Ethics

Project ethics is an important topic for everyone. Whether you are doing a user study or theoretical proofs, part of the process is being aware of the potential ethical concerns with each type of project. Projects will vary in the level of ethical approval that is required, but understanding this is a required ILO.

Ethics Statement

All projects will need an ethics statement at the beginning of the dissertation, and all projects will fall into one of three categories:

Projects that do not require ethical approval because they do not collect or process any relevant data.
Projects that can be reviewed by your supervisor under “Ethics Appliction 0026” (Blanket Ethics Agreement) because they are judged to be low ethical risk.
Projects that require full ethical review by the Faculty Research Ethics Committee (FREC).

We will provide ethical training with a mandatory test to ensure that you’ve understood what is permitted under each of the above categories. The test allows multiple attempts and is released in TB1 alongside the training.

If in doubt, ASK YOUR SUPERVISOR about whether your project requires ethical approval.

No Ethics

A project requiring no ethics will not:

conduct user studies
ask someone who’s not your supervisor to provide feedback that will be used in the project
take any photos/recordings of people (including yourself)
collect data from online resources
process anonymised data so that it is de-anonymised.

You can use online datasets for a projects with no ethics, as long as the data has been released as part of a dataset for research and the project isn’t changing the data in a way that is unethical and/or goes against the original release. If you are collecting a dataset from an online source then you will need to complete a full ethics application

Blanket Ethics

Blanket Ethics is an ethics application that we have submitted on behalf of the unit. It covers many low concern aspects of projects that require ethical approval. We’ve just managed to do this already for you.

Blanket Ethics covers projects that:

conduct a survey or interviews, e.g. for feedback, where the participant information remains anonymous.
does not collect data from vulnerable populations (for example children, the elderly).
does not collect sensitive data, e.g. about mental health conditions, or protected characteristics, e.g. sexuality, race etc.
collects anonymised data.
collects informed consent from participants before they take part in the study.
takes photography/recordings where the participant is anonymous (e.g. you can see their hands but not their face, or hear their voice but not know their name).
uses photographs/recordings of yourself, even if you can be identified.
puts participants under NO physical or mental risk of harm.

When writing your dissertation you will need to include the following statement in the front matter: “This project is covered by the blanket ethics application 0026 as determined by my supervisor SUPERVISOR_NAME”.

Full Ethical Review

All projects that contain one or more of the following require full ethical review:

Collecting data from a vulnerable population (e.g. children)
Collecting sensitive data and/or data about protected characteristics.
Collecting non-anonymised data.
Scraping data from an online source to create a new dataset.
Deceives participants.
Danger of physical and/or mental harm
Participants aren’t able to give informed consent.

Projects that need a full Ethical Review (e.g. scam baiting projects, work with children etc) can still take place, but you must talk to your supervisor as soon as possible, and get the ethics application submitted as one of the very first project tasks, as you can’t start the studies without the ethical agreement.

There is no guarantee that ethics will be granted for a project. You will need to have strong reasons for why your project contains one of the above aspects. For example, collecting non-anonymised data only because anonymisation is too much effort will be rejected.

Applying for the full Ethical Review

Your supervisor will submit your application on your behalf using the Online Research Ethics Management System (OREMS) - link here. You should discuss your application with your supervisor IN DETAIL before anything is submitted.

Before you put your application in, read the Faculty Research Ethics Committee webpage. The deadline for being considered at the February Committee is ##/##/##. We recommend you submit your application AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

If you are planning to put in an application, we strongly recommend you reach out to Faculty Research Ethics Administrator, Marc Moyce at marc.moyce@bristol.ac.uk, to get advice on your application - ideally in TB1.

Ethics applications are considered on a rolling basis, by the Faculty Ethics Committee. The amount of time Full Ethical Review takes can vary, a lot. Depending on the project and application this can be granted quickly in a few weeks. Alternatively, it could undergo required changes from the Faculty Research Ethics Committee (FREC) in multiple stages taking three months or longer. You may notice that this scenario is longer than the projects unit so it is essential that you discuss ethics with your supervier ASAP and submit the ethics application ASAP.

If you want help on best practices and any tips on how to apply, talk to your supervisor. You can also contact the Facutly Research Ethics Administrator Marc Moyce: marc.moyce@bristol.ac.uk.

Performing a User Study

DO NOT start a User Study without talking to your supervisor about it!

If you are performing a user study, then you must make sure your participants are given and information sheet about the project and sign a consent form. You can find templates of these in the Class materials section of the Projects Team.
You must include copies of the consent form and participant information sheet in the appendix of your dissertation along with the ethics statement.

Ethics Links

Ethics Lecture (useful to pass the ethics quiz!).
Formal ethics applications (for projects which need ethical approval but are not covered by Ethics Application 0026).