The procedures outlined in this document are limited to course-based research projects and activities involving human participants, not larger-scale projects required to fulfill the requirements for a Masters degree or an undergraduate thesis. These guidelines are in keeping with the Tri-Council Policy Statement re Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans.

Having students conduct interviews, administer standard tests, or distribute questionnaires outside the class to hone their interviewing or questionnaire design skills (a limited scope)

Conducting "mini" research projects where students pose research questions, gather data from human participants, and analyze the data for presentation (a wider scope)

Something mid-way between these two examples

Excluded from these procedures are learning activities and projects related to professional nursing and psychiatric nursing course components that are intended to build skills, assess and intervene with clients in delivering health care within those professions. If instructors are unsure whether a learning activity or project falls outside the scope of the procedures outlined in this document, they should contact the Chair of the Brandon University Research Ethics Committee (BUREC) or the Coordinator of Research Services for clarification.

Rather than require the students to fill out and submit to the Human Research Ethics Committee a separate application for each and every class project, instructors are to use a more efficient system that protects the rights of the participants. 

1. Research undertaken in class projects is limited to participants, topics, and methods that pose minimal risk. The Tri-Council definition of minimal risk is: "if potential participants can reasonably be expected to regard the probability and magnitude of possible harms implied by participation in the research to be no greater than those encountered by the participant in those aspects of his or her everyday life that relate to the research".
    
Examples of minimal Risk:
 
• The participants are competent adults
• The topics are non-controversial and carry little or no risk of causing discomfort or emotional upset
• The methods are non-invasive -- such as questionnaires or interviews and no deception is involved.



Applications will be rejected if there is:
 
• Any indication of potential for more than minimal risk to the participants, whether psychological, emotional, physical, economic etc.
• Any deception of the participants
• Any questions about intimate or sensitive aspects of the participants’ behavior or life history.
• Any suggestion that the participants might experience excessive inducement to participate.


Instructors are advised to contact the Chair of BUREC if they have any question about whether the participants, topics or methods do not meet this requirement for minimal risk.
 

2. The instructor takes the role of the principal investigator and submits a single application to BUREC that summarizes the instructions given to the class for the research activity(ies). Where necessary, written evidence granting approval to carry out individual studies involving outside agencies (e.g. school boards) must be received from all such agencies and a copy must be sent to the Committee. The instructor will also provide a sample consent form with this application.

 
3. A standard procedure must be established for the class to follow with respect to informed consent, explanations to the subjects, right to withdraw without prejudice, and so on. The University’s Research website (/research) now includes a Sample Consent form and Checklist that provides a guide for this procedure. For each separate research project, instructors should have their students provide the information outlined in the checklist as part of the instructor’s mechanism for evaluating the ethical acceptability of each project. This process will provide instructors with an excellent opportunity to teach students about research ethics.

 
4. All forms related to approving the ethical acceptability of each student’s project must be retained by the instructor for a period of two years.

 
5. Ethical Approval for class projects is granted for 3 years, assuming that no substantial changes to the assignments are made. If changes are made, a memo that outlines the revisions must be sent to the Chair of BUREC. In the 4th year, a new course application must be submitted. All sections of the course, whether on campus or not, must provide the information outlined in the Checklist.

Approved by BUREC Jan 2001