Common mistakes and delays
The following information has been prepared to help researchers avoid delays in the human ethics application process.
Email address
Please provide MUHREC with a Monash student email address. To comply with University policy, MUHREC will only correspond to the students Monash email address. This should also be used on any recruitment material (recruitment poster, advertisement etc). Do not use your personal emails i.e. @hotmail, @gmail, @yahoo etc.
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Recruitment
Callista database (pdf 27 kb) cannot be accessed for research purposes.
You need to be aware of privacy issues involved in recruiting from a database, information already collected or data from a register. Some researchers may want to extract information from one database and match it with data on a another database (to ensure it's the same person). If done without seeking consent of the individuals, this constitutes a breach of privacy legislation. In
Recruiting from a database (information already collected or data from a register)
Researchers cannot collect and use names and addresses for research purposes without permission of the individuals. The Committee recommends designing the recruiting strategy and provide participants an opt IN to a research project rather than having to opt OUT.
Dependent Relationships
Unequal relationships - The Committee is looking for your understanding about the presence of a power relationship and want you to acknowledge the existence of a power relationship. You will not be penalised if an unequal relationship exists.
Power relationships - There are circumstances like, teacher/student, Doctor/patient, Friend/friend.
i.e. when recruiting participants from your workplace, you need to remember that you are wearing your "researcher hat", not your "employer hat" for research purposes. You're representing Monash University, not your workplace. Therefore, data that would ordinarily be available to you as an "employee" of that company, is no longer data that you can access readily as a "researcher". You should not expect that this data can be collected without going through the appropriate consent procedure.
Please note that personal information, collected for employment purposes, is exempt from MUHREC privacy requirements. Personal information is identifiable information, e.g. name, staff/student numbers, email address, sex, age etc.
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Extremely sensitive research topics
The Committee find that this can lead to insensitive recruitment proposals such as applications to ask participants about highly personal or painful experiences. Put yourself in a participants shoes - how would you feel if you were asked a question about a sensitive topic? Do you think you would prefer not to be asked any of these questions?
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Personal safety concerns of researchers
For reasons of the personal safety of both the researcher and the participant, the Committee usually suggests that researchers do not conduct research in a participant's home. What alternative arrangements could be made? However, if that is necessary and to comply with OHSE policy, a risk assessment must be prepared. Please contact your OHSE consultant for more information.
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Research in Indigenous communities
The Committee ask that you seek advice from the Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies (CAIS); this is their specialty and they can inform you accordingly. Please see the ATSI Information Sheet or contact Dr Lynette Russell at CAIS on +61 3 990 54200.
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Coercion of participants - part of unequal relationships/power relationships
The Committee find that you may be unawares that friends and family may feel obligated to participate in your research. The Committee ask that you take this into consideration and highlight, in your MUHREC application, that you are aware of the coercion aspect in your research and demonstrate how you will request that participants contact you rather than you contacting them.
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Cultural circumstances within your recruitment methodology
In some countries, asking locals to sign a consent form is offensive and is just not done that way. But in Australia it is the opposite. In some cultures it is customary to give a gift or exchange of some-sort so the Committee would like you to demonstrate your understanding of these cultural differences.
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Explanatory Statement
Have separate Explanatory Statements for all participant groups. The Committee would like to see that you are thinking about your potential participants and tailoring Explanatory Statements to their needs i.e. an Explanatory Statement for the children in a class and a separate Explanatory Statement for the parents of the children involved in the research. Having a "one size fits all" attitude to your participants is incorrect and naturally, the language in the children's Explanatory Statement will differ markedly from that of Explanatory Statement for the parents.
Be specific about withdrawing from research at anytime, i.e. for anonymous surveys, participants can only withdraw their participation before submitting their data. MUHREC advise that you do not mislead your potential participants by stating they can withdraw from a research project at any time. If the project involves the submission of anonymous (non-identifiable) material such as a questionnaire, it should explained clearly to the participants that it will not be possible to withdraw once they have submitted.
Write in plain language / English
It is preferable that you assume potential participants know nothing of your discipline and are a novice in your field of research. Write your Explanatory Statement as if you are speaking to a lay person. Avoid acronyms (unless previously explained what the term means) and academic language. Keep it simple and concise.
Grammar, frequency of typing and spelling errors
Although not an ethical issue, the Committee find the frequency of typo's and spelling errors rampant. It is careless and researchers are presenting themselves (and Monash) in a unfavourable light. Participants want to be a part of research that appears confident and worthy and if researchers cannot spell correctly, it just reflects badly.
