Research Ethics
Professor Grant Amyot’s 2002 Report to the CPSA Board
Report on consultation meeting on the Tri-Council Policy Statement on Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Human Subjects (Toronto, 29 May 2002) - by Grant Amyot (Queen’s)
1) Program speakers
The meeting was organized by the HSSFC and the Interagency Advisory Panel on Research Ethics (PRE). The latter was established late last year as a permanent body with the mandate of overseeing the maintenance, interpretation, and implementation of the Statement (known as the “TCPS”). It was encouraging to hear that the PRE is aware of the problems with the TCPS, and one Panel member who addressed us said there was a need to “overhaul” the document. This is one of their priorities, on which they are seeking input. She also said that researchers can write directly to the PRE for guidance in interpreting the TCPS. This could be extremely valuable, as I am sure they were aware of the possibility of researchers’ using this as an appeal mechanism against local Research Ethics Board (REB) decisions.
In the presentations, which took most of the morning, members of the Panel and other invited speakers mentioned several problems with the TCPS. They were very well aware of the “resistance” to the document on the part of researchers in the humanities and social sciences, who see it as imposing a clinical model on their very different research projects. Many of them spoke of the need to “fill gaps”, which of course we may not necessarily welcome if it means extending the document’s reach even farther. Among the problems highlighted were the vagueness or imprecision of many parts of the document: e.g. what research is subject to ethics review and what is not, who makes this determination, what qualifies for expedited review, and who is a "public figure". Other issues identified as “gaps” included the secondary use of data, research involving communities or groups, action research (used in education), internet research, and creative work (e.g. film-making). The diversity of standards applied by local REBs was also mentioned, as well as the small-c “conservative” bias of many of them. Refreshingly, one speaker noted that the passages which allow research on public figures and issues regardless of the balance of benefit and harm for the public figures involved are important and should be given greater prominence.
2) Discussion
Most of the speakers here were officers or representatives of disciplinary associations. The overwhelming direction of their remarks, supported by Philosophy, Medicine, and others, and opposed by no one (I also spoke to this, but only for myself) was that to amend the TCPS to fit all disciplines and fill all identified “gaps” was a fruitless task which would at best produce an unmanageable document. It would be better to keep the TCPS as a statement of principles and then have each discipline work out its own code of ethics. As the president of the Canadian Philosophical Association noted, some professions already have these, but most disciplinary associations in the SSHFC do not. Many of the other speakers had some of the same complaints about the process as it exists as we have heard from political scientists.
3) Possible direction for CPSA
The model of a general statement supplemented by disciplinary codes seems a good idea, but the CPSA should consider all the alternatives before adopting it. If we do adopt it, we could probably find broad support from many other associations in the HSSFC and beyond, and bring pressure to bear on the PRE and the Councils. The PRE or the Councils would likely want to vet the disciplinary codes first. There is also the problem that there are likely to be one or two “laggard” associations that don’t draft codes, or don’t do so in time. Apart from this issue, we might want to take a stand on the procedures: e.g. should the REBs be at the university level, or should we have national disciplinary REBs instead? If the REBs remain at the university level, how can they be made more sensitive to the needs of all disciplines? I think a well drafted disciplinary code could address some, but not all, of the complaints about the procedures by making the criteria to be applied by the REBs clearer. In any case, I suppose we should consult with other associations on this too.
It may be premature to begin work on a political science disciplinary code until we know whether this orientation will be adopted. Nevertheless, we might think of doing some preparatory work. I’ve always thought we should look at whatever journalists have, just as a point of reference. As a basis for reflection, I’ve added the next section outlining some of the issues for consideration. Most of them have been suggested by my own experience as a researcher and graduate chair in my department, but some arose at the meeting and others were reported to me by colleagues or graduate students at other universities.
4) Some of the issues
a) Vagueness of the TCPS: besides the examples raised by the program speakers, there are others of special relevance to us, such as the unclear exemption for “public policy issues”.
b) REB discretion: Partly because of this vagueness, REBs in different institutions apply the TCPS differently, but often with a conservative bias (examples of the same project being treated differently by different universities' boards were given in the discussion). This is linked to the problem that REBs often contain no one from the discipline in question, and sometimes have a marked clinical or positivistic bias. (The PRE representatives, to their credit, mostly refrained from pointing to the elements of flexibility in the document, which are of little use if local REBs choose not to use them.)
c) Graduate students have often remarked that there is no clarity about the sanctions for non-compliance with the TCPS or the REB's directives, either (i.e. Article 1.2 of the TCPS has been imperfectly implemented at the university level). I suspect the outcome of a grievance on this issue might vary from institution to institution, depending on the wording of collective agreements, university policies, etc.
