Research ethics

Why ethics?

Science has done harm when researchers decided for themselves that their question was more important than the people or animals involved. Some of the worst examples led directly to the rules used today. Now, any research involving people or animals in Australia must be approved by a human research ethics committee or an animal ethics committee, which checks that the benefits justify any risks and that participants are protected. Your school project is held to the same principles, even if your teacher is the one approving it.

Three big questions sit behind every ethics decision:

• Respect: are people (and communities) treated as able to make their own decisions, with their privacy and culture respected?
• Benefit and harm: is the possible harm as small as possible, and justified by what will be learned?
• Fairness: are the burdens and benefits of the research shared fairly?

Research with people

Surveys, interviews, taste tests and reaction-time tests all involve human participants. Even a short survey of your classmates needs:

• Informed consent: participants know what they'll do, how long it takes, any risks and what happens to their data, and agree in writing. People under 18 usually also need a parent or carer's consent, depending on your school's rules.
• Voluntary participation: they can say no, skip questions or stop at any time, with no pressure or penalty.
• Privacy and anonymity: don't collect names, emails or photos unless you really need them. Online forms often record email addresses automatically, so turn that off.
• No harm: no physical risk, embarrassment or distress. Questions about weight, mental health, family or illegal activity are off limits for a school project.
• Grouped reporting: report "14 of 20 students", never anything that could identify an individual.

In a school project, never give other people food, drinks, supplements or medicines to test their effects.

Research with animals

All scientific use of animals in Australia must follow the Australian code for the care and use of animals for scientific purposes. At its heart are the 3Rs:

In NSW schools, any activity with vertebrate animals (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, including pets) must follow guidelines approved by the Schools Animal Care and Ethics Committee, and needs your teacher's approval before you start. In practice, school projects that could stress, injure or kill a vertebrate are not allowed. Projects that simply observe animals in their normal environment, or use invertebrates such as mealworms or slaters, plants, fungi or microbes, are usually fine, but still treat living things with care and return them where you found them.

Respecting First Nations knowledge

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' knowledge of plants, animals, seasons, fire, land and sea is the result of tens of thousands of years of careful observation, and it continues to be used today. This knowledge belongs to the communities who hold it. It is called Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP), and Australian law doesn't fully protect it, so researchers follow agreed principles instead. The best known are the True Tracks principles developed by Aboriginal lawyer Terri Janke, and the AIATSIS Code of Ethics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research (2020).

For a school project, the principles mean:

• Ask first, and ask the right people. Knowledge often has custodians. A local Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (AECG), Land Council or your school's Aboriginal Education Officer can help you approach the right people. Accept a "no".
• Consent and control. Agree what you will use and what you will share. Some knowledge is secret or sacred, or only for men or women, and must not be published.
• Attribution. Name the community and people the knowledge comes from, in their preferred way.
• Benefit sharing. Give results back to the community and don't make money from their knowledge without agreement.