Ethical approval
In this section you will find information on
- Ethical approval process
- Associated information and documentation
- Safety and risk assessment
- Ethical guidelines
- Insurance
- Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check
1. Ethical approval process
On behalf of the Head of the School of Social Sciences, the School has established the following procedure for the screening of all research activity undertaken by students in the School of Social Sciences.
This process requires you and your supervisor to confirm that you have agreed on an appropriate title for your project and that you have addressed any potential ethical considerations and risks.
All students and their supervisors must complete this process, even if only to confirm that there are no ethical issues raised by your research. This process will determine that your research falls into one of the categories below and ensures that in each case due ethical consideration and approval is obtained so that you can continue your research.
- Your research does not involve work with human subjects: therefore no ethical clearance is required and you can go ahead and start your research project.
- You have read the School ethics templates in detail and, in discussion with your supervisor(s), have determined that your proposed research project falls within the standard parameters of the research activities described in the templates. You then need to complete the ethics approval form, as described below and, subject to receiving notification of approval from the School PG Office, you can proceed to undertake your research, providing you abide by the conditions set out in the templates.
- Your research does not fall within the templates, ethical approval cannot be granted by the School of Social Sciences and you will need to complete an application form for approval of the research project for submission to the University Research Ethics Committee (UREC).
You will not be able to undertake your research until you have received an email from your PG Administrator in the School confirming that you have approval to do so. If you submit an application to the UEC, you will receive this email directly from them.
In ALL three cases you must start with a SOSS Ethics Approval Application form, which comes with a template describing the conditions under which the research will be carried out.
a) To start the process, you and your supervisor decide whether your project involves working with human subjects. Look at the form SoSS - Ethics Approval Application form for consenting adults. You need to fill out Sections 1 and 2, in any case. In Section 3 (Ethical Considerations), if you can answer 'No' to Question 1, you do not need to proceed any further and the form can be signed off by the relevant signatories.
b) If you answer 'Yes' to Question 1 in Section 3 , you need to proceed with the rest of the form. This involves deciding whether your project falls within the parameters of the research activities described in the template.
- You may need a CRB check if you are working with certain vulnerable groups (e.g. adults with learning difficulties). See the section on CRB checks, below, in the section on Associated Information. Note that this can take up to 6 weeks. In these cases, ethical approval is conditional on obtaining a satisfactory CRB check.
c). You also need to ask: Does the project involves working directly with children and young adults (people under 18 years of age)? Some types of research (for example, ethnographic) mean researchers come into contact with under-18s as part of normal daily interaction. This does not require special ethical approval and you can answer 'No' to the question. If the main participants in your research are under-18s, then the answer to the question is 'Yes'. If so, you need to complete this form (which comes with its own ethics template): SoSS - Ethics Approval Application form for under 18s. Note that if you are working with both under-18s and adults, then you will need to fill out both forms.
- If you are working with under-18s, you will need to get a CRB check - see the section on CRB checks, below, in the section on Associated Information. Note that this can take up to 6 weeks. In these cases, ethical approval is conditional on obtaining a satisfactory CRB check.
When you and your supervisor have completed and signed your form, your supervisor will pass the form to the relevant PGT or PGR Director in your Discipline Area. He/she will review it, approve it if appropriate and pass it to the relevant Programme Administrator.
There is no need to print out and submit the ethics template itself or the generic risk assessments referred to in the form.
After you have submitted your form, you may still change the title of your project with the agreement of your supervisor. If a change to the title has ethical or risk implications, you will need to complete and resubmit another form for ethical approval.
d) If it is decided that your research project does NOT fall within these SOSS templates, you must apply for full ethical review by the University Research Ethics Committee. You will need to complete one of the following forms:
- For PhD/MPhil students - Full application for ethics approval
- For MA/Diploma students - Full application for ethics approval
It is vital that when completing this form that both you and your supervisor have read and understood the following:
The University Research Ethics Committee considers applications which fall outside the SOSS ethics templates.
It has two sub-committees specially constituted to considers applications from the Faculty of Humanities. It is recommended you ask for your application to be considered by one of these sub-committees. Other UREC sub-committees can deal with Humanities applications, but have less specialist knowledge. The dates of the sub-committees which deal with Humanities applications are:
| Wednesdays at 13.00 | Sept 28, Nov 2, Dec 7, Jan 25, Feb 29, Apr 4, May 2, June 6, July 11 |
| Mondays at 13.15 | Oct 10, Nov 14, Dec 19, Feb 6, Mar 12, Apr 16, May 14, June 18, July 23 |
All applications must be submitted to the SOSS PG office (see instructions on the form) for forwarding to the UREC at least three weeks in advance of the relevant meeting date. PLEASE NOTE: You and your supervisor will most likely be invited to attend the UREC meeting at which your application is being considered so it is advisable to put a note of the date/s of the committee in your diary.
