Research Ethics

Ethics Approval before the research is required at any hospital or academic facility in Canada. The Board that gave approval should be identified in the abstract, paper and on your research poster. ​

When do you need Ethics Approval for Research?

From University of Manitoba:

"Human Research refers to any project that involves the collection of specimens, data or information from persons, through intervention or otherwise.  Included are procedures that have a low degree of invasiveness (e.g. survey, interviews, naturalistic observations, exercise or psychometric testing, examination of patient records) as well as more invasive procedures (e.g. blood sampling, insertion of a cannula, administration of a substance). This includes all types of research conducted with human participants.  Specifically, prior ethics review and approval is required when research data are derived from, but not exclusively restricted to:

  1. information collected through intervention or interaction with a living individual(s);

  2. identifiable private information about individuals; 

  3. human organs, tissues, body fluids and/or 

  4. written or recorded information derived from individually identifiable human participants.  In addition, ethics review is required for the following categories of research that may be overlooked or raise questions about the necessity for such a review:

    • Pilot studies and feasibility studies, even those involving only one human participant require the same scrutiny as full-scale research projects involving many participants. 

    • Projects that involve the secondary use of data on human participants gathered in earlier projects. 

    • Research conducted by administrative and academic units that involves the collection of survey responses or the use of records as correlates of survey responses from human participants, e.g. students, staff and/or faculty members. 

    • Research projects in which the researcher is a consultant unless the researcher has a strict consulting relationship which: (a) the researcher is hired on his or her own time, (b) the researcher holds no rights in the work; and (c) neither the researcher nor the University retains any data.  If any one of these criteria is not met, prior ethics review and approval is required.

    • All graduate and undergraduate independent student research projects conducted in partial fulfillment of degree requirements."

When Research Ethics May Not be Required

From University of Manitoba:
​
​"Prior ethics review and approval from an Research Ethics Board will not normally be required for:

  • A limited type of research most often found within the humanities, fine arts, and in some historical research which involves: (a) a public database where aggregated data that cannot be associated with any individual are obtained; and/or (b) information already in the public domain (e.g. autobiographies, biographies or public archives).  Nevertheless, it is the responsibility of the researcher to ascertain that any information used from these sources is presented in an accurate fashion. 

  • Archival analysis of records by University departments normally engaged in the collection, maintenance and analysis of such records.  Nevertheless, it is incumbent on such units to ensure that the anonymity of individuals and confidentiality of their records are maintained. 

  • Class research projects which involve human participants and which are conducted by students on other members of the class as exercises to learn how to conduct research. 

  • Per article 2.5 of TCPS 2, quality assurance and quality improvement studies, program evaluations activities and performance reviews, or testing within normal educational requirements when used exclusively for assessment, management or improvement purposes, do not constitute research and do not require REB review. 

  • The researcher should seek the written approval of the REB Chair that ethics approval is not required."

Research Ethics Boards (REBs)

McMaster University

University of Manitoba

University of Toronto

Hospital Research Ethics Boards

  • Many hospitals have their own research ethics board, be sure to inquire at your own institution to find out the application process to obtain research ethics approval.