pierre boulos phd careb 2015 pre-conference workshop 1 conducting research using our own children,...
TRANSCRIPT
Pierre Boulos PhDCAREB 2015
Pre-Conference WorkshopPre-Conference Workshop
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Conducting research using our own children, ahem, I mean our own students, as participants
Acknowledgement
• Dr. Suzanne McMurphy, Vice-Chair, UWindsor REB
Why engage in research ethics?
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Definitions Ethics
– Codes or principles of conduct– Principles upon which actions or decisions are based,
value system
Human Participant/Subject– Living individual about whom an investigator
(professional or student) conducting research obtains:• Data through intervention or interaction with the
individual • Private information
What are the benefits ?
• Better research - planned and designed
• Clarify thinking early
• Peer review and feedback of methods
• Protected vulnerable populations
• Able to disseminate data publicly
• Overall improved quality through the questions of the Ethics Board
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What are ethical concerns in SoTL?
• Dual role: teacher/researcher
• Coercion
• Vulnerable population
• Stigma: Masking non-participation
• Withholding an intervention reasonably believed to be helpful
• Data collection already started before research idea
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A Quick word about Core Principles
Core principles adapted from Belmont1. Respect for Persons
– Informed consent, Voluntariness, Avoid coercion
2. Beneficence/Welfare– Risk/Benefits
3. Justice– Recruitment –burden and benefits of research shared
equally
4th Suggested:
4. Respect for Community
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CASE EXAMPLE
Case study example
• Courses across a variety of departments designed to develop skills in clinical assessment using an experiential learning model, e.g. social work, nursing, psychology, kinesiology, etc.
• Controversy in disciplines whether ‘real-time’ interaction and live actors improves students’ assessment skills and scores on licensure tests—or reduces their attention to detail
• Purpose of study—explore the difference in assessment skills between students who practiced with live actors versus those using models.
Research Questions
• How does the use of different models (live actors, peers, simulated models) influence student learning experiences?
• What influence on student assessment skills will each of the different types of models have?
• What influence will the different types of learning have on retention and subsequent clinical examinations?
Hypotheses
• Students who practice with live models will have:– Improved clinical assessment skills– Increased retention of course content – More positive experience of the course– Higher scores on practice professional
assessment tests
When compared to students who practice with simulated models
Research design
• Due to the controversy on positive outcomes using live models versus simulations—experimental design—randomized control trial (RCT) most appropriate
• RCT within a specific class most advantageous from research design perspective to reduce bias
Research Design: Implementation
• RCT requires:– Baseline skills assessments (T1) – Random assignment into intervention (live
actors) and control (simulated models—TAU)– final assessment (T2)
• How to avoid ‘contamination’ of treatment group within a classroom setting?
Curriculum/Course Design Issue
• How to randomly assign students into the two different learning techniques—live actors versus simulated models?
• What happens if we find out that the live actors model is substantially better?
STOP, Stay Calm, Think
• Think of one ethical issue that may arise out of the research design
• Share it with a neighbour
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Ethics Issues: Recruitment
• RCT design introduces potential social justice ethics issue—disadvantaging one group over another (risk/benefit)
• Need to differentiate between course content and evaluation of the course content-voluntariness and withdrawal
Ethics Issue: Social justice
• If we hypothesize that the tx will be better than the control, how will we compensate the control group within one semester?
Research Design: Case-crossover study
• Modify the design into a case cross-over study• Baseline—random assignment—cross over
Mid-term
Baseline Tx1 TX1Outcome
TX2 TX2
Curriculum issues
• How to fit the research into the existing curriculum—will the research ‘take over’ the course content?
• How to gather information on student experience from those that are not participating in the evaluation?
Constructive Alignment
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Research Issues: Data Gathering
• Baseline skills assessment
• Mid-term feedback
• Final outcome assessment
• Introduce a qualitative methodology—interviews with students at mid-term and final assessment
Ethics Issues: Confidentiality and Consent
• How to use student feedback data designed for curriculum use, not research use
Research Design
• Final analysis with baseline and final course grade and assessment combined with qualitative feedback
Ethics Issues: Confidentiality and Feedback to participants
When?
How?
Additional Research design and ethics issues
• Using student feedback and evaluation information as research data post-hoc
• Building consent into course syllabi
• Testing different curriculum content and learning techniques without RCT designs
Ethical Concerns in SoTL
What are some of the ethical concerns that might occur in your SoTL projects?
– Think individually– Share ideas in pairs
(~5 min)
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Resources
Burman, M.E., & Kleinsasser, A.M. (2004). Ethical guidelines for use of student work: Moving from teaching’s invisibility to inquiry’s visibility in the scholarship of teaching and learning. The Journal of General Education, 53(1), 59-79.
Hutchings, P. (2003). Competing goods: Ethical issues in the scholarship of teaching and learning. Change (Sept./Oct.), 27-33.
MacLean, M., & Poole, G. (2010). An introduction to the ethical consideration for novices to research in teaching and learning in Canada. The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 1 (2) article 7. Retrieved from http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cjsotl_rcacea/vol1/iss2/7.
McKinney, K., & Cross, K.P. (2007).Enhancing Learning Through the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: The Challenges and Joys of Juggling. Jossey-Bass: San Francisco. (particularly Chapter 5)
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Resources• National Council on Ethics in Human Research, http://www.ncehr-cnerh.org/• Canadian Institutes of Health Research, http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/• Social Sciences and humanities Research Council of Canada,
http://www.sshrc.ca/• Government of Canada, Panel on Research Ethics,
http://www.pre.ethics.gc.ca/http://pre.ethics.gc.ca/english/tutorial/
• Local School Boards/Hospitalswww.uwindsor.ca/reb
• Panel on Research Ethics (http://www.pre.ethics.gc.ca/english/policystatement/policystatement.cfm )
• EthicsWeb.ca (http://www.ethicsweb.ca/resources/research/index.html) • ResearchEthics.ca (http://www.researchethics.ca/)• The Research Ethics Blog (http://www.researchethics.ca/blog/)• US Office of Human Subjects Protection (OHRP)
http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp• Citizens for Responsible Care and Research
http://www.circare.org/CAindex.htm
Resources• US Office of Human Subjects Protection (OHRP)
http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp
• Canada National Council on Ethics in Human Research
• http://www.ncehr-cnerh.org/• Panel on Research Ethics• www.pre.ethics.gc.ca• http://pre.ethics.gc.ca/english/tutorial/• Citizens for Responsible Care and Research• http://www.circare.org/CAindex.htm