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Researchers contribute to human welfare by acquiring knowledge and applying it to human problems. They simultaneously consider two types of obligations in the design and conduct of research. One of these obligations is to conduct research as capably as their knowledge permits, and another is to protect the dignity and preserve the well being of human research participants.

In order to conduct research involving human participants you will need to prepare a research ethics application and submit it using the Alberta Research Information Services (ARISE) System. The online system will lead you through the process of writing and submitting the proposal, but before you start this process you should think through the ethical aspects of your research. As you do so you should consider the following eight Guiding Ethical Principles. These are based on the principles laid out in (the second edition of Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans), the guiding document used by Canadian research institutions for ethics planning and review of research involving human participants. The ARISE system will ask you questions that relate to these and other ethical principles as you move through the online form. 

Respect for Human Dignity

The cardinal principle of modern research ethics is respect for human dignity.  Such respect requires that researchers protect the multiple and interdependent interests of the person - from bodily to psychological to cultural integrity - as they may be affected by the research.  This principle forms the basis of the remaining ethical principles described in the following subsections. Conflicts may sometimes arise from the application of these principles in isolation from one another.  Researchers must carefully weigh all the principles and circumstances involved to reach a reasoned and defensible conclusion.

Respect for Free and Informed Consent

Individuals are generally presumed to have the capacity and right to make free and informed decisions.  Respect for persons thus means respecting the exercise of individual consent.  In practical terms within the ethics review process, the principle of respect for persons  translates into the dialogue, process, rights, duties and requirements for free and informed consent by the research participant.

Respect for Vulnerable Persons

Respect for human dignity entails high ethical obligations towards vulnerable persons—to those whose lack of competence and/or decision-making capacity make them vulnerable.  Children, institutionalized persons or others who are vulnerable are entitled, on grounds of human dignity, caring, solidarity and fairness, to special protection against abuse, exploitation or discrimination.  Ethical obligations to vulnerable individuals in the research enterprise will often translate into special procedures to protect their interests.

Respect for Privacy and Confidentiality

Respect for human dignity also implies the principles of respect for privacy and confidentiality.  In many cultures, privacy and confidentiality are considered fundamental to human dignity.  Thus, standards of privacy and confidentiality protect the access, control and dissemination of personal information.  In doing so, such standards help to protect mental or psychological integrity.  They are thus consonant with values underlying privacy, confidentiality and anonymity respected.

Respect for Justice and Inclusiveness

Justice connotes fairness and equity.  Procedural justice requires that the ethics review process have fair methods, standards and procedures for reviewing research proposals, and that the process be effectively independent.  Justice also concerns the distribution of benefits and burdens of research.  On the one hand, distributive justice means that no segment of the population should be unfairly burdened with the harms of research.  It thus imposes particular obligations toward individuals who are vulnerable and unable to protect their own interests in order to ensure that they are not exploited for the advancement of knowledge. On the other hand, distributive justice also imposes duties neither to neglect nor discriminate against individuals and groups who may benefit from advances in research.

Balancing Harms and Benefits

The analysis, balance and distribution of harms and benefits are critical to the ethics of human research.  Modern research ethics, for instance, require a favourable harms-benefit balance—that is, that the foreseeable harms should not outweigh anticipated benefits.  Harms-benefit analysis thus affects the welfare and rights of research participants, the informed assumption of harms and benefits, and the ethical justification for competing research paths.

This is not to say that harm may not result from research.  In some areas of research such as political science, economics or modern history, there may be occasions in which research ethically results in harm to the reputations of organizations or individuals in public life.

There is often uncertainty about the magnitude and kind of benefits or harms that may result from proposed research and a resultant uncertainty about the balance of benefits and harms.  This uncertainty imposes an obligation to conduct research at a high level of competency in order to maximize the potential benefits of the research.

Minimizing Harm

A principle related to achieving a favorable harms-benefit balance is that of non-maleficence, or the duty to avoid, prevent or minimize harm.  Research procedures which might cause serious or lasting harm to a participant must not be used unless their absence would expose the participant to a risk of even greater harm.  Research participants must not be subjected to unnecessary risks of harm.  Their participation must be essential to achieving scientifically and societally important aims that cannot otherwise be realized.  Minimization of harm also requires that research involve the smallest number of human participants and the smallest number of tests on them that shall ensure scientifically valid data.   Should adverse effects result from research procedures, the researcher has an obligation to assist the participant in reducing or eliminating those effects.

Maximizing Benefit

Another principle related to the harms and benefits of research is beneficence.  The principle of beneficence imposes a duty to benefit others and, in research ethics, a duty to maximize benefits.  The principle has particular relevance for researchers in areas such as social work, education, health care and applied psychology.  Benefits of research may accrue to the research participants themselves, to other individuals or to society as a whole, or to the advancement of knowledge.  In most research, the primary benefits are for society and for the advancement of knowledge.

Do I Have to Submit an Ethics Proposal?

Simply put, research involves a systematic investigation to establish facts, principles or generalizable knowledge.

All such activity requires ethics review and approval before the research is started regardless of:

• whether it is funded or non-funded;
• whether funding is internal (University) or from an external source (including domestic and foreign public, government and private sources;
• whether participants are drawn from university sources or from any other source;
• whether participants are paid or unpaid;
• whether it is conducted inside or outside Canada;
• whether it is conducted on university property or at any other location;
• whether it is conducted in a laboratory or in the field;
• whether it is conducted in person or by some other means (e.g., mail, phone, computer link);
• whether information is collected via direct observation, apparatus, questionnaire, interview or review of records not normally available to the public;
• whether it is experimental, correlational, qualitative or descriptive in nature;
• whether it is conducted to acquire basic or applied knowledge;
• whether the information collected has as its focus the human participant or some aspect of the environment with which the human participant interacts;
• whether the research is a pilot study or a fully developed project
• whether it is primarily for teaching or demonstration purposed or whether the primary purpose is the acquisition of new knowledge;
• whether or not it is intended for publication or other public presentation.