Remotely
- Documentation of Oral Consent Template
- REB Guide: Using Video-Conferencing platforms for data collection from human participants
- Using Zoom for research involving human participants
- REB Guidelines for Interviews on Zoom
- Using Microsoft Teams for research involving human participants
- Consent Form considerations for Videoconferencing
General REB Guidelines and Templates
- Course-based research guidelines
- Course-based research assignments involving human participants: student agreement
- Research Assistant confidentiality agreement
- REB reviewer consent form checklist
- Reviewer comments and recommendation checklist
- Recruitment Poster Guidelines and Template
- Yukon University letterhead template
- Draft guidelines concerning incentives, honoraria, reimbursement and compensation in research and scholarly activities
- Requirements for Online Surveys
Consent to participate in a research study should be understood as a process. Researchers should plan for and determine the steps by which consent is initially obtained and the steps by which it is reviewed throughout the study. In order for participants to give meaningful consent, they should be able to clearly understand the following.
- Intent of the research
- What they are being asked to do
- If any risks are involved
- How their information will be used
Consent Guidelines and Template
- Consent form guidelines
- Consent form template Pdf and Word format
Online Survey - Consent Process
Is informed consent from survey respondents needed?
Yes, all potential participants must have the opportunity to give informed consent before starting a survey (TCPS2 2022- Chapter 3). A signed consent form is not always needed (Chapter 3 Article 3.12) . In most cases for survey research that is of minimal risk, the completion of the survey will be accepted by the REB as evidence of consent to participate.
For online surveys the first window of the survey should consist of project information and a statement such as "by entering the survey, I indicate that I have read the information provided and agree to participate." A print button should be provided and participants should be encouraged to print a copy or save a pdf of the consent information for their records.
The Panel on Research Ethics (PRE) has developed information to support participants in understanding what it means to participate in research.