Practical tips for undertaking ethical research

Key responsibilities in conducting ethical research

Your responsibilities to conduct ethical research begin before you start, carry on throughout the life of the project, and continue even after your activities have finished.

Some key elements at each stage.

Before starting

• Complete a research plan that includes appropriate consideration of research ethics. This includes clearly describing the benefits, burdens, and risks associated with the research.
• Establish an appropriate governance structure for the research project, including mechanisms/protocols for addressing feedback, complaints, and adverse events.

Research is only ethically acceptable when the potential benefits outweigh the potential risks and burdens to individuals, groups, communities, or broader society.

Throughout the project

• Ensure that everyone involved in the research is appropriately trained and supervised and has access to psychosocial support.
• Document any changes to the research plan and seek ethics approval as required before you implement the change.
• Communicate any ethical issues or incidents in a clear and timely way to all relevant stakeholders, including the VLF.

After the project

• Communicate the findings to stakeholders, including the public, when appropriate.
• Ensure your data retention, storage, and destruction processes align with policies and legislative requirements.
• Resolve any outstanding ethical concerns arising from the project with due respect and regard to all the interests in the project.
• Consider what learning and improvement opportunities from the project may be relevant for future research, and ensure they are appropriately documented.

Confidentiality

To protect privacy and confidentiality it is important to consider your processes at every stage of handling data.

When preparing to collect data, consider:

• documenting the planned identity and information protection processes and providing training for those involved.
• limiting the amount of data/information collected, particularly data that could identify an individual or that is otherwise sensitive, unless it is necessary for the purpose of the research.
• the nature of the participant group and the potential for, and possible impacts of, re-identification through publication/dissemination of findings (e.g. the involvement of public figures, members of small groups/communities).

When collecting data, consider:

• the nature of research activities and how to protect against participants sharing information in an unauthorised way (e.g. during or after group discussions).
• whether the data needs to be collected in certain formats to enable data protection processes to be put in place (e.g. digital vs hard copy, recording to a device and/or to cloud storage).
• whether any third-party software or personnel that you are engaging have sufficiently secure data storage protocols in place, and if you have considered all the risks involved.

When storing data, consider:

• who should and shouldn’t have access to the data/information.
• where other bodies or organisations are involved in the research, developing a data sharing agreement and provide training or access to software/systems as needed.
• storing identifying information in a separate document or folder from other (response) data collected from participants.
  • Tip: consider allocating an individual code to each participant if you need to link the data sets (noting the need to prevent unauthorised people from doing so).
• using appropriate techniques to protect the information, such as:
  • developing data transfer protocols between organisations.
  • using password protections on raw data files.
  • limiting access to data by creating secure folders accessible by relevant staff only.

When analysing and reporting data, consider:

• redacting data, including qualitative responses, if they contain potentially identifying information.
• ensuring minimum subgroup sizes are set if disaggregating data, to produce reliable results and prevent participant re-identification in the reporting of findings.
• whether the framing of results/findings might be used disingenuously to promote discrimination towards specific groups based on race, class, gender or sexuality, religion, physical ability or psychological condition, or other social marker, and how to minimise the misrepresentation of findings.

When disposing of data, ensure:

• research data has been kept for the minimum mandatory period required under relevant regulations.
• personal data is not kept for longer than the maximum period under relevant regulations, unless for a permitted purpose.

Informed consent

Information provided prior to seeking consent should be proportionate to the activity and be designed to enable participation.

As a minimum, the following information should be shared in plain language and accessible formations, before you begin the research/ data collection activity:

• The purpose/s of the research
• What the participant will be asked to do
• What will be done with the participant’s data and other contributions (including who will have access to it, in what forms)
• How findings will be published or otherwise used
• At what stage, if any, the participant will no longer be able to withdraw their consent, and
• Contact information for any complaints, questions, or feedback.

Informed consent can be implied (for example, such as by completing a survey), opt-out (for example, filming in a public space), verbal, or written. Implied or opt-out methods should only be used where the risk to participants is low to minimal.

Questions to support your informed consent planning include:

• What is the key information you need to provide to participants to ensure they are sufficiently informed about the research project?
• What may be the best way/s to provide this information, considering the nature of the research, and the participants involved? Are there any participant age, capacity, or cultural considerations that need to be factored into information and consent processes?
• How will you seek or interpret consent to participate? How will you check that participants understand what they are consenting to?
• How will you explain ongoing consent (and the right to withdraw) to participants? Has your research been designed so that results will be meaningful regardless of participant withdrawal?
• Do you need approval or consent for participation from anyone else (e.g., parents, legal guardians, community leaders, sector peak bodies)? When should this be sought?
• Do you have the resources and setup (e.g. personnel, communication channels) to ensure participants can contact the research team if they have questions or want to withdraw from the project?
• Is reimbursement for participation appropriate and available? Are you confident that any financial reimbursements are not incentivising participants to engage in research if it exposes them to risk of harm?
• Do you understand the rights that participants have regarding the use of their data, and are you complying with relevant policies and legislation?

For further support, refer to the Informed Consent checklist and Participant information sheet and consent form template.

Key questions to support ethical risk identification and management

The following questions will help you to consider the potential risks for participants and how you might minimise them to the greatest extent possible.

• Does the research directly involve potentially vulnerable groups (for example, children and young people, people experiencing disadvantage, victims of family violence)?
• Does the research involve discussion of sensitive topics (for example, family violence, sexual or physical assault, mental health, addiction), including those that risk causing psychological stress, anxiety, harm or negative consequences beyond what would be normally encountered by the participants in their life outside research (e.g. are you asking participants to think about or recount traumatic past experiences)?
• Does the research involve data that could identify participants (for example, forms that contain participant’s names, date of birth, other personal details, or participant responses that contain specific details that could identify them, if published)?
• Can you minimise the likelihood of discomfort and harm to participants, by, for example:
• using trauma-informed and culturally appropriate practices when designing the research activities?
• ensuring participants accessibility needs are met during their recruitment and participation?
• reducing or removing questions that ask participants to share personal experiences, or that may otherwise prompt disclosures of abuse or trauma?
• reminding participants that they do not have to answer any questions they do not want to answer?
• Can you mitigate the severity of discomfort and harm to participants, by, for example:
• establishing distress protocols and having relevant services available if people experience distress?
• ensuring sufficient staff are present during research activities to respond appropriately to possible risks?
• ensuring that the research does not compromise the safety of participants, including in the dissemination of recruitment information, the location and requirements of research activities, and the publication of research findings?

Tips for monitoring ethical risks and incidents

• Establish a schedule for monitoring and reviewing how the research project is proceeding, including:
• Any changes to approved methods or processes.
• Identifying any ethical risks, adverse events, feedback or complaints arising during the implementation of the activity.
• Developing actions and responsibilities for responding to risks, adverse events, feedback or complaints.
• Monitoring any effects of the actions taken, in a timely way.
• Promptly advise relevant stakeholders
• Delegate organisational responsibility and put in place mechanisms to ensure secure retention and disposal of any information collected, at the right time, beyond the completion of the research project.