Tools to Design Ethical Research

The ConSoSci developed materials to help you plan ethical research: 

• The Research Ethics Checklist is intended to be used and adapted by conservation practitioners while planning conservation social science research. The checklist acts as a reminder to ensure that project teams and/or researchers have fulfilled or considered key ethical principles and procedures. The checklist is also available in French, Spanish, Portuguese and Bahasa Indonesia.

• The Template for Requesting Oral Consent to Conduct Human Subject’s Research is to be adapted as appropriate depending on the nature and context of the research. For any research involving human participants, it is important that Informed Consent is secured voluntarily and in advance of obtaining data and at other stages of the research, and that the participant is able to withdraw their consent at any point during the data collection. The consent template is also available in French, Spanish, Portuguese and Bahasa Indonesia.

• The Research Ethics Form Template was created to help those without access to Ethical/Institutional Review Boards, to think about the ethical implications of their conservation research, and to outline the measures they will take to protect research participants. The form template is also available in French, Spanish, Portuguese and Bahasa Indonesia.

Before using the materials provided, check if your organization or institution has an Ethical Review Board. If it is the case, you should follow their instructions and procedures.

Ethical Review Boards may have different forms and different names, sometimes called Institutional Review Board, Ethical Review Committee...

If you have none of these, feel free to use the materials on this website for a self-assessment.

Make sure you know the ethical research requirements and/or local protocols for the country/area in which you are conducting your work. You might need to have more than one review (organization, country, etc.).

Check out these other things to consider when planning your research.