Cégep de Granby focuses on research ethics
Nathalie Bouchard, research advisor at the Cégep de Granby, in collaboration with partners from the college community, received a grant from the Secrétariat sur la conduite responsable de la recherche du Canada (SCRR) to develop a workshop on the ethics review of student research.
A team composed of Bouchard, Marie Briand from Cégep de Jonquière, Marie-chantal Dumas from Cégep Garneau and Lynn Lapostolle from the Association pour la recherche au collégial, will be designing an online ethics training activity intended to be held on Sept. 23 and it will be offered across Canada.
“The support and expertise of the Association pour la recherche au collégial is essential to the realization of this project and to the support of the partner colleges,” said Bouchard.
Each year, colleges offer preuniversity and technical courses in which professors introduce thousands of students to research.
According to the press release, while these are educational activities, it is important that the research conducted by college students be guided by ethical principles, such as respect for people and their well-being.
“Through teaching, students will be immersed in ethical principles, which is part of their training as citizens. These are principles that can be found in other fields, for example in administration, health or education, and which will serve them throughout their lives,” explained Vincent Larose, Director of Studies at Cégep de Granby.
“Society must do everything possible to ensure that research involving human beings is done ethically in order to preserve public trust. The responsibility of evaluating the ethics of student work must be shared,” explained Bouchard.
When a researcher is looking to study a particular topic or issue, the project must first be submitted to a research ethics board (REB). The REB protects the participants of the research by ensuring that ethical rules are respected.
Cégep de Granby’s REB was established in 2018 by its board of directors and it examines the ethics of each research project involving humans, weighing its advantages and disadvantages, before granting authorization to begin the work. In the case of research activities that are part of a course and whose primary purpose is pedagogical, however, the REB may delegate the review to the faculty.
“This project is a very good example of inter-institutional collaboration and a much-awaited initiative by our REB, which will give us the appropriate tools to further our training and information mandate in the area of research ethics,” said Marie-josée Turgeon, Chair of the REB at Cégep de Granby.