Research

Obtaining ethics approval

A focus on research of an international quality and the fostering of an outstanding research culture have positioned UWA as one of the best universities in Australia and in the top 150 in the world.

Human Ethics Resources

Things You Need To Know

Human Research Ethics Procedures

Human Research Ethics Management At UWA

Forms for Human Research Ethics
Your human research ethics application documents form the basis for reviewing and approving your research proposal. Documents that clearly explain all aspects of your research, and demonstrate your careful consideration of ethics issues in the design of your research, will assist you in obtaining approval to commence work.

In addition to the ethics risk assesment you will need to create a participant information form and a participant consent form.

The information and consent documents are an extremely significant component of your ethics application package as they will contain information that is essential for you to clearly explain your project to potential participants and to acquire their informed consent to participate.

Guidelines for drafting a PIF and a PCF have been created to assist you in developing these important documents. PIF and PCF documents that do not appropriately address the guidelines often increase the time taken to approve your project. Depending on the target groups for your research, more than one PIF and PCF may be required.

Other application documents

In addition to the PIF and PCF, your human research ethics application package will often include other documents that form an integral and essential part of the application. These documents may include:

  • Survey questions and/or questionnaires that will be introduced to participants
  • Focus group questions for discussion
  • Recruitment advertisements or notices
  • Letters of ethics approval and/or support from other organisations involved in the research project
  • Other documentation that may be relevant in explaining and justifying your ethics application

Labelling your documents

It is important to clearly label each document that you create with an appropriate title. For example:

  • Participant information form
  • Participant consent form
  • Survey questionnaire
  • Participant recruitment advertisement.
Note: This list is not exhaustive. Other document types may also be required depending on the nature of your research.

If your research requires multiple documents of the same type, you should also clearly label these documents with an appropriate title. Some examples include:

  • Participant information form – Children
  • Participant information form – Adults
  • Participant consent form – Children
  • Participant consent form – Adults
  • Survey questionnaire – Employees
  • Survey questionnaire – Managers
  • Participant recruitment advertisement – Students
  • Participant recruitment advertisement – Teachers
  • Supporting documents

Depending on the nature of your research, there may be supporting documents that you will submit to explain and justify your research proposal. These documents should also be saved electronically and labelled clearly.

Some examples include:
  • Letter of Support – Kimberley Land Council
  • Department of Health, Western Australia approval letter for data linkage
  • Department of Education approval for research in schools

Submitting your documents

Submit your application documents to the Human Ethics office.