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UBC ethics forms and procedures

This section largely replicates the ethics instructions and materials found on the 344 website, but there are some important differences, so read it carefully. 

Step 1: Refresh yourself on the approved ethics proposal. You read it for 344, but re-read it before starting your 444 project.  (It tells you, among other things: who you can use for subjects for your 444 project, how you can recruit them, what evaluative procedures you are allowed to use, where you can store data, and what you can do with your project video). This material will be examined in quizzes and exams.

  • UBC BREB ethics application for CS HCI Course Projects - H12-01599 [pdf] - Approved in September, 2012; renewed annually.
  • A recent renewal listing all HCI courses covered pdf.
  • ***NOTE for 2021W2 under COVID-19 pandemic: See the renewal pdf in bullet above and pay particular attention to text on page 12 which notes:

    "No activities that involve in-person interaction will take place during the suspension of in-person activities due to COVID-19, with the exception of two cases: (1) naturalistic observation can take place with physical distancing, and (2) research done with people in the same household/bubble, e.g. family, so long as remains low-risk and non-coercive. "

Step 2: Complete the Tri-Council Ethics Tutorial (if you have not already)

The tutorial: https://tcps2core.ca/welcome

Step 3: Print, Read and sign an adherence form. One copy per team, to be turned in with your final project report.

  • Adherence to ethics protocol [pdf] 444 student signatures required

Step 4: When using participants, you must prepare versions of the provided template documents, as applicable. In general these documents (e.g. recruiting and consent forms) are written to cover all possible types of activities you are allowed to do under this ethics approval; you delete the parts that don't apply to you, and elsewhere fill in the blanks. The templates have instructions for how you are to do this.

  • Template recruitment / call for particpation [doc]
  • Template consent forms: General [doc] and questionnaire only [doc]. ***NOTE for 2021W2 under COVID-19 pandemic the two versions of the consent forms that must be used are: general [doc], and questionnaire only [doc].
    • See Section 6 of application for the means by which a participant can give assent, e.g. in a remote situation (skype interview, etc). Also summarized below.
  • Sample interview questions [doc]. Shows the type of questions you can ask in an interview. Modify this with the similar-type questions you plan to use.
  • Sample questionnaire [doc]. Shows the type of questions you can ask in a survey, whether paper or online. Modify this with the similar-type questions you plan to use.
  • All templates and samples in one place [zip]

Step 5: Submit your prepared experiment documents to your TA for approval BEFORE running the study. This can be informal - ideally, show your TA your experiment materials in a lab or office hours. Your TA will check off that he/she has confirmed adherence for that evaluation. THIS IS REQUIRED in the terms of the ethics approval.

 

Step 6: Conduct your evaluation using the TA-approved documents.

 

Step 7: Maintain a list of your participants' names and their mapping to participant number, in this document [doc], stored in a password-protected location [Approval, section 8].

 

Step 8: Pay carefully attention to the use of indentifying information in the project video and other videos you create. If your participants can be identified in your video, you will not be able to show it outside of the 444 class, nor may you use it in your online portfolio. [Approval, section 8].

 

Step 9: Within 6 months of the end of the course destroy all files with identifying information.

This includes the file with the participant names as well as any video or still images that include participants in them.  [Approval, section 8].

 

Note: Online Surveys and Remote Evaluation

In some versions of this course, students will conduct online surveys and/or other forms of remote evaluations. These notes pertain to this situation.

1) Canadian data storage requirement:
Our ethics regulations require us to store confidential data (such as experimental records) only on Canadian servers, where it remains under the protection of the Canadian government. This means that you cannot use an online data collection tool which could potentially store the collected data outside of Canada (so: no SurveyMonkey or Google Forms).

Recommended and probably only workable solution (as of 2020W2) is the UBC Qualtrix tool. All registered UBC students should be able to access Qualtrix using their UBC CWL.

Get an account here by signing up here, using your CWL: https://it.ubc.ca/services/teaching-learning-tools/survey-tool

2) Consent by remote participants (e.g. skype, telephone):
Some of you will be conducting questionnaires and/or interviews remotely (e.g. with an online survey tool, or in person, e.g. Skype or telephone). You need to get consent from these participants. These options are acceptable (all archived in your project folder):

a) manually signed and faxed form

b) responding with words 'I consent' to an email that contains the consent text

c) digitally signed pdf (e.g. using Adobe Acrobat authentication; not possible for everyone)

3) Consent for an online questionnaire:
To get consent from the taker of an online survey, diisplay the consent form, and require the participant to check off that they agree with this statement before allowing them to proceed. Use this text, or equivalent:
"By checking this box, I confirm that I have read, understood and agree to the conditions of informed consent for the evaluation I am about to participate in."

  • They should, ideally, not be able to access this checkbox without having first viewed the form, or to be able to submit the form if they have not checked the checkbox.
  • Then, archive a hardcopy indicating who has checked this page, and showing the page.

 

References / bibliographies

online bibliographies:

hcibib.org

http://portal.acm.org/dl.cfm

 

 

Advanced Methods for Human Computer Interaction - McGrenere 20/21