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example of ethical considerations in a research proposal

Addressing ethical issues in your research proposal

This article explores the ethical issues that may arise in your proposed study during your doctoral research degree.

What ethical principles apply when planning and conducting research?

Research ethics are the moral principles that govern how researchers conduct their studies (Wellcome Trust, 2014). As there are elements of uncertainty and risk involved in any study, every researcher has to consider how they can uphold these ethical principles and conduct the research in a way that protects the interests and welfare of participants and other stakeholders (such as organisations).

You will need to consider the ethical issues that might arise in your proposed study. Consideration of the fundamental ethical principles that underpin all research will help you to identify the key issues and how these could be addressed. As you are probably a practitioner who wants to undertake research within your workplace, consider how your role as an ‘insider’ influences how you will conduct your study. Think about the ethical issues that might arise when you become an insider researcher (for example, relating to trust, confidentiality and anonymity).

What key ethical principles do you think will be important when planning or conducting your research, particularly as an insider? Principles that come to mind might include autonomy, respect, dignity, privacy, informed consent and confidentiality. You may also have identified principles such as competence, integrity, wellbeing, justice and non-discrimination.

Key ethical issues that you will address as an insider researcher include:

Gaining trust
Avoiding coercion when recruiting colleagues or other participants (such as students or service users)
Practical challenges relating to ensuring the confidentiality and anonymity of organisations and staff or other participants.

(Heslop et al, 2018)

A fuller discussion of ethical principles is available from the British Psychological Society’s Code of Human Research Ethics (BPS, 2021).

You can also refer to guidance from the British Educational Research Association and the British Association for Applied Linguistics .

Ethical principles are essential for protecting the interests of research participants, including maximising the benefits and minimising any risks associated with taking part in a study. These principles describe ethical conduct which reflects the integrity of the researcher, promotes the wellbeing of participants and ensures high-quality research is conducted (Health Research Authority, 2022).

Research ethics is therefore not simply about gaining ethical approval for your study to be conducted. Research ethics relates to your moral conduct as a doctoral researcher and will apply throughout your study from design to dissemination (British Psychological Society, 2021). When you apply to undertake a doctorate, you will need to clearly indicate in your proposal that you understand these ethical principles and are committed to upholding them.

Where can I find ethical guidance and resources?

Professional bodies, learned societies, health and social care authorities, academic publications, Research Ethics Committees and research organisations provide a range of ethical guidance and resources. International codes such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights underpin ethical frameworks (United Nations, 1948).

You may be aware of key legislation in your own country or the country where you plan to undertake the research, including laws relating to consent, data protection and decision-making capacity, for example, the Data Protection Act, 2018 (UK). If you want to find out more about becoming an ethical researcher, check out this Open University short course: Becoming an ethical researcher: Introduction and guidance: What is a badged course? - OpenLearn - Open University

You should be able to justify the research decisions you make. Utilising these resources will guide your ethical judgements when writing your proposal and ultimately when designing and conducting your research study. The Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research (British Educational Research Association, 2018) identifies the key responsibilities you will have when you conduct your research, including the range of stakeholders that you will have responsibilities to, as follows:

to your participants (e.g. to appropriately inform them, facilitate their participation and support them)
clients, stakeholders and sponsors
the community of educational or health and social care researchers
for publication and dissemination
your wellbeing and development

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (no date) has emphasised the need to promote equality, diversity and inclusion when undertaking research, particularly to address long-standing social and health inequalities. Research should be informed by the diversity of people’s experiences and insights, so that it will lead to the development of practice that addresses genuine need. A commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion aims to eradicate prejudice and discrimination on the basis of an individual or group of individuals' protected characteristics such as sex (gender), disability, race, sexual orientation, in line with the Equality Act 2010.

The NIHR has produced guidance for enhancing the inclusion of ‘under-served groups’ when designing a research study (2020). Although the guidance refers to clinical research it is relevant to research more broadly.

You should consider how you will promote equality and diversity in your planned study, including through aspects such as your research topic or question, the methodology you will use, the participants you plan to recruit and how you will analyse and interpret your data.

What ethical issues do I need to consider when writing my research proposal?

Camera equipment set up filming a man talking

You might be planning to undertake research in a health, social care, educational or other setting, including observations and interviews. The following prompts should help you to identify key ethical issues that you need to bear in mind when undertaking research in such settings.

