Research Ethics

Impact evaluation teams (or research teams) often work with, or have access to, datasets that contain sensitive or personal identifiable information (PII) on individuals. They can either have direct access (for instance, through a field survey), or indirect access to this data (for instance, in the form of call data records (CDR)). In both cases, it is important to ensure that research teams act responsibly. Broadly, ethical research means that research teams must obtain necessary ethics approvals, protect rights of human subjects, and obtain informed consent. Research ethics ensure that that steps taken to reach the outcomes of a study are just as important as the outcomes themselves, and help improve the validity of results of a study.

Read First

• Research ethics make up the first pillar of the DIME Research Standards compiled by DIME Analytics.
• The DIME Research Ethics Guidelines discuss key guidelines for researchers affiliated with DIME.
• A human subject is a living individual about whom the research team obtains personal identifiable information (PII), either directly or indirectly.

Protect Human Subjects

Members of the research team must ensure that they protect human subjects and their rights, including the right to privacy. In this context, human subjects are all living individuals whose sensitive or personal information is contained in the datasets being used in the study. All members of the research team who handle personally identifiable information must have up-to-date human research subjects certification.

Note: Keep the following in mind regarding protecting human subjects:

• It does not matter whether the research team has direct or indirect access to the data. If the dataset being used in the study contains personal information about individuals, then it is the ethical responsibility of the research team to protect the right to privacy of every such individual.

Two common courses that research team members can take to get certified are:

• Protecting Human Research Participants is a private certification that can be obtained online.
• Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) offers a course on human subjects research.

Ethics Approvals

Institutional review boards (IRBs) are organizations that review and monitor research studies to protect the rights of human subjects. The research team must seek IRB approval for all studies that use personally identifiable information about individuals. This is a powerful tool to ensure ethical research because IRBs can deny research teams the right to use data if the research teams did not follow proper guidelines to access the data.

Note: Keep the following points in mind with respect to ethics approvals:

• It does not matter whether the research team collected the data directly, or indirectly. For example, consider a study that uses mobile phone location data to assess effectiveness of stay-at-home orders during COVID-19. In this case, the research team does not directly collect this data, but gets access to it through the mobile carrier. However, since this dataset contains sensitive information like names, phone numbers, and location of individuals, the research team must obtain an IRB approval.

• In addition to IRB approvals, the research team should also obtain approvals from local institutions in the location of the study. This will ensure that the study complies with local regulations, and does not violate any laws in that area, particular with respect to the right to privacy.

Informed Consent

Before involving any individual 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, either for the survey pilot or as a respondent in the actual survey.

Note: Keep the following points in mind regarding informed consent:

• The human subjects must be able to refuse participation in a study at any point during the study.

• The need for informed consent only applies to cases where the research team is collecting data directly, such as through a field survey.

• The need for informed consent does not apply to cases where the research team has indirect access to data, such as through call data records (CDR), or administrative data.

• DIME Analytics has created templates for both written and oral consent.

Confidentiality

The research team must also ensure complete anonymity and confidentiality. This means that the identity of study participants should remains hidden, and sensitive information of individuals should never be shared with anyone outside the research team. Research team members should be held personally liable for any actions that result in disclosure of sensitive and personal data.

Note: Keep the following points in mind regarding confidentiality and anonymity of study participants:

• All direct identifiers must be removed from working data sets as early in the research process as possible. This process is called de-identification.

• All research assistants (RAs, field coordinators (FCs), and other consultants or interns affiliated with the research team must sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). For example, the DIME NDA is an example of such an agreement.

• Only those members of the research team who are listed by the institutional review board (IRB) should have access to confidential information.

Related Pages

Click here for pages that link to this topic.

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