Human Research Ethics Committee:
The Participation of University Students in Research
The NHMRC guidelines make clear that special care should be taken in research contexts where a dependent relationship between researcher and subject does (or could be argued to) exist. The common situation where a university staff member seeks to recruit university students into a research project is clearly a context where power relationships can be said to exist. This paper seeks to place before the committee a number of principles that might be adopted by the university so as to guide researchers and protect students.
The use of students as convenient research subjects is a practice with a long history in universities. Yet in the same way that some previous research strategies are now considered unacceptable this view of student availability must also be reviewed.
Arguments offered in support of existing practice include:
- that the students benefit from the process of participation;
- that it is the student's responsibility to help contribute to the advancement of knowledge;
- that it is traditional for students to be a researchable population;
- that it is the only way for honours and postgraduate students to recruit suitable numbers of subjects in a short timeframe;
- that it does no harm;
- that students can elect to forfeit any marks available for participation if they wish.
The changing higher education environment means that previous views of the academic - student relationship are no longer "givens". The rights of students as individuals and citizens means that for any research activity student privacy is to be respected and the requirement for an informed consent process met.
Equally, students should not be exploited through subject requirements that result in their use as unpaid research assistants.
This paper proposes that the current university code of conduct for research be amended to include the following principles of research behaviour where university students are involved.
Principles relating to students as research participants
Principle 1
No student should be coerced into participation as subjects in any research activity.
Such coercion may take the form of:
- an allocation of "marks" for participation;
- giving an indication of "special consideration" for participation;
- a suggestion of disadvantage associated with non participation;
- issuing an invitation to participate without a clear consent procedure that leads to fully informed consent;
- distributing instruments in lectures and tutorials in such a way as to make non-participation a difficult option to exercise.
Principle 2
Wherever possible an academic will use a third party to seek student participation in their research. This third party should not be an academic currently teaching that student cohort.
Principle 3
The greater the level of personal revelation sought from student participants the greater the preference for complete anonymity in the data collection process.
Principles related to student activity in the research process
Principle 4
An academic shall not allow their own raw data to be processed by students as an assessable or required task if there is an intention to publish the resultant analysis.
Principle 5
An academic must not claim sole ownership of data that has been collected or co-collected by students as part of an assessable or required activity. All student involvement in the conduct of such research will be fully acknowledged in all reports and published works arising from the research.
For more information contact the Executive Officer to the Committee:
| Executive Officer
Email: ethics@csu.edu.au Phone: 02 6338 4628 Fax: 02 6338 4194 |
Location Office of Academic Governance Level 3, Building S1 CSU Bathurst Campus |
Postal Address Office of Academic Governance Charles Sturt University Panorama Avenue Bathurst NSW 2795 |