1. Imagine you are a potential participant. Think about the questions and concerns that you might have:

How would you feel if a researcher sat in your space and took notes, completed a checklist, or made an audio or film recording?
What harm might a researcher cause by observing or interviewing you and others?
What would you want to know about the researcher and ask them about the study before giving consent?
When imagining you are the participant, how could the researcher make you feel more comfortable to be observed or interviewed?

2. Having considered the perspective of your potential participant, how would you take account of concerns such as privacy, consent, wellbeing and power in your research proposal?

[Adapted from OpenLearn course: Becoming an ethical researcher, Week 2 Activity 3: Becoming an ethical researcher - OpenLearn - Open University ]

The ethical issues to be considered will vary depending on your organisational context/role, the types of participants you plan to recruit (for example, children, adults with mental health problems), the research methods you will use, and the types of data you will collect. You will need to decide how to recruit your participants so you do not inappropriately exclude anyone. Consider what methods may be necessary to facilitate their voice and how you can obtain their consent to taking part or ensure that consent is obtained from someone else as necessary, for example, a parent in the case of a child.

You should also think about how to avoid imposing an unnecessary burden or costs on your participants. For example, by minimising the length of time they will have to commit to the study and by providing travel or other expenses. Identify the measures that you will take to store your participants’ data safely and maintain their confidentiality and anonymity when you report your findings. You could do this by storing interview and video recordings in a secure server and anonymising their names and those of their organisations using pseudonyms.

Professional codes such as the Code of Human Research Ethics (BPS, 2021) provide guidance on undertaking research with children. Being an ‘insider’ researching within your own organisation has advantages. However, you should also consider how this might impact on your research, such as power dynamics, consent, potential bias and any conflict of interest between your professional and researcher roles (Sapiro and Matthews, 2020).

How have other researchers addressed any ethical challenges?

The literature provides researchers’ accounts explaining how they addressed ethical challenges when undertaking studies. For example, Turcotte-Tremblay and McSween-Cadieux (2018) discuss strategies for protecting participants’ confidentiality when disseminating findings locally, such as undertaking fieldwork in multiple sites and providing findings in a generalised form. In addition, professional guidance includes case studies illustrating how ethical issues can be addressed, including when researching online forums (British Sociological Association, no date).

Watch the videos below and consider what insights the postgraduate researcher and supervisor provide regarding issues such as being an ‘insider researcher’, power relations, avoiding intrusion, maintaining participant anonymity and complying with research ethics and professional standards. How might their experiences inform the design and conduct of your own study?

Postgraduate researcher and supervisor talk about ethical considerations

Your thoughtful consideration of the ethical issues that might arise and how you would address these should enable you to propose an ethically informed study and conduct it in a responsible, fair and sensitive manner.

British Educational Research Association (2018) Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research. Available at: https://www.bera.ac.uk/publication/ethical-guidelines-for-educational-research-2018 (Accessed: 9 June 2023).

British Psychological Society (2021) Code of Human Research Ethics . Available at: https://cms.bps.org.uk/sites/default/files/2022-06/BPS%20Code%20of%20Human%20Research%20Ethics%20%281%29.pdf (Accessed: 9 June 2023).

British Sociological Association (2016) Researching online forums . Available at: https://www.britsoc.co.uk/media/24834/j000208_researching_online_forums_-cs1-_v3.pdf (Accessed: 9 June 2023).

Health Research Authority (2022) UK Policy Framework for Health and Social Care Research . Available at: https://www.hra.nhs.uk/planning-and-improving-research/policies-standards-legislation/uk-policy-framework-health-social-care-research/uk-policy-framework-health-and-social-care-research/#chiefinvestigators (Accessed: 9 June 2023).

Heslop, C., Burns, S., Lobo, R. (2018) ‘Managing qualitative research as insider-research in small rural communities’, Rural and Remote Health , 18: pp. 4576.

Equality Act 2010, c. 15. Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/introduction (Accessed: 9 June 2023).

National Institute for Health and Care Research (no date) Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) . Available at: https://arc-kss.nihr.ac.uk/public-and-community-involvement/pcie-guide/how-to-do-pcie/equality-diversity-and-inclusion-edi (Accessed: 9 June 2023).

National Institute for Health and Care Research (2020) Improving inclusion of under-served groups in clinical research: Guidance from INCLUDE project. Available at: https://www.nihr.ac.uk/documents/improving-inclusion-of-under-served-groups-in-clinical-research-guidance-from-include-project/25435 (Accessed: 9 June 2023).

