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Tips for Completing the REB Form for Secondary Use (Part 1 of 2)


First thing’s first! Where is the form? It is available on ICE: Teams – Academic – Research Services, Innovation and Entrepreneurship – Research Ethics Board (REB), then click on “Related Forms” on the left hand side (or just click here). All of the REB forms are listed alphabetically, so scroll down to find the “Secondary Use of Data” form. Please note: the REB forms were updated a few months ago (November, 2021), so please be sure to use these new forms when submitting your application.

As a reminder, this form is used when your research project involves secondary data (not primary data). That is, data which exist somewhere for some other purpose, but that you’d like to use to answer a research question (e.g., archives, Statistics Canada or other public database, a previous semester’s student performance that you realize now could answer a research question you have, or a previous research project (or projects) that you’d like to combine and/or re-analyse in a different way). There is less risk to participants since the data have already been collected (though you still may be required to obtain informed consent from those participants), but because of this lower risk, the REB has developed a less detailed form (8 pages versus 19 pages) and, although you still need the include the institutional permission form with the Dean’s permission, there is no study completion form required at the end of the project.

Now, on to the form! The first section is labeled 3.0 and involves the details of your study, including the name of the main person responsible for the study (Principal Investigator or PI) as well as the rest of the members of the team (if applicable). If you’re doing a project on your own, you can leave the co-investigator sections blank. You, and all of your team must have completed the TCPS2 core certificate. (Note: a new course was rolled out on January 10th, so you should complete the certificate again to update your knowledge; the REB will likely continue to accept the old certificate in the short-term, but will be requiring the new one in the n near future). In Section 3.3, you’re asked about your project title, start, and end date (make sure the start date is at least 3-4 weeks after your submission date to the REB!) and whether the application has received peer/scientific review. In most cases, your application will not have been peer-reviewed, but if you’re a student, your advisor might have, but typically the response to this question is “no”. The next section asks whether the project is funded (awarded = you have been awarded money to pay for project-related expenses; pending = you have applied but don’t know the outcome yet). If you have funding (or have applied for funds), ensure that your funding overlaps with your proposed start/end date for the secondary use project you are proposing on your REB application because you can’t spend the money before you’ve been approved by the REB, nor can you (usually) spend it afterwards (unless it’s for a conference or some other dissemination-related activity); so make sure the dates match up. The last sub-section relates to other approvals or permissions. If your data comes from somewhere that you don’t have access to on your own (e.g., community partner), then you’ll need to show that you have permission to access the data.

Next week, I’ll review the rest of the form and provide some more tips! If there is anything I can do to support your research or if you have suggestions for me in my role as Research Coordinator, please reach out via email or pop in to my “office hours” on Fridays from 12:30-1:30pm on Whereby. 

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