Research ethics guidelines

OU researchers also need to be aware of the following OU research governance information:

• Ethics Principles for Research with Human Participants
• Research Code of Practice

For most research projects involving the collection of data from human participants, you will find a set of ethics guidelines which are relevant to your field of research:

• Academy of Management (AoM): Code of Ethics
• Association of Social Anthropologists (ASA) of the UK and Commonwealth: Ethical Guidelines
• British Psychological Society (BPS): Code of Ethics and Conduct
• British Psychological Society (BPS): Code of Human Research Ethics
• British Psychological Society (BPS): Ethics Guidelines for Internet-Mediated Research
• British Society of Criminology (BSC): Statement of Ethics
• British Educational Research Association (BERA): Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research
• Socio-Legal Studies Association (SLSA): Statement of Principles of Ethical Research Practice
• Social Research Association (SRA): Ethics Guidelines
• British Sociological Association (BSA): Guidelines on Ethical Research
• Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC): Framework for Research Ethics
• Medical Research Council (MRC): Policies and Guidance
• Natural Environment Research Council (NERC): Policies and Guidance

Guidance which might also be useful relating to specific research contexts or methodologies include:

• Association of Internet Researchers Ethical Guidelines 3.0
• Toronto University: Guidance for conducting autoethnographic research
• York University, California: Guidelines for Autoethnography and Reflective Practice

Or, when thinking about international guidance on ethics, we would like to draw your attention to A Global Code of Conduct for Equitable Research Partnerships. “The TRUST Code is a resource for all research stakeholders who want to ensure that international research is equitable and carried out without 'ethics dumping' and 'helicopter research'.”