Step 6: Seeking Ethics Clearance
The step that stops the project if you get it wrong. What clearance requires, why it cannot be done retrospectively, and where the fifteen-page ethics stream picks up.
What the process step requires
Step 6 sits between designing your research and conducting it, and the ordering is not decorative. Everything the application describes — participants, instruments, consent, risk, storage — has to exist as a decision before it can be described, and none of it can be exercised until approval arrives.
Where clearance comes from
For a practitioner researching their own sector there are usually two approvals, not one. The institution assesses the research; the host organisation assesses its own exposure and its people's.
TWO APPROVALS, TWO DIFFERENT QUESTIONS
| Institutional clearance | Host organisation clearance | |
|---|---|---|
| Applies when | Always, for research involving people | Where your workplace or a related organisation hosts the study |
| Assesses | Whether the research design protects participants and the researcher | Whether the organisation accepts the study on its people, data and premises |
| Process | Application form, supervisor authorisation, committee review | "Each organisation has different processes" — the source states no common form |
| Interaction | Will accept another organisation's approval when attached to your application | Independent of the institution's decision |
The source instructs you to check what the application form requires, whether the process is online or through a committee, and the timelines that apply.
How review panels work, why they exist and what they are protecting is set out in Ethics review and approval processes.
Building the schedule around it
Ethics approval behaves like a queue rather than a task. Working harder does not compress it, and a rejection or a request for major amendment restarts it.
Before you submit
- Every requirement of the application form has been read, including the parts that look procedural
- Any prerequisite training has actually been completed, not just recorded as completed
- The submission route is correct — student and staff routes are not interchangeable and one bypasses your supervisor
- Your supervisor has reviewed the application before it reaches the committee
- Participants who cannot freely refuse have been identified and a mechanism proposed
- Data storage, retention period and identifiability class are stated
- Nothing that could be construed as data collection has already happened
Each item on that list comes from a documented failure. Three worked cases are in Ethics application failures.
Where the depth is
This page is the process step. The subject matter is treated across a fifteen-page stream.
THE RESEARCH ETHICS STREAM
| If you need | Go to |
|---|---|
| What ethics are, and the pre-clearance rule in full | What research ethics are and why they matter |
| The seven named unethical behaviours | Unethical behaviour in research |
| Which rights are in play at which stage | Ethical issues at each research stage |
| Do no harm, free choice, plagiarism, honest reporting | The four ethical principles |
| Consent, and what fully informed means | Voluntary participation and informed consent |
| The two privacy standards and the identifiability classes | Confidentiality and anonymity |
| Risk categories, researcher safety, control groups | Protecting participants from harm |
| The eight-part application, section by section | Writing an ethics application |
| Retention periods, ownership, recordings | Research data storage, retention and ownership |
| Participants who cannot freely refuse | Dependent groups and unequal power |
| Everything on one page | Research ethics quick reference |
Also in the stream: plagiarism and research integrity, sponsors and researcher independence, and ethics as practised in published theses.
What to carry forward
- Step 6 can stop the project. No other step in the process can.
- Data gathered before clearance is unusable. Run nothing that resembles collection until approval arrives.
- A workplace-hosted study usually needs two approvals, assessed against two different questions.
- Treat the duration as outside your control and schedule accordingly.
- The three screening questions tell you the question is live. The application is where the work is.
Frequently asked questions
Can I collect pilot data before ethics approval?
No. The source is explicit that data gathered before clearance cannot be used in your findings, even if you already hold it. That includes informal conversations and instrument pilots — anything that would be data if it produced a useful answer.
Do I need approval from my employer as well as my institution?
Where your workplace or a related organisation hosts the study, yes. The source states it becomes part of that organisation's business ethics and requires its own clearance. The institution will accept the organisation's approval when attached to your application.
How long does ethics approval take?
The supplied material gives one figure: a case that took five rounds of amendment and more than five months. That was an insider study on a dependent group — the hardest category. No typical duration is stated anywhere, so treat the timeline as outside your control.
What happens if my application is rejected?
The one documented case required major amendments over lengthy timescales, and the student withdrew rather than continue. Rejection restarts the queue, which is why the screening and submission checks matter more than they look.
Where is the detail on what an application must contain?
An eight-part structure — aims, methodology, participants, consent, risks, data recording and storage, recordings and transcripts, access and ownership — is set out in full on the writing an ethics application page linked above.
References and source attribution
- Supplied teaching source, Week 3: Developing a Research Topic — the three screening questions at step 6.
- Supplied teaching source, Week 5: Research Ethics — study notes and slide deck.
- Cooper, D. & Schindler, P. 2008, Business Research Methods, 10th ed., McGraw-Hill.
- Quinlan, C. 2011, Business Research Methods, 1st ed., Cengage Publishing.
- Trochim, W. M. K. 2006, Research Methods Knowledge Base.
Suggested questions for Ask KEVOS
- What do I need in place before I can submit an ethics application?
- How should I schedule ethics approval into my research plan?
- Does my study need approval from my employer as well?
- What counts as data collection before clearance?
- Walk me through the eight parts of an ethics application.