Last time, I continued walking you through some of the sections of the REB application and giving you tips for completing them. This week, I will go through the remaining sections in the application and give you some general tips and reminders about the REB process. Full disclosure: I am a member of the REB (2012-present). These are my personal opinions and following my advice does not guarantee any particular outcome during the review process.
When completing the sections on consent and withdrawal (Section 6) there are a few important things to consider. Remember that consent is informed and ongoing, which means you need to give participants all the information they need to make an informed decision and that they can change their decision at any point in the research process without any negative repercussions. You’ll want to make sure that it’s clear to participants that there are no consequences to them withdrawing from the study (even if it’s after they have completed all/most of the study). Typically, you would also not penalize a participant for withdrawing from the study (e.g., they would still receive the compensation you offered even if they withdraw after only answering the first few questions). Often, researchers allow participants to withdraw their consent (and have their data removed from the study) up to 1 week after they have provided the data, and sometimes they are able to do this until 1-2 weeks after the researcher finishes data collection. However, sometimes it may not be possible to remove a participant’s data after they have submitted it (e.g., in the case of an anonymous online survey). And that’s ok. Participants just need to be made aware to be fully informed when they provide consent.
Data storage (Section 7). For security, you want data to be double-locked. For physical documents, that could be your locked office door and a locked filing cabinet. For digital data, it could be your password protected computer and password-protected folder. For an online survey, it is also important to be aware of (and disclose) the geographic location of the servers on which your survey data will be stored (e.g., SurveyMonkey) as they may be subject to the laws of that country (e.g., U.S. Patriot Act). This is especially important if the survey is not anonymous and/or if it collects sensitive information, but even in very benign survey cases, you should provide this information to the REB and include an explanation to participants about the risk to their data. Keeping data indefinitely is appropriate if there is a reason to do so. For example, you may wish to conduct more research on your topic and may want to compare your new data with your old data (note that you must obtain REB approval for that and you should include this possibility in the consent form for every study; it’s good practice to specifically ask your participants for consent for future secondary use of their data in the consent form so that you can tell the REB that they have already consented when you apply for secondary use for the future project that you don’t yet know about). Otherwise, 7-years is a standard timeframe for data retention; you can also refer to the Durham College data retention policy for DC Connect data (ACAD-129) if you plan to include student grade data or refer to the information management policies if you’re using other kinds of student data. Following any of these are reasonable, they just need to be explained in the application. Also, be realistic about your own organization skills. Will you remember to delete the data in 7 years? If not, then you may wish to request permission to keep them indefinitely (assuming you have a plausible rationale for doing so other than “I might forget”).
Now for a couple of general tips. First, be sure to include a copy of EVERYTHING with your application (e.g., TCPS2 certificates for all members of the research team, the consent form(s), recruitment posters, the email you will send out, the script you will use if you verbally recruit students, etc). And also every member of your team’s signature. If you can’t get the signatures to work in the application, it’s okay for each person to sign a separate document (just export the signature page- if you can’t do it on your computer, I recommend the website ilovepdf.com to split the document). You can also have members print, sign and scan the signature page.
You need to include some sort of site approval for your study as well (there’s a form for that online). Whether you need Stephanie or Elaine provide this depends on the scope of your study. If you stick within our School, the approval can come from Stephanie; if it involves multiple schools or community members, then your approval should come from Elaine (but you can submit your unsigned form to the REB with your application and they will forward it to Elaine on your behalf). If you have any questions about this or any other aspect of the process, you can contact the REB.
It’s also very, very important to remember that whatever you say you’re going to do in the application is what you actually have to do. You have to follow it exactly (or submit a Change Request form). For example, you cannot change the wording on the recruitment email that the REB has approved. So, if you say you will recruit students in your class in Week 11, but there is a snow day or other reason for your class to be cancelled, you can’t change the recruitment date without approval. It’s better to give a range (e.g., you will recruit in a class between Weeks 10 and 12) or specify a month (e.g., in a class during the month of March). So, you don’t need to specify a recruitment date in your application (but if you do specify one, you need to stick to it).
I hope the tips I have included so far have been helpful. If you need help completing the REB application, please feel free to send me an email and we can go over any of the sections you’re struggling with or set up a time to discuss your concerns. As always, if you have any suggestions for things you’d like to see from me, please reach out to me via email lynne(dot)kennette(at)durhamcollege(dot)ca or on MS Teams, or pop in during my weekly “office hours” on whereby(dot)com(slash)drlynne (every Friday from 12:30-1:30).
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