Ethics Review Teams

Ethics review teams are expert panels set up to assess proposed research projects to ensure that the project meets ethical standards. In different jurisdictions, they may be referred to as an ‘institutional review board’ or a ‘research ethics committee’. During the course of the 20th century, research ethics took on increasing prominence in higher education institutions. In English-speaking countries, it is common for all research involving data collection from human participants to be subject to an assessment and approval process by a review team. In other parts of the world, these processes apply mainly to medical research and usually not to social and behavioural research. Even when no formal review procedures are in place, researchers may find it useful to draw on common principles and ...