Research Coordinator Blog

In December, I asked for your feedback in a quick two-question survey. Thank you for providing it. This was one of the suggested topics :) The goal of your research project is to answer one or more research questions (typically 1-2 questions, which may have related sub-questions, also termed secondary research questions). So, your question needs to be narrow enough to focus your research project. You can always explore additional questions that come up (using the same data) at a later time using the secondary use of research process with the REB. Your specific research question will depend somewhat on the type of research you are conducting (qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods), but in general, you’ll want it to specify the specific issue you are investigating and ensure it is answerable. A quantitative project might have a research question that begins with How frequently…, How many…, What percentage…, To what extent…, or What are… A qualitative research question might ...

  The short answer is “no”. No, informed consent is not always required, but it usually is. As a general rule, researchers are not required to obtain consent form participants if obtaining their consent will do more harm (broadly defined) than using the data without participants’ consent. For example, in the case of secondary data. Suppose you’ve decided to use your students’ grades in a previous semester to examine a research question you’ve just thought of. The students have since left Durham College because they graduated. In this situation, trying to track down each student to obtain their consent would be more harmful than using the data that the students already know you have access to since you’re the one who provided them with the grade in the first place. The reason it will cause more harm to obtain consent is because the researcher would have to try to locate and contact each student by finding them on social media, for example, which the student may feel uneasy about (...