Feminist Research Ethics
3. Research Ethics Policies
Different countries and institutions, such as universities, have ethics policies that regulate the conduct of research. Ethics policies recognise that harm can result from the research process, even if unintended, and seek to prevent or minimise harm to those involved in research.
For example:
- In Canada, research with human participants is subject to the Tri-Council Policy Statement on ‘Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans’
- At York University, in Toronto, Canada, research projects involving human beings are subject to the ‘York Senate Policy for the Ethics Review Process for Research Involving Human Participants ’
It is important to become familiar with the relevant ethics policies that regulate research where you are located.
Reflection Exercise
• Find out whether there are national and/or institutional research ethics policies in your country and your organisation.
• Find out whether you have to undergo an ethics review process before you are permitted to begin your research project. What are the requirements of the research ethics review process?
• If there are no ethics policies where you are located, determine whether you can use existing ethics policies of governments or universities in other locations to draw up an ethics strategy for your own project.
Resources
Here are examples of human research ethics policies in different countries: