Ethical Standards for Research at ACT
General principles
Researchers who recruit and interview people for research purposes are obligated to follow certain ethical principles:
- Respect for human dignity
- Respect for free and informed consent
- Respect for vulnerable persons
- Respect for privacy and confidentiality
- Respect for justice and inclusiveness
- Avoid harm
- Maximize benefits
These principles apply as well to research projects at ACT. All ACT research projects that are funded by recognized funding bodies (e.g., Health Canada) must receive an ethics certificate (sometimes called “ethics review clearance”) from a research ethics board. All Canadian universities have research ethics boards, but there are a few boards that are not associated with universities.
In order to get an ethics certificate, the researchers must provide the research ethics board with a description of their project and respond to a detailed questionnaire about how they will organize various parts of their project and treat research participants. The research ethics board will grant a certificate to the project if the researchers show that the project will maintain a high ethical standard (i.e., according to the principles listed above).
At ACT, some small research projects may not have a certificate from a research ethics board. However, all ACT’s employees undertake to maintain high ethical standards as a condition of their employment at ACT.