d) The TCPS's preference for consent in writing from subjects raises problems: first, in many cultures where political scientists do research, a request for written consent is considered inappropriate or insulting, and could prejudice the success of the interview. Even in Canada, such a request may often have an unnecessarily chilling effect on the interviewee.
e) The requirement that researchers prepare a list of questions for interviewees in advance for the REB to vet is at variance with the open-ended interview procedure often adopted by political scientists, particularly when researching public policy questions.
f) REBs often exceed their mandate in various ways, making comments on the academic substance of the research proposal (methodology, theoretical framework, etc.), as well as other issues such as field research safety, etc. They have also been known to ignore the explicit restrictions contained in the TCPS (e.g. that consent from organizations, employers, etc., is not required). Graduate students, in particular, are not able to distinguish the REB comments they must address from those they should ignore, and there have been no clear lines of appeal. If REBs do wish to add helpful suggestions, these should be clearly distinguished from the changes they are requiring in order to satisfy the ethical requirements of the TCPS.
g) For graduate students in particular, the timing of the ethics review is of crucial importance. They are on grants awarded for a limited period (typically a year at a time), and hence for them to spend two or three months awaiting a response from an REB and, possibly, having to address its concerns and wait again, is an unacceptable cost. While this is a “nitty-gritty” procedural issue, it should not be lost from sight amid the broad questions of principle that are also involved in the TCPS. Some way to speed up approvals (especially where expedited review is not appropriate) must be found. Face-to-face meetings between the researcher and the REB are one possibility, but can be only one part of the solution. One idea often suggested is for grad students to make ethics submissions before the project is approved by their academic unit (thesis proposal board or similar), but the disadvantages of this solution are obvious, since the process may need to be repeated if the proposal board asks for revisions (and, in any case, grad students are unlikely to be able to make an ethics submission much in advance of the thesis proposal proper).
h) An unfortunate consequence of these problems, which are often magnified by the rumour mill, is a kind of “ethics review chill” which may lead graduate students to opt for theoretical topics, even when empirical research is much more appropriate given their interests and capabilities. This could lead to a general decline in the quality of work done in our graduate departments, with more rehash-type theoretical theses and less interesting original research. Apart from action at the national level, we should all do what we can as faculty members to counteract this chilling effect, by pointing out that most political science research gets expedited review, and by trying to introduce even simpler standard procedures for interviewing that the researcher only has to “sign on” to (provided for in Article 3.1 of the TCPS).
i) There is a potential conflict between the principle of free and informed consent and that of limiting harm to subjects. We could propose that the TCPS clarify that in most cases the calculation of the balance of benefit and harm should be left to the research subject rather than the REB.
j) In the discussion, a representative from the Native Studies Association spoke in a way that suggested that for aboriginal groups the major issue here is jurisdiction: some aboriginal communities are drafting their own research ethics guidelines. This raises a whole series of issues, of course, including e.g. individual vs. community consent and the territorial ambit of the TCPS (it appears to apply to Canadian university researchers everywhere in the world, but not to foreign researchers in Canada - or to private sector researchers - since it is not a law, regulation, or governmental policy). At any rate, I am just flagging this as an issue that will require careful thought (cf. Sec. 6 of the TCPS).
k) In the presentations and discussion, there were a number of proposals to “extend” the TCPS, “fill gaps”, etc., that I think we should view with some scepticism. (For example, one of the program speakers suggested some limits on the use of material already in the public domain, such as theses.) We should remain vigilant against the tendency for an emerging “ethics review bureaucracy” to attempt to widen its mandate and enter areas where it does not belong or has no expertise. The freedom to research - a key component of academic freedom - should remain the fundamental assumption, any proposed limits on it must be “reasonable and justified” (to borrow a phrase), and we should be ready to oppose any limitations that go farther than that.
l) Following from the previous point, one speaker in the discussion noted that the TCPS is based on a series of ethical principles, such as respecting human dignity, free and informed consent, etc. (Sec. i.5). There is, quite properly, no reference to limiting the legal liability of universities or researchers, and this should not be allowed to creep in as a subsidiary goal (already, many faculty believe this is the real purpose). This is the job, at the limit, of the university’s legal advisers, not the REB.
This is just a list of problems, in no particular order, and with no particular solutions, in most cases. Some may have to be dealt with at the PRE level, while others might be addressed in our own code of ethics, should we decide to go that way.
5) Concluding comments
I and other participants were pleasantly surprised by the intelligent, reasonable, and non-bureaucratic approach that the PRE members took. I think they will listen to well thought-out representations from associations and researchers. I shall forward the materials (overheads) distributed at the meeting to the CPSA office.
|
