Conducting research using our own children ahem I

Conducting research using our own children, ahem, I mean our own students, as participants Pierre Boulos Ph. D CAREB 2015 Pre-Conference Workshop 1

Acknowledgement • Dr. Suzanne Mc. Murphy, Vice-Chair, UWindsor REB

Why engage in research ethics? 3

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 5

• • • What are ethical concerns in So. TL? 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 6

A Quick word about Core Principles Core principles adapted from Belmont 1. Respect for Persons – Informed consent, Voluntariness, Avoid coercion 2. Beneficence/Welfare – Risk/Benefits 3. Justice – Recruitment –burden and benefits of research shared equally 4 th Suggested: 4. Respect for Community 7

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 (T 1) – Random assignment into intervention (live actors) and control (simulated models—TAU) – final assessment (T 2) • 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 15

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 Tx 1 TX 2 Outcome

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 20

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 So. TL What are some of the ethical concerns that might occur in your So. TL projects? – Think individually – Share ideas in pairs (~5 min) 26

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. Mac. Lean, 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/vol 1/iss 2/7. Mc. Kinney, 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) 27

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/Hospitals www. uwindsor. ca/reb Panel on Research Ethics (http: //www. pre. ethics. gc. ca/english/policystatement. cfm ) Ethics. Web. ca (http: //www. ethicsweb. ca/resources/research/index. html) Research. Ethics. 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