Scott Edgar

The TCPS2 (2018) clarifies the need for ethics review of course-based research activities despite the fact that those activities do not meet the definition of research as outlined in Art. 2.1. Ethics review for course-based research activities is required because “because of the possible risks to those recruited to participate in such activities, and the fact that, from their perspective, such activities may appear indistinguishable from those that meet this Policy’s definition of research” (TCPS2, Art. 2.1 application). In this presentation, we share our institution’s guidelines aimed at providing researchers with tools to understand the ethics review requirements for non-research pedagogical activities. Although ethics reviews for program evaluations or quality assurance studies share some of the same elements of course-based research activities, they fall outside the purview of the TCPS2. In this talk we will present 2 case studies that highlight the different challenges that can emerge from research that doubles as program evaluations/quality assurance studies and from pedagogical activities that resemble research. We also discuss the implications of conducting research ethics reviews and granting ethics clearance to activities that are not research.