Absence of Complaints Clause in the Explanatory Statement
A complaints clause should appear at the end of the Explanatory Statement. This is the section near the end of the Explanatory Statement in the box with your details, the Committee's details and your project number e.g., 200800000. This information is critical for the participants information which also highlights who to contact if they wish to find out further information, complain about the conduct of the research or to simply inform the researcher that they cannot fill in the survey at the present time.
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Consent Form
Consent Forms should be consistent with the data collection activities being undertaken e.g. asking consent for videotaping when no videotaping is being done. The Committee ask that whatever method of data collection you are using, ensure that the Consent Form lists the same items you have plan to use (Collection of data material and procedures section on the forms).
'Assent Form' for minors
An Assent Form is a consent form for minors, although not legally binding (assent is required because they are under 18 years). Researchers would obtain assent from children in a classroom to agree to being involved in research, as well as consent from their parents. In cases where parents have given their consent, yet a student has not given assent, then you would take the minors assent as confirmation that they do not wish to be a participant in your research.
Anonymous surveys and consent
The Committee often find that researchers want to conduct an anonymous survey, but then ask participants to complete a Consent Form. This would then make it identifiable and therefore not anonymous! If a potential participant returns a survey anonymously, then you can take that as implied consent and a consent form is not required. You also do NOT need to complete Form P in this situation.
Not submitting Form P
The Committee sometimes find that researchers do not submit Form P (Privacy Issues) when it is required. Collection of any identifying information i.e. names, email addresses, opinions, signature on a consent form or other personal information according to Victorian Privacy Legalisation, requires submission of Form P (Privacy Issues).
Internet recruitment: Collecting identifying email addresses
It is frequent where researchers are collecting data with an online survey or questionnaire. Please note that often the online portal requires potential participants to fill in their email address (which is considered 'personal information' according to Victorian privacy legislation). Researchers should try and conduct this data collection medium in a way that does not require the disclosure of their email address.
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Organisational privacy
E.g., asking participants for information that may be confidential to their employer. The Committee would prefer that you give the questions or questionnaire to a senior employee to screen the questions first, so the employee does not disclose, to you the researcher, information that would be deemed 'confidential' to the organisation itself.
Focus groups and violating privacy
The Committee would prefer that researchers, in their Explanatory Statements, make it very clear that participation in a Focus Group may mean compromising their own privacy; potential participants will be sharing their opinions with others in a group and in doing so privacy is at risk.
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Privacy in the workplace
The Committee find that there is often a lack of understanding that confidentiality may be of extra importance to participants in a workplace. Employees often do not want their employers or other employees to see their data.
Form LR - Completing Form LR when the project is higher impact
Completing the checklist at the beginning of Form LR is mandatory. If you submit on Form LR when your research does not fall into the low risk category, you run the risk of having to resubmit to MUHREC on an appropriate Form which may delay your research. The Committee advise that you complete the LR checklist carefully and thoroughly before completing the form itself.
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Letters of Permission
Permission (letter of support) from relevant organisations, HREC's or Schools should be submitted to MUHREC on company letterhead. If you can only obtain permission via email, the Committee may accept this, but like any letter of support, it must have enough identifying information about the person and the organisation and the email address it was sent from.
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Trans-border (interstate or overseas) data flow
The key point is that the flow has to be outside the organisation and to someone who is outside Victoria. Your project involves trans-border data flow if you are giving someone outside Victoria control of the information, i.e. A researcher in Victoria sends data to a colleague interstate or overseas for their own use. Your research does not involve trans-border data flow if you are collecting information in another state or overseas and you are bringing it back to Victoria.
Legal responsibilities
The Committee finds that some researchers are unaware of the possibility of subpoenas on data i.e. Police can subpoena research data for use in prosecutions. When collecting data that maybe incriminating, include this information in the Explanatory Statement.
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Diagnostic Methods
The Committee agree that some researchers have a lack of sensitivity to the possibility of discovering adverse personal circumstances e.g. disease, mental conditions, and associated ethical obligations. Please consider and outline how you will manage the situation if you discover someone has a disease or medical condition?
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Payment to participants
Form LR - Low Risk research can offer up to $20 cash (max) to participants for reimbursement for their time, travel or inconvenience without being concerned about participants being coerced into participating. The Committee will allow payment of up to $20 cash.
Form 1 - Researchers using Form 1 can offer up to $49.99 cash or over $50 non-cash (gifts/vouchers) to participants without having to complete the Australian Tax Office (ATO) Statement by a Supplier Form.
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Unexplained Acronyms
When applying to MUHREC, please define any acronym in full the first time these are used e.g., ICT (Information and Communication Technology), or ED (Emergency Department) etc. The use of unexplained acronyms throughout an application leads to delays in processing.
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