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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.

Who is required to obtain ethics approval for research?

All persons who intend to conduct research involving human participants or using human remains, cadavers, tissues, biological fluids, embryos/fetuses, or records not in the public domain must have their plans reviewed and approved prior to the commencement of the research. Examples of items that must receive ethics clearance are: research by faculty, staff and students in the above categories; student class projects involving human participants; projects involving remains or records not in the public domain. In addition to the guidance below, see information and resources provided by the University’s Research Ethics Office (REO).

All members of the University community must receive research ethics approval before any research with human participants takes place.

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.

Note: Research that potentially requires ethics approval is not limited to your thesis work. In some cases, you may need to apply for approval for work conducted as a side project (e.g., for another organization) while enrolled at the university. If you are doing such research and can answer ‘yes’ to one or more of the questions above, please consider that you might need to complete an ethics application.