Sapiro, B. and Matthews, E. (2020) ‘Both Insider and Outsider. On Conducting Social Work Research in Mental Health Settings’, Advances in Social Work , 20(3). Available at: https://doi.org/10.18060/23926

Turcotte-Tremblay, A. and McSween-Cadieux, E. (2018) ‘A reflection on the challenge of protecting confidentiality of participants when disseminating research results locally’, BMC Medical Ethics, 19(supplement 1), no. 45. Available at: https://bmcmedethics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12910-018-0279-0

United Nations General Assembly (1948) The Universal Declaration of Human Rights . Resolution A/RES/217/A. Available at: https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights#:~:text=Drafted%20by%20representatives%20with%20different,all%20peoples%20and%20all%20nations . (Accessed: 9 June 2023).

Wellcome Trust (2014) Ensuring your research is ethical: A guide for Extended Project Qualification students . Available at: https://wellcome.org/sites/default/files/wtp057673_0.pdf (Accessed: 9 June 2023).

Writing your research proposal

A doctoral research degree is the highest academic qualification that a student can achieve. The guidance provided in these articles will help you apply for one of the two main types of research degree offered by The Open University.

Level: 1 Introductory

Defining your research methodology

Your research methodology is the approach you will take to guide your research process and explain why you use particular methods. This article explains more.

Writing your proposal and preparing for your interview

The final article looks at writing your research proposal - from the introduction through to citations and referencing - as well as preparing for your interview.

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Originally published: Tuesday, 27 June 2023
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Ethical considerations in research: Best practices and examples

Doing responsible research means keeping ethics considerations front and center. Ethical practices not only safeguard research participant welfare but also ensures the integrity of your findings. By rigorously applying ethical principles throughout the research process, you not only enhance the methodological robustness of your study but also amplify its potential for meaningful societal impact.

But what does good ethics in research look like?

From best practices to conducting ethical and impactful research, we explore the meaning and importance of research ethics in modern-day research.

Examples of ethical considerations in research

As a researcher, you're responsible for ethical research alongside your organization. Fulfilling ethical guidelines is critical. Organizations must see to it that employees follow best practices to protect participants' rights and well-being.

Keep the below considerations in mind when it comes to ethical considerations in research.

Voluntary participation

Nobody should feel like they're being forced to participate or pressured into doing anything they don't want to. That means giving people a choice and the ability to opt out at any time, even if they've already agreed to take part in the study.

Researchers must clearly communicate this right to participants. It's necessary for creating an environment where people feel comfortable declining or withdrawing without fear of negative consequences.

Informed consent

Informed consent isn't just an ethical consideration. It's a legal requirement as well. Participants must fully understand what they're agreeing to, including potential risks and benefits.

The best way to go about this is by using a consent form. Make sure you include:

Brief description of the study and research methods

Provide a clear, concise overview of your research goals and how you'll conduct the study. Use simple language so participants understand the nature of their involvement and what they'll be asked to do.

Potential benefits and risks of participating

Outline any possible advantages or drawbacks of taking part in the study. Be honest about potential risks, no matter how small. You’ll allow participants to make an informed decision about their involvement.

Length of the study

Specify how long the study will take. If it involves multiple sessions, provide details on timing and frequency. It means participants will be able to plan their commitment and decide if they can fully engage.

Contact information for the researcher and/or sponsor

Include your name, institution, and contact details. If there's a study sponsor, provide their information too so participants can reach out with questions or concerns before, during, or after the study.

Participant's right to withdraw

Clearly state that participants can leave the study at any time without consequences. Emphasize that withdrawal won't affect their relationship with the researcher or institution to reinforce the voluntary nature of participation.

Cultural sensitivity

Consider cultural differences when conducting research across diverse populations. It will increase the chance that your study is respectful, inclusive, and produces valid results. Understanding cultural context, adapting research methods, and using appropriate language are central steps in this process.

Include team members from various cultural backgrounds on your research team. They can provide valuable insights and help interpret results within the appropriate cultural context. Be mindful of cultural practices that might affect participation, such as scheduling around religious observances or respecting dietary restrictions.

Prioritizing cultural sensitivity will help you conduct more ethical research and likely obtain more accurate, meaningful results from diverse populations. As a result, you can build trust with participants and enhance the overall quality and applicability of your research findings.

Anonymity means that participants aren't identifiable in any way and includes:

Email address
Photographs
Video footage

You need a way to anonymize research data so that it can't be traced back to individual participants. This may involve creating a new digital ID for participants that can’t be linked back to their original identity using numerical codes.

Confidentiality

Information gathered during a study must be kept confidential. Confidentiality helps to protect the privacy of research participants and also ensures that their information isn't disclosed to unauthorized individuals.

