Department of Theatre, Film and Television

Department of Theatre, Film and Television

Ethics Committee

STANDARD ETHICS CLEARANCE FORM

This form is to be used for:

●small-scale evaluation and audit work

●Non-invasive research.

This form is not to be used for research which will require full ethics consideration, such as:

●Research with vulnerable groups (eg children (ie, young people under 18) or people with learning disabilities; with mental impairment due to health or lifestyle; who are terminally ill; who are recently bereaved; who are unable to consent to or understand the research)

●Research which concerns sensitive topics / illegal activities

●Research which involves deception

●Research which requires CRB or DBS checks

Completed forms should be e-mailed to at least TWO WEEKS prior to the commencement of the research work for which ethics clearance is being applied.

All student applications MUST be first discussed, reviewed and approved by their supervisor prior to their submission. Student applications should also copy their supervisor on the email submission.

Before completing this form, please consult the TFTV Research Ethics Guidelines, available at .

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Applicant name:

Staff or Student (state one):

Has this project been submitted to any other ethics or compliance procedure? If so, please give details.

A.BASIC DETAILS

Please provide the following details about your project:

Title of Project:
Project Start Date:
Research Activity (for this ethics application) Start Date:
Duration of Research Activity:
If project is funded, state funding source:
External Ethics Board jurisdictions (if any):

If you are a student, please provide the following information:

Project Supervisor
Title of Module for which this work is being done

For collaborative research projects, please provide the details of your collaborators (if more than one, then copy box below):

Name of Applicant:

e-mail address:

Telephone:

Staff/Student Status:

SUMMARY OF PROJECT

1.Aims and objectives of the project

Please outline the questions or hypotheses that will be examined in the project.

2.Methods of data collection

Please outline how the data will be collected from or about human subjects.

3.Recruitment of participants

How many participants will take part in the project? How will they be identified and invited to take part in the study?

MAJOR ETHICS CONSIDERATIONS

1.Full informed consent

How will full informed consent be obtained from your research participants?

(i)Please confirm you have attached to this application the project information sheet to be given to all participants. If this has not been attached, please explain why this is the case.

(ii)Please confirm you have attached to this application all the relevant informed consent forms. If these have not been attached, please explain why this is the case.

(iii)Are the results to be given as feedback or disseminated to your participants (if yes, please specify when, in what form, and by what means).

Anonymity
In most instances, the Committee expects that anonymity will be offered to research subjects. If subjects are to be anonymous, please set out how you intend to ensure anonymity. If anonymity is not being offered, please explain why this is the case.

Data collection, storage and protection
All personal and sensitive data must be collected and stored in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2018 and the University’s research data management (RDM) policy, see:

i.Please detail type of data, setting out all the types of data you will be collecting (e.g. interviews, questionnaires, recordings)
ii.Where is the data to be collected and where will it be stored electronically? Please describe what protection there will be in relation to electronic storage?
The university data storage policy recommends storing all research data on university filestores. The university Google drive is also recommended, subject to any specific requirements from the research funder. The policy does not recommend storing data on the researcher’s personal non-University Google account, personal local hard drive, USB sticks or other individual external storage devices. For more information, see
iii.Where is the data to be stored in paper form? Please describe how this will be protected
iv.Do you propose to destroy the data, and, if so, at what point in relation to the duration of the project? And how?
At the moment, the University's research data management policy is applied to research undertaken by postgraduate research students and research staff only, and suggests retaining data for a period of 10 years after last requested access before destruction. For taught postgraduate students, we suggest retaining data for a period of 2 years. For taught undergraduate students, we suggest retaining data until the student has received their final ratified award mark for the module.
v.If you project involves collecting personal data, please provide a description of the data, and explain why you need to gather personally identifiable data rather than anonymised data (e.g. if you need to collect and individual’s contact details in order to organise an interview)
vi.If your project involves collecting sensitive personal data, please provide a description of the data
vii.If your project involves collecting sensitive personal data, please provide a description of the data
viii.Please explain the measures in place to ensure that you are capturing the minimum amount of personal data/special category data necessary for your research project
ix.Please explain how you plan to anonymise data or pseudonymise data during the project to minimise data protection risk? If you are not able to do this, please explain why not.
If you are sharing personal or special category data with anyone else outside TFTV, what steps are you taking to ensure that it is protected? If you are working collaboratively with third parties or sharing data with non-University personnel, please ensure that you have consulted the Information Governance Office and/or IP and Legal team to ensure appropriate contacts and/or data sharing arrangements are in place.
x.Will the data be exported outside the European Union? If so, what steps are you taking to ensure that it is protected? (Note that you must identify how you will comply with General Data Protection Regulation Requirements.)

