This website serves as a resource for students enrolled in PSY 371-2, PSY 401-3, PSY 509-10, CP 530-2, and MPT 514-5, providing assistance with their ethics review applications. It provides useful information regarding the ethics review process and templates for relevant documents.
Ethics Review Process
Every thesis or final year research project conducted by students in the department that involves the participation of human subjects must undergo ethics review by the Research Subcommittee. To initiate the review process, each applicant is required to submit an ethics review application form. In some cases, a research proposal may be requested as an additional document for the review. The applicant should compile all the necessary information in a single application form file containing the following information in a SINGLE file:
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1. Background information of the researcher student and the study
2. A one-page summary of the proposed study, describing the objectives, research plan, and methodology
3. Stimuli and Questionnaire(s) being adopted in the research (if not possible to list out all involved materials, a representative sample is still needed)
4. Informed consent form(s) in English or Chinese (note: if only English consent form is in use, there is no need to provide a Chinese version; yet if Chinese consent form is adopted, then both Chinese and English versions should be provided for the review process)
5. Debriefing form(s) (note: same rule applied as for the consent forms)
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The file of the application form should be named as this format: PSY371_123456_CTM_ResearchEthicsForm.doc, where the course code (e.g., PSY 371) shows at the beginning followed by your student number (e.g., 123456), and a short form of your English name, such as CTM represents Chan Tai Man.
Consent and Debriefing Forms
In any study involving human participants, obtaining informed consent is essential. Generally, when recruiting undergraduate participants who are 17 years old or older, it is mandatory to have them sign an informed consent form. Both the participant and the research student should retain a copy of the signed consent form.
For research involving children aged between 12 to 16 years, if the study qualifies for expedited review and maintains anonymity, passive parental consent is considered sufficient. However, it is crucial to clearly inform the students that their participation in the study is voluntary.
For research that involves recruiting children under the age of 12, obtaining a parental consent form is necessary prior to commencing the study.
Generally, students may compensate participants for their involvement in research if these participants are not sourced from the Department's online participant pool. This is especially applicable when participant recruitment proves challenging due to the specific demographic or nature of the participants required for the study.
Compensation is also considered acceptable if the research procedures are complex and require a significant time commitment from participants—typically more than an hour. The compensation amount should be reasonable and, if possible, grounded in a reference rate. For example, the payment rate for undergraduate participants could be based on the University's established pay rate for student assistants.
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Once data collection is complete, it is customary to conduct a debriefing session with the participants or distribute a debriefing note to them. The debriefing notes should be written in plain and straightforward language, avoiding technical jargon. The purpose of the debriefing is to inform the participants about the reasons behind the study and the anticipated outcomes. It is important to remember that even if you are using fellow undergraduate students as participants, they may have less knowledge in psychology than you do. Thus, a debriefing session can also be beneficial for them to gain a better understanding of the field. In the case of participants below the age of 12, it is necessary to provide a debriefing to their parents as well, which can be done through a letter or any other appropriate means.
Key Elements in a Proposal
A research proposal, on one hand, is part of an assessment for the research course. On the other hand, it would be served as an additional document for the ethics review process. A proposal should include:
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1. Student Declaration Statement,
2. Body of the proposal,
3. Sample of consent form(s) in either English or Chinese, (note: if only English consent form is in use, there is no need to provide a Chinese version; yet if Chinese consent form is adopted, then both Chinese and English versions should be provided for the review process)
5. Materials used/ Questionnaires /Interview questions (Original version should be submitted. It can be in English or Chinese. If a translated version is available, students should also submit it.), and
6. Sample of debriefing form(s) (note: same rule applied as for the consent forms)
Similarly, the file name of your proposal should be named in a standard file name. (i.e “Course name” “SID” “Initial of student name” “Document name.pdf/doc” For example, the files submitted by a student “CHAN, TAI MAN” with his Student ID “123456” should be written as
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Proposal: PSY371_123456_CTM_Proposal.doc
Key Elements in Research Report
Similar to the proposal, research report should include:
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1. Student Declaration Statement,
2. Body of the research report,
3. Sample of consent form in either English or Chinese,
4. Materials used/ Questionnaires /Interview questions (Original version should be submitted. It can be in English or Chinese. If a translated version is available, students should also submit it.), and
5. Sample of debriefing form
Students who conducted qualitative study should also submit all audio recordings and a full transcription of at least one interview. Whereas students who conducted quantitative study, the data files should be fully ready the potential checking.
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The format of the file name is identical to the ones adopted in the submission of proposal.
Downloads
You can access the ethics review application form and various related documents for download on Moodle. Additionally, you can consult your research manual for a comprehensive understanding of the required documents for each submission. Below, you will find downloadable templates for research proposals, reports, and various consent forms.
(undergraduate)
Samples
You can also access some of the best research works conducted by our graduates in the library electronic collection section. The procedure is simple.
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1. Go to library webpage (https://www.hksyu.edu.hk/lib/)
2. Click 'Collections', choose 'Dissertations' and choose 'Counselling and Psychology'
3. Enjoy
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