Research Ethics

Research ethics make up the first pillar of the DIME Research Standards compiled by DIME Analytics. Impact evaluations often directly involve human subjects, and the research team often collects sensitive or personal identifiable information (PII). There are several ethical concerns related to handling personal data, and publishing results from a field study. The research team must ensure complete confidentiality of respondents, and ensure that respondents are providing informed consent, which they can withdraw at any time.

Read First

• DIME Research Ethics Standards, compiled by DIME Analytics.
• Protecting human research subjects and informed consent.
• IRB approvals.
• The impact evaluation team (or research team) must get an ethics approval from an institutional review board (IRB), and an appropriate authority in the study location.
• All members of the research team who handle personally identifiable information (PII) must have up-to-date Human Subjects Research Certification.

Before Data Collection

Before the research team begins primary data collection, it is important to draft ethical standards that must be followed throughout the research study. The research team must follow the guidelines listed below to ensure ethical research:

• Pre-analysis plan. The research team must draft a detailed pre-analysis plan before starting the process of data collection. An ideal pre-analysis plan should discuss the following principles of study design in as much detail as possible:
  • Sample and level of randomization. The research team must decide on the process of sampling, as well as the level of randomization. For example, the research team might decide to perform stratified random sampling, and randomize on the level of households in a village.
  • Sources of data. The research team must also decide the main sources of data they will use during the study. For example, the research team can use administrative data for the study.

• • Key outcomes and primary hypothesis. The research team should also lay out their primary hypothesis, that is, the main question they want to answer using the study. This is often referred to as theory of change. They must also clearly lay out the outcomes they wish to achieve, and what indicators they will use to measure outcomes.

• Human subjects and PII. In most cases, impact evaluations involve directly interacting with, or collecting personally identifiable information (PII) about human subjects. In such a case, the research team must obtain a human research subjects certification. Two commonly accepted courses that research team members can take to get certified are:
  • The National Institute for Health (NIH) offers a free course on protecting human research participants.
  • The Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) offers a course on human subjects research.

• IRB approval. An institutional Review Board (IRB) is an organization which reviews and approves all aspects of a research study involving human subjects. After members of a research team obtain human research subjects certification, they must apply for an IRB approval.

• Informed consent. Before involving any subject in a research study, the research team must obtain informed consent from each individual. This means that the research team must clearly mention all possible risks and benefits from participating in a study.

During Data Collection

Whether or not individualized informed consent is required, research that involves the collection of sensitive information – including but not limited to names, addresses, mobile phone numbers, bank or credit accounts, or location information – should be handled from collection to publication in a way that ensures the privacy of research participants. This means using appropriately secure electronic methods to collect and store data, appropriate data encryption on devices like laptops or hard drives, and anonymization of data before any public release.

After Data Collection

Once common concern in research is the possibility of manipulating results. Political factors, publication bias and other circumstances may pressure researchers to target findings, for example through P-hacking and selective reporting. To avoid this concern, researchers often choose to develop pre-analysis plans and pre-register studies. Sharing data and codes improves research reproducibility.

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Additional Resources

• Berk Özler (World Bank), Taking ethics seriously: Response #1
• Berk Özler (World Bank), Research with adolescents: issues surrounding consent
• David McKenzie (World Bank), A pre-analysis plan checklist
• DIME Analytics (World Bank), Research Ethics & Data Security
• Martin Ravallion (World Bank), Taking ethical validity seriously
• J-PAL, Ethics