Research projects planned by BA/MSc students

Background

The CF Ethics Committee (EC) is mandated to assess all empirical research taking place at Campus Fryslân, including student research projects (theses, capstones, living labs, other projects).  However, it is the responsibility of the students to ensure that they adhere to the guidelines provided on this webpage with respect to their research projects.   

Supervisors and students need to carefully consider the potential ethical issues that student research projects might raise.  Students and supervisors will be invited to bi-annual meetings in which the EC explicates its purposes and procedures.  Please do not hesitate to reach out to the EC if any further advice is warranted.

Ethics Sessions

Students (BA and MA) and supervisors will be invited to the bi-annual meeting in which the EC explicates its purpose and procedures. The dates of the meetings are added to the respective course syllabi. Attendance is mandatory.

Procedure for student research projects (theses, capstones, living labs, other projects)

The research design and reflection on potential ethical issues is firstly the responsibility of the students. In all research projects the following questions ought to be considered in advance of data collection:

1. Will any non-anonymised and / or personalised data be generated and / or stored?
2. Will your project involve any of the following? Photographing Participants Audio Recordings Video Recordings?
3. Does this research pose any risk of physical danger to the researcher
4. Does this research pose any risk of mental harm to the researcher
5. Does your study involve any of the following?
   - People who are, have been, or are likely to become your clients or clients of Campus Fryslan
   - Patients
   - Children (under 18 years of age)
   - People with intellectual or communication difficulties
   - People in custody
   - People involved in illegal activities
   - People belonging to a vulnerable group, other than those listed above
   - People for whom English / Dutch is not their first language
6. Is there any realistic risk of any participants experiencing a detriment to their interests as a result of participation?
7. Will you have access to documents containing sensitive data about living individuals? If yes, will you gain the consent of the individuals concerned?
8. Has this research application or any application of a similar nature connected to this research project been refused ethical approval by another review committee of the College or any external organisation?

If you answer yes to any of the questions, you must complete a Research Ethics checklist. Once complete, email the Checklist to your supervisor for review.

Supervisors should review the Research Ethics Checklist for approval and forward it to the Ethics Committee. If supervisors have any concerns or doubts about the Checklist, they should ask the Ethics Committee for advice.

If the project has been approved by an external ethics committee, e.g., the UCMG, students should forward the external approval to the Ethics Committee instead of completing the Checklist.

Publication

If students answered yes to any of the questions, in cases where students or supervisors plan to publish the research in journals that require ethical clearance, then a full ethical application should be submitted to the Ethics Committee. This includes if the data will be used in the supervisor’s larger research project that will result in publications.

Google Form

Students doing research projects (MA projects, Capstone dissertations, Living Labs) must complete the Google Form to inform the Ethics Committee that they have followed these guidelines.  

In case of doubt, please contact your supervisor or the Ethics Committee.