4.Any other anticipated risks or ethical problems

Please outline any anticipated risks or ethical problems that may adversely affect any of the participants, the researchers and or the university, and the steps that will be taken to address them. (Note: all research involving human participants can have adverse effects.)
i.Risks to participants (e.g. emotional distress, financial disclosure, physical harm, transfer of personal data, sensitive organisational information…)
ii.Risks to researchers (e.g. personal safety, physical harm, emotional distress, risk of accusation of harm/impropriety, conflict of interest…)
iii.University/institutional risks (e.g. adverse publicity, financial loss, data protection…)
iv.Financial conflicts of interest (e.g. perceived or actual with respect to direct payments, research funding, indirect sponsorship, board or organisational memberships, past associations, future potential benefits, other…)
v. Please draw the committee’s attention to any other specific ethical issues this study raises.

CHECKLIST

Please confirm that all of the steps indicated below have been taken, or will be taken, with regard to the above named project submitted for ethical approval. If there are any items that you cannot confirm, or are not relevant to your project, please use the space provided below to explain.

Please tick if true, otherwise leave blank:

Informed consent will be sought from all research participants where appropriate

All data will be stored in a secure place and, where appropriate, treated anonymously

All relevant issues relating to General Data Protection Regulation have been considered (see &, if necessary, the Data Protection office contacted (Dr Charles Fonge, Borthwick Institute, )

All quotes and other material obtained from participants will be anonymised in all reports/publications arising from the study, where appropriate

All reasonable steps have been taken to minimise risk of physical/psychological harm

to project participants

All reasonable steps have been taken to minimise risk of physical/psychological harm

to researchers

Participants have been made aware of and consent to all potential future uses of the research and data

Any relevant issues relating to intellectual property have been considered (see and, if relevant, the University’s Legal Manager, Matthew Just (), has been made aware of the research

There are no known conflicts of interest with respect to finance/funding

Please explain in the space below, why any of the above items have not yet been confirmed:

SUBMISSION CHECKLIST FOR APPLICANTS

Finally, please ensure that all of the indicated documents below are e-mailed to .

/ TFTV Ethics Clearance Form
/ Consent form for participants
Information Sheet for participants

SIGNED UNDERTAKING

We will accept a typed name in lieu of signature if the form is emailed to the TFTV Ethics Committee from the applicant’s University of York account. Similarly, we will accept a typed name as the signature of the supervisor if the supervisor is cc-ed on the email.

Statement by applicant

In submitting this application I hereby confirm that there are no actual or perceived conflicts of interest with respect to this application (and associated research) other than those already declared.

Furthermore, I hereby undertake to ensure that the above named research project will meet the commitments in the checklist above. In conducting the project, the research team will be guided by the ethical guidelines for research from AHRC/ESRC/EPSRC/any other relevant research association.

………………………………………. (Signed Lead Researcher/Principal Investigator)

……………………………………….. (Date)

If applicant is a student:

Statement by supervisor

I have read all component elements of this application in detail and discussed them with the applicant, suggesting revision or improvements where appropriate. I am satisfied that all documents to be shared with external partners or participants are of a suitably high standard to represent the thoughtfulness and professionalism of the applicant, the department and the university community well in their relations with external bodies.

……………………………………….. (Signed Supervisor)

……………………………………….. (Date)

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