For information, click here for the Membership of the University Research Ethics sub-committees and here for a full schedule of UREC meeting dates in 2012.
When do I need to complete this process?
No work on a research project can take place until this process has been fully completed and, if required, full ethical approval has been obtained.
The following dates are recommended deadlines to enable you to receive ethical approval prior to commencing your research. It is up to you and your supervisor to ensure you complete the process in a timely fashion.
If your research project requires full ethical approval, be aware that this process can take several weeks.
- PhD students who register in September normally apply for ethical approval in April.
- PhD Students who register in January normally apply for ethical approval in August.
- Masters/Diploma students normally apply for ethical approval in April with applications that require approval by the UEC being submitted at least two weeks prior to the 14 May 2012 meeting. If you are on a part-time programme you will complete this process in year two of your programme. Please see your programme handbook for more information.
2. Associated information and documentation
1) Safety and risk assessment
The ethics template requires you to make a risk assessment of your project. The School's generic risk assessment documents are listed below. If your project does not fall within these generic risk assessments you will have to complete a full risk assessment form, with guidance from your supervisor, outlining the specific risks you anticipate and the measures you plan to take to address them. Submit this risk assesment with your SOSS ethics approval form. If one of the generic templates fits your project in most, but not all, respects, you can use the full risk assessment form to state which generic assessment mainly applies and to then specify the risks associated with your project that fall outside the generic assessment, and the measures you plan to take to address them.
- SoSS Generic Risk Assessment A
- SoSS Generic Risk Assessment B
- SoSS Generic Risk Assessment C
- Full Risk Assessment
Below are links to useful documents:
- University Health and Safety Policy on Health & Safety in Fieldwork
- Health and Safety Services Guidance on Lone Working at http://www.campus.manchester.ac.uk/healthandsafety/CoPs&Guidance/lone_working-g.pdf. If you are going to work alone, you should think about associated risks to the researcher and sensible safeguards for those risks.
- Ethics approval involves issues of data management (what you will do with your data to secure them and protect them). See University guidance on data management.
2) Ethical guidelines
- Ethical Guidelines of the Association of Social Anthropologists of the UK, available from their web site by clicking here
- Statement of ethical practice for the British Sociological Association, available from their web site by clicking here
- Framework for Research Ethics produced by the Economic and Social Research Council which is available on the ESRC's web site by clicking here. This sets out clearly how it expects Social Scientists to conduct research ethically.
3) Insurance
Ethical approval must be obtained in order for your insurance cover to be effective. Also if your project involves specific kinds of risks (usually related to medical research), you may need to get special approval from the University Insurance Office. Download the Insurance form for more information and to check if your project might need special approval.
More information on students and insurance can be found in the UREC Guidelines for Applicants and on the students and insurance webpage.
4) Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check
If you complete an ethical approval form for a project that involves working with under-18s (or adults with learning difficulties), you will need to obtain a satisfactory Enhanced CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) Disclosure.
To do this, contact Deborah Nash (PA to Head of Faculty Administration, deborah.nash@manchester.ac.uk, External number: 0161-306-1102). She will give you a CRB application form and instructions on how to proceed. MAKE SURE SHE KNOWS THAT YOU ARE FROM THE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES.
When completed, she will send the forms off. Both you and she will get a reply from the CRB (this can take about 6 weeks). Deborah Nash will then notify the relevant person in the SOSS PG Office that a satisfactory CRB disclosure has been received for you. The relevant person is the PG Administrator for your programme (e.g., Marie Waite or Ann Cronley for PGR programmes).
Any ethical approval you may have received before this point is conditional on the PG Office receiving this notification.
Working outside the UK
Students working with under-18s (or adults with learning difficulties) outside the UK still need a CRB disclosure: the University expects the same standards to apply to the conduct of research within and outside the UK. You should be aware that the country where you are intending to do your research may have additional requirements. It is up to you to find out if this is the case and to comply with these.
International students
International students working with under-18s, whether in the UK or outside, also need a CRB check, even if you have only been in the UK a short time. You may find that the organisation where you intend to work will also require some kind of statement from the authorities in your home country confirming that you do not have a criminal record which would disqualify you from working with under-18s (or adults with learning difficulties).