Student Ethical Reviews

TPS Procedures

You cannot begin any research that involves human subjects until the Educational Research Ethics Board (EREB) gives you written approval. The EREB is administered by the University of Toronto Research Services (UTRS). In order to get approval to conduct your thesis or MRP, you need to submit an Ethical Review Protocol. You should work closely with your supervisor to develop your protocol. Before you can submit your protocol to the EREB it must be pre-reviewed by your Thesis Supervisor and the Department's Ethical Review Coordinator. The purpose of the pre-review in the department is to help you make the protocol as clear and complete as possible so as to reduce the number of changes that may be required at the ethical review board and hence, the time required for their review. Once your supervisor approves your review, s/he will sign it. *Only after you obtain their signature and sign the documents yourself can you submit to Joanne Bacon, the Departmental Receptionist.* Joanne will then pass it onto Michelle Goldberg, the Departmental Coordinator for the pre-review. Michelle will review your protocol within 2 weeks and send you an email with comments and changes she believes are necessary for EREB approval. Once you have finalized the document with Michelle, you will resubmit the protocol to Joanne Bacon, who will obtain the Chair's signature and forward the required number of copies to the U of T Ethics Office. It could take between 4-6 weeks for an expeditied review by the EREB. The EREB will send you and your supervisor an email with additional comment or revisions if required. You need to make the revisions and return the revised review to the directly.

* Ethical Review paperwork cannot be processed without these signatures.

Please note: General instructions, forms, and procedures will be updated periodically so you should consult the

UTRS (forms) and Instructions for the newest forms before you complete your submission. Other sources for information about Student Ethics Review include:

Currently, all graduate students should use the newest forms before you complete your submission

Other sources for information about Student Ethics Review include

Before submitting your application, we recommend that you preview these resources:

The main UT Ethics website
A video entitled "OISE/UT Ethics Seminar Series" is available to download or you can obtain it from the departmental receptionist. The video describes common ethical issues that arise when dealing with human subjects. It also walks through each section of the protocol
A presentation made by Dean Sharpe, of the main U of T office of Research Ethics from June 2009
A presentation made by Michelle Goldberg at the annual TPS student conference in February 2011
A letter outling section by section, common omissions or errors in typical protocols
A sample consent form and a guide for its completion
Checklist for preparing a consent form
A sample Administrative Consent form
A sample Ethical Review Protocol
If you are preparing an ethics protocol submission that involves key informant interviews, plase refer to the Ethical Guidelines on Interviewing Public Personalities here
If you are preparing an ethics protocol submission that involves deception, please see Guidelines for the Use of Deception and Debriefing in Research here
If you are prepating an ethics protocol submission that involves participant observation please see Guidelines for Ethical Conduct in Participant Observation here

The following are the TPS Ethical Review procedures outlined step by step:.

1. With the assistance of your Faculty Supervisor, determine whether your project will need an ethical review.

a) If you feel an ethical review is required, you will need to fill out an Ethics Review Protocol Submission Form and submit this to the TPS Departmental Receptionist.

2. Work closely with your supervisor to develop your protocol. Your supervisor will need to sign the protocol. Once you obtain your supervisors signature you must submit it to the Departmental Receptionist. It cannot be accepted by the receptionist without your supervisor's signature as an indication of approval.

3. The Departmental receptionist will send a copy of your protocol to the Departmental Ethical Review Coordinator, Michelle Goldberg. Michelle will conduct a pre-review within 2 weeks. She will send you comments via e-mail outlining the changes required for EREB approval. Please make the requested changes using bold, another color or the highlighter. This process will continue until it is ready to be sent to EREB

4. On completion of the pre-review Michelle will inform the departmental receptionist that is ready to go to the EREB. You need to send the final approved version to the Departmental Receptionist, there is no need to get your supervisor's signature again. The receptionist will obtain the Chair's signature and make the necessary copies required. She will send the review package to UTRS EREB.

a)If your study contains minimal risk to participate ( i.e., on par with daily life) it will be assigned to a delegated review. Approximately 90% of protocols fall under this type of review. This means the one REB member will review the protocol. It typically takes 4-6 weeks for an answer from a delegated review.

b) If your study poses greater than minimal risk, it will be assigned to a full review. The full REB meets monthly (except August), check the main U of T Ethics website for the deadlines for submitting a full review here. The risk matrix in the protocol will help you decide if your review is appropriate for a delelgated or full review can be viewed here

5. Once UTRS reviews your protocol, they will contact you and your supervisor directly via e-mail outlining any changes that they may require. If information/changes have been requested, students should complete the requested changes and send it back directly to EREB.

6. Once the protocol has been approved, EREB will notify you, your supervisor, and the Registrar's Office.

7. If you make any changes to your research process you will need to complete the amendment form here

Please note that ethics approval from a U of T Research Ethics Board is valid for one year. To comply with the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans, the Ethics Review Unit requires the following to enable researchers to update their ethics approval:

Annual Renewal of Ethics Approval: If your research extends beyond one year, you will be required to renew your ethics approval for the study.
Study Completion Reporting: If your study is completed prior to the one-year mark, you will need to complete a Study Completion Report to close your file.

You will be required to submit the appropriate form two weeks in advance of the protocol expiry date to ensure continuous coverage of your ethics approval.