News from the Research Office

As the semester is well underway, the Research Office would like to issue a friendly reminder regarding the policy of conducting research among the Dawson community, whether it is by a Dawson researcher or by an external researcher.

Any internal or external researcher wishing to conduct research among the Dawson Community (including faculty, all staff, and students) must obtain an ethics certificate from the Dawson Research Ethics Board (REB) prior to contacting potential participants. Therefore, we ask that if you receive any solicitation for research participants—whether it is for an in-class observation, to disseminate a survey, recruiting students/employees to participate in research activities, etc.—you direct the researcher to the Dawson REB and the Research
Office to verify if the project needs ethics certification and/or institutional approval.

Dawson College is a signatory of the Agreement on the Administration of Agency Grants and Awards by Research Institutions and therefore is responsible for all research activities undertaken by the Dawson community (faculty, staff, and/or students) and for any research being conducted under the College’s aegis by internal and external researchers. This includes surveys, research observations, focus groups, interviews, and/or any other methods.

According to the Tri-Agency Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) and the Tri-Council Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS 2), which binds Canadian Research Institutions (including Dawson), any researcher wishing to conduct research involving humans must apply for and receive a Research Ethics Board (REB) Certificate from the institute of the participants prior to commencing research activities. Otherwise, the researcher is in breach of the Research Conventions and must be reported to the panel for the Responsible Conduct of
Research. The Dawson Research Community has a well-earned reputation for a responsible and ethical research environment; this is because we take research ethics seriously.

If you have any concerns or questions about research ethics, please do not hesitate to send an e-mail to rebapply@dawsoncollege.qc.ca. For further information on the institutional approval process, please do not hesitate to send an e-mail to research@dawsoncollege.qc.ca.