Ethical issues in research

When conducting research with service users, patients or staff working in statutory health/ social care settings, it is essential that certain steps are taken to ensure the research is ethical. This part of the research process is sometimes known as "˜research ethics' or 'research governance'. The idea behind it is to ensure that research is regulated in order to protect participants and to improve the quality of research.

A Research Governance Framework is currently being implemented in local government. The Implementation Plan for Social Care has now been published (May 2004): (new window) . All Councils with Social Services Responsibilities must implement the Research Governance Framework in relation to all external research work (including student projects) by December 2004 and for all internal work (including in-house research) by December 2005. For general information on research governance: (new window) .

Each council will have its own procedures in place soon, so it is imperative that anyone conducting research or evaluative work with either staff or service users, gets in touch with the appropriate person in their Social Services Department for advice on the channels that have to be gone through locally to obtain ethical approval.

Participants in a research study must give their informed consent. This means they must be fully informed about the research and give consent that they will take part in the research. Informed consent means the research participants should be aware of the following:

Explain the following:	Details:
1. Why the research is being conducted	It is important to explain the purposes of the research and to give the participant the chance to ask any questions to ensure they are happy to take part in the study.
2. What taking part will involve	Clearly explain what the person will be asked to do "“ e.g. "˜You will first be contacted by a researcher who will arrange a convenient time with you for a 1 hour interview; you will be asked a series of questions. You will then be contacted 6 months later for a second interview at which you will be asked another series of questions'.
3. How their particular information will be used	For example, will you be writing a report? Do you intend to publish the information in a journal? Are you going to let the media know about the results of your study? Are you going to pass on the research messages to managers and policy makers?
4. Any information they give you should be treated confidentially	Explain that the information they provide you with is for research purposes only and that you will not pass on the information they give you to anyone else.
5. Any information they give you will be treated anonymously	No individual taking part in the study will be identifiable when you write the study up. You will not use any real names "“ use pseudonyms or ID numbers.
6. Taking part in the study and the responses they give will not in any way affect the services/ treatment they receive	This is particularly important. Some service users or patients may be worried that saying the "˜wrong thing' will mean their services are withdrawn. This may cause worry and stress for them and may also invalidate your findings if respondents are providing what they consider to be socially acceptable answers.
7. They are allowed to leave the study at any time if they wish and if they choose to do so their services/ intervention will not be affected in any way	They must be aware that their service or intervention is not in anyway tied to taking part in the study. They may choose to withdraw from the study at any time, without giving a reason, and this will not affect the services they are receiving.