Preparation Exploration Negotiation Implementation
Researcher: I can’t start doing anything with you until I get ethical approval from my institution and maybe even from an entity in-country. I know this may take some time, but we always do this.
Practitioner: You aren’t collecting biological samples or testing a drug, why do you need ethical approval to begin with? Wait, you need how many additional months to get approval? The project is starting next week and I can’t very well put it on hold!
Convergence: Anticipate and build time for requisite ethical approval, beginning as soon as possible; academics generally cannot cut this corner, and INGOs may learn something about how their own actions could be compromising certain ethical lines at times and ways to inhibit this.
Questions Researchers Can Ask:
What are the local requirements for research approval? What is your understanding of the ethical requirements for collecting data from human subjects? Do you have contacts with any local IRBs?
What are the local requirements for research approval? What is your understanding of the ethical requirements for collecting data from human subjects? Do you have contacts with any local IRBs?
Could you describe any additional ethical considerations that are important for us to account for in this specific context?
Have you allowed for sufficient time to ensure ethical approval of the research prior to starting data collection?
Who might want to wield our data and/or our findings for purposes that would not be in the best interests of the research subjects?
Questions Practitioners Can Ask:
What processes and approvals do you need to undergo to cover your legal and ethical obligations? How much time will we need to allocate for these processes?
What factors do we need to consider in this collaboration to ensure that we are carrying this out in an ethical way?
What are your approaches to ensure that you respect the rights and dignity of the populations we serve?
Does everything you seek to collect have a specific purpose? What is need-to-know vs nice-to-know? How are you going to pre-empt research fatigue among the responses?
How much time are we asking our respondents to give?
What capacity building resources do you have to enable us to receive training in ethical research?
Questions Both Can Ask:
How are we ensuring a “responsible data” approach by balancing the demands of data use, data privacy and security, and data transparency and openness?