Research Ethics + Conduct

Besides government and institutional policies, ethical guidelines have been developed for organizations, community groups, First Nations, and others who want researchers and creative practitioners to understand ethical concerns that are specific to their settings. These are a few that relate specifically to artists, designers, and others who take up research-creation or other creative methods in research.  

• First Nations Governance Information Centre: OCAP Principles
  The First Nations principles of ownership, control, access, and possession – more commonly known as OCAP® – assert that First Nations have control over data collection processes, and that they own and control how this information can be used.
• ICCO Ethics/Research Frameworks 
  The British Columbia Network Environment for Indigenous Health Research (BC NEIHR) has mapped Indigenous communities, collectives, and organizations (ICCOs) in BC that have developed their own ethics or research frameworks. Their map lists those communities and provides links to access those frameworks. 

• Think Before You Appropriate: A Guide for Creators and Designers (2015)
  People and cultures have always exchanged and borrowed ideas from each other to create new forms of art and symbolic expression. Whether intentionally or not, most if not all human creations reflect varied sources of inspiration.
  Why, then, are some products negatively labelled “cultural appropriation” or their creators accused of disrespecting the very cultures they found inspiring? And why do products inspired from Indigenous cultural heritage seem to spark particularly strong reactions and pushback? This guide unpacks these important questions. It provides advice to designers and marketers on why and how to avoid misappropriation, and underlines the mutual benefits of responsible collaborations with Indigenous artists and communities.

• Toolbox in RCRC: Synthesis of Responsible Conduct in Research-Creation Issues and Proposal of Reflective Tools (RCRC Toolbox, 2018). 
  Related to research-ethics, this guide provides training for those using research-creation methods or other creative practices in research to apply principles of responsible conduct in research (RCR) in their disciplines. Examples and explanations are based on the authors’ large scale and international study of existing literature and practices.  

• Research 101: A Manifesto for Ethical Research in the Downtown Eastside (DTES)
  The participants and co-authors of this guideline for researchers and media producers seeking to work in Vancouver’s DTES included peer leaders in a wide variety of DTES organizations (e.g. Hives for Humanity, Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society, PACE Society, Vancouver Native Health Society, Spikes on Bikes, Sex Workers United Against Violence, BC Association of People On Methadone, Culture Saves Lives, Illicit, Carnegie Community Action Project, and the BC Centre on Substance Use). It has been widely circulated in research settings as well as with creative producers, and thus have set standards for projects in this over-researched and under-served community. 

• Guidelines for Ethical Visual Research Methods
  Guidelines for Ethical Visual Research Methods (2014) presents ideas and considerations for researchers who make use of visual research methods with human participants. Susan Cox, from UBC's W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics and former external member of the ECU-REB, is a lead author of this document. Other members of the ECU-REB contributed feedback during its preparation.

• Christina Clark-Kazak, with CCR, CARFMS and CRS, 2017. "Ethical Considerations: Research with People in Situations of Forced Migration," Refuge: Canada's Journal on Refugees
  Research can contribute to better understanding of the forced migration experience to inform policy and programming, but it can also cause inconvenience and harm to research respondents.[1] In situations of forced migration, the stakes are particularly high because of precarious legal status, unequal power relations, far-reaching anti-terrorism legislation, and the criminalization of migration. In response, the Canadian Council for Refugees, York University’s Centre for Refugee Studies, and the Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies collaborated to complement established ethical principles with specific ethical considerations for research with people in situations of forced migration. This document highlights our guiding principles and applies the ethical concepts of voluntary, informed consent; respect for privacy; and cost-benefit analysis. It is of relevance to anyone involved in gathering information—whether in an academic or community setting—and those who are asked to take part in research. Also see, International Association for the Study of Forced Migration: Code of Ethics. 

• Autoethnography and Research Ethics at OCAD University 
  The Research Ethics Board (REB) at OCAD University prepared this guidance document to ensure that autoethnographic research be carried out in an ethical manner, and that they include prior research ethics review. The document describes how, "It is important to note that when pursuing an answer to a research question, any individual (including the researcher) who features or provides data are considered human participants for REB purposes.” – Elizabeth Dauphinee’s 2010 article, “The Ethics of Autoethnography” further describes and demonstrates autoethnography’s problematic relationship to questions of truth, power, and ethics, while using the method itself. Its aim is to bring awareness and assist researchers to make the most ethical use of the method. 
  
  Dauphinee, Elizabeth. “The Ethics of Autoethnography.” Review of International Studies, vol. 36, no. 3, 2010, pp. 799–818. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40783297. Accessed 6 Feb. 2023.