Read through some of the most frequently asked questions in regards to Research Ethics:
The BCIT Research Ethics Board (REB) is an elected group of faculty and staff responsible for reviewing and approving research under BCIT’s auspices. Research under BCIT’s auspices includes human participants or human biological materials if:
(a) any of the researchers are associated with BCIT,
(b) any of the participants are associated with BCIT,
(c) any BCIT resources are used in the study (e.g. conducted on our campus).
Please contact Vasco Castela, the REB Chair, or call 604-453-4059.
Studies that involve no more risk to participants than they would encounter in their everyday lives are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Please email the application and all attachments to the chair approximately 3-4 weeks before you need to start collecting data.
For applicants submitting a study that involves more risk than participants would encounter in their everyday lives, please email the Chair all materials two to three weeks in advance of the meeting dates below to ensure sufficient review time.
- The first thing you will need is a copy of your ethics course completion certificate. If you don’t have one you can complete the free TCPS2 Course on Research Ethics (CORE).
If you are collaborating with other researchers in BC or recruiting participants at other institutions in BC please use the online application in RISe. You will need a UBC Campus-Wide Login (CWL) account, which you can open by following the instructions here. Please email the BCIT REB Chair if you have any questions, or with the title of your study when your application is ready to submit.
If your study does not involve other institutions in BC then please apply using BCIT’s PDF forms and templates as outlined below:
- The BCIT application form for ethics review is a fillable PDF form [PDF] but the detailed instructions and a template to help you write your application are available in both PDF and Word (DOCX) formats. Use the checklist at the end of the form to ensure you have prepared all of the relevant attachments.
- Digital signatures on your application form may lock it from editing and it is possible you may need to revise it following review, so if you collect signatures from your supervisor and BCIT contact (if applicable), please do so on a separate copy of the form, or have them email their approval to the chair directly (your email submission acts as your signature).
- Your consent form and letter of invitation (or poster) should follow guidelines and templates available from many Canadian REBs, including ours for the consent form, and others available from:
- Email the completed form and all appendices to the BCIT REB Chair.
2024 REB meeting dates
- January 31
- March 27
- June 5
- September 11
- November 27
Submissions to the REB will be acknowledged within five working days of being received. The Chair will determine if the application qualifies for a delegated or full review. If a full review is required the submission will be placed on the agenda of the next REB meeting if received two weeks prior to the meeting. When a submission qualifies for a delegated review, two REB members will provide feedback on the application. The Chair then compiles the members’ comments and communicates with the applicant. This usually takes about three weeks from receipt of a complete application. The applicant is then asked to edit the application based on the reviewers’ comments. Time for approval after re-submission will depend on when you return the revisions and how easy it is for the chair to verify the changes you have made. Please include an itemized list of changes with highlighted changes if possible.
BCIT is responsible for research carried out by its faculty, on its premises, or with funds administered by the Institute. Approval from the BCIT Research Ethics Board is required for all faculty, staff, or students, regardless of where their research site(s) or participants are located. If your research involves other researchers or institutions in BC you can submit a single (harmonized) application online through UBC’s RISe system and select BCIT as a primary affiliation or site of research. Help in completing an application in RISe is available from Research Ethics BC.
During the research you will need to report any changes to study procedures or personnel, unanticipated problems, and renew your approval before it expires if you need more time to collect data (there is no need to extend your approval if you are simply analyzing or writing up your research). After your study is complete please send us a study completion report to close it.
If you will collect person information (e.g., name or email address) in a survey the data should be stored on a Canadian server. The BCIT SurveyMonkey licence uses servers in Canada but a personal account does not. Business Development Canada lists other free and paid services with Canadian server options (see “Data stored in Canada” column on the right).
For faculty and staff, Amanda Grant in the Learning and Teaching Centre manages the BCIT licences for SurveyMonkey and can help you put the survey online with the necessary BCIT logo and privacy notices. She can be reached at agrant56@bcit.ca or 604-456-1221.
Students should work with their faculty advisors to avoid collecting personal information or select a service that has Canadian servers.
BCIT Survey Guidelines and Best Practices developed by BCIT’s Institutional Research Office may also help you with your survey.
BCIT Library provides research data support and instruction for students and researchers. This includes one-on-one consultations, small group workshops, and class instruction on research data management, data management plans, data repositories, data wrangling/cleaning, and other topics.
Contact the Library about your research data needs.
- Research Data Management is a crucial part of the research lifecycle and includes file naming, file formats, metadata, documentation, and backups.
- Data Management Plans (DMPs) describe your data files, documentation, plans for data storage, and rules for sharing your data. Many granting agencies now require them as a part of research proposals. BCIT Library can help you find templates and tools to create and refine your DMP.
- Data Repositories are storage spaces that aims to preserve and provide long-term access to Research Data. BCIT Library will help you find data to use in your research projects or find storage solutions for research data you’ve created.
- Data Wrangling converts data from one file format to another to ensure ease of use and preservation.
- Data Cleaning improves the overall quality of a dataset through standardization, removal of extraneous data, and fixing inconsistencies and errors.