Here are some ways to ensure confidentiality.

Use a secure server to store data

Store all research data on encrypted servers with strong access controls. Regularly update security measures to protect against potential breaches. Doing so safeguards participant information from unauthorized access or cyber threats.

Remove identifying information from databases

Create separate databases for participant identifiers and research data. Use coded identifiers to link the two, as it prevents direct association between sensitive data and individual participants.

Use a third-party company for data management

Consider partnering with specialized data management firms. They often have advanced security protocols and expertise in handling sensitive information, which can add an extra layer of protection for your research data.

Limit record retention periods

Establish clear timelines for data retention. Delete or destroy participant records once they're no longer needed for research purposes to reduce the risk of accidental disclosure or unauthorized access over time.

Avoid public discussion of findings

Be cautious when discussing research in public settings. Refrain from sharing specific details that could potentially identify participants. Focus on aggregate results and general insights to maintain confidentiality.

Conflict of interest

Researchers must disclose any potential conflicts of interest that could influence their study or its outcomes. Such transparency is important for maintaining the integrity and credibility of scientific research. Conflicts of interest can arise from financial relationships, personal connections, or professional affiliations.

Key considerations for managing conflicts of interest include:

Full disclosure : Openly declare any potential conflicts in research proposals, publications, and presentations.
Mitigation strategies : Develop plans to minimize the impact of conflicts on research conduct and outcomes.
Independent review : Seek evaluation from unbiased third parties to ensure objectivity in research design and analysis.

Addressing conflicts of interest proactively means you can maintain public trust and uphold the ethical standards of their field.

Potential for harm

The potential for harm is a major factor in deciding whether a research study should proceed. It can manifest in various forms, such as:

Psychological harm

Research may unintentionally cause stress, anxiety, or emotional distress. Carefully consider the psychological impact of your study design, questions, or tasks. Provide support resources if needed.

Social harm

Some studies might affect participants' relationships or social standing, so think about potential stigma or social consequences. Guarantee confidentiality to minimize risks to participants' social well-being.

Physical harm

While rare in many fields, some studies involve physical risks. Assess all potential physical dangers thoroughly. Implement safety measures and have emergency protocols in place.

Research findings or participation could sometimes lead to legal issues for subjects. Be aware of legal implications. Protect participants from potential legal consequences through careful study design and data handling.

Conduct an ethical review to identify possible harms. Be prepared to explain how you’ll minimize these harms and what support is available in case they do happen.

Ethical use of technology

As research increasingly moves online and incorporates emerging technologies, new ethical challenges arise. Researchers must carefully consider the implications of using digital tools for data collection and analysis. This includes addressing concerns about privacy, data security, and the potential for unintended consequences.

Key considerations for the ethical use of technology in research include:

Data protection: Implement robust security measures to safeguard participant information collected through digital platforms
Informed consent: Clearly explain how technology will be used in the study and any potential risks associated with digital data collection
Algorithmic bias: Be aware of and mitigate potential biases in AI-driven data analysis tools to ensure fair and accurate results

With these issues addressed, you can benefit from technology while upholding ethical standards and protecting participants' rights.

Fair payment

One of the most important aspects of setting up a research study is deciding on fair compensation for your participants. Underpayment is a common ethical issue that shouldn't be overlooked. Properly rewarding participants' time is necessary for boosting engagement and obtaining high-quality data. While Prolific requires a minimum payment of £6.00 / $8.00 per hour, there are other factors you need to consider when deciding on a fair payment.

Institutional guidelines and minimum wage

Check your institution's reimbursement guidelines to see if they already have a minimum or maximum hourly rate. You can also use the national minimum wage as a reference point.

Level of effort and task complexity

Think about the amount of work you're asking participants to do. The level of effort required for a task, such as producing a video recording versus a short survey, should correspond with the reward offered.

Target population considerations

You also need to consider the population you're targeting. You may need to offer more as an incentive to attract research subjects with specific characteristics or high-paying jobs,

We recommend a minimum payment of £9.00 / $12.00 per hour, but we understand that payment rates can vary depending on a range of factors. Whatever payment you choose should reflect the amount of effort participants are required to put in and be fair to everyone involved.

Ethical research made easy with Prolific

At Prolific, we believe in making ethical research easy and accessible. The findings from the Fairwork Cloudwork report speak for themselves. Prolific was given the top score out of all competitors for minimum standards of fair work.

With over 25,000 researchers in our community, we're leading the way in revolutionizing the research industry. If you're interested in learning more about how we can support your research journey, sign up free to get started now .

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