Research Ethics

If the research is considered minimal risk, all students who engage with human participants for course related research will need approval from the Ethics Review Committee, the Department of Design before proceeding.

Individualized Research Projects

For Undergraduate Students

If you are conducting research involving human participants, as part of an undergraduate course assignment, or as an individual project (either for the class or for an undergraduate thesis), familiarize yourself with the Ethics Review Requirements – Course Related Research and Student Researcher Responsibilities. You are required to complete the TCPS Tutorial . (You will receive a certificate of completion.)

Complete the following:

  1. Individualized Protocol Course Related Research Involving Human Participants
  2. Informed Consent
  3. TCPS certificate of completion
  4. Other relevant documents (e.g. survey tools, questionnaires, interview questions, recruitment materials)
  5. All of the above is to be reviewed and approved from your Course Director
  6. Submit the completed Protocol Package with all of the above in a single PDF file.
  7. Forward to desais@yorku.ca for review and approval.

It is important that this submission is accurate and complete otherwise it will delay the approval process. Data gathering involving human subjects can commence only after approval.

Graduate students will  follow the Faculty of Graduate Studies guidelines for Research Ethics

Course Related Projects

If the research is considered minimal risk, all students who engage with human participants for course related research will need approval from the Ethics Review Committee, the Department of Design before proceeding.

For Course Directors:

All Course Directors are responsible for their courses in which students will be undertaking research projects involving human participants for which the creative requirements or the research methodology are generally the same for the entire class. Course directors should familiarize themselves with the Ethics Review Requirements – Course Related Research and Course Director Responsibilities.

The review is for the course as a whole, not separate projects carried out by individual students. Students will be required to complete the online tutorial TCPS 2: CORE and provide the certificate of completion). All consent forms should be collected and stored by the course director.

If the students in your graduate or undergraduate course are conducting research involving human participants as part of a course assignment, and all students in the class are conducting the same or similar research, then before you begin the project, proceed as follows:

  1. Complete the Generic Protocol: Course Related Research Involving Human Participants,
  2. Submit the completed Protocol Package (Generic Protocol: Course Related Research Involving Human Participants, Consent document, copies of the TCPS 2: CORE and related documents such as survey tools, questionnaires, recruitment materials etc.) to At project completion:
  3. The Course Director Reporting Form should be completed and sent to desais@yorku.ca

It is important that this submission is accurate and complete otherwise it will slow down the approval process. Data gathering involving human subjects can commence only after approval.