Hi David, seems like this is an universal problem. In Nepal, we were discussing in our ethics committee about similar issues. We decided that at least a letter be sent to the ethics board and the board decide if the decision. We have similar decisions on using data from hospital (patient or non patient) reports retrospectively. 

Olá David

Você necessita se orientar pelas Resoluções do Comitê de Ética em Pesquisas com Seres Humanos do país que sediará a sua pesquisa. Pode haver nuances entre as diretrizes para diferentes países, muito embora, sigam os mesmos princípios. No Brasil, toda pesquisa que envolve diretamente ou indiretamente seres humanos deverá ser submetida a um comitê de ética. No Brasil, o seu protocolo de pesquisa deverá ser submetido ao comitê de ética, mesmo tratando de análise de dados já publicados.

abç

Hi David,

I would not think that you need a research ethics review given your description of the project. You would be bound by all of the usual research ethics, research integrity and publication ethics policies and gudielines. If you have the authorization of the organization and do not violate the confidentiality of employees (Position descriptions rather than the profiles of individuals) it would seem that this is all that you need. 

That would be my take. Canada has a research integrity framework that outlines broader ethical obligations than research ethics approval and all university and research hospital researchers are required to abide by those but I still don't think you would need research ethics committee approval for this project as described.

Best,

Deborah

Hi Deborah and colleagues

Thank you all for your responses. I have been reading up on this further and am convinced that it doesn;t fall under human research and therefopre will not need ethics approval. However, I am just about to attend a workshop where the chair of the ethics committee is presenting, so I will confirm and let you know what the final outcome is.

Regards

David

I would concur with the previous answer it is best to protect oneself in these situations. Going before your university or organisation board of ethics will give you the guidance necessary to protect yousel and ensure you are not accused of unethical practice. I think the fact that you are talking about organisational data if a name of an organisation were to appear in you research you run the risk of being accused of breaching the code of ethics. I would err on the side of caution and consult you governing body to ensure your work is approved published and makes the impact you desire from your writing.

Any research of this type faces "problem, challenge and issue". The problem is "how frequently the respondents are approached?". The challenge is " how one can manage the private/public domain intrusions as rightly indicated by Dr. Sousa?" and the issue is "what are the benefits long term/short term being extended to those who collaborated, supported and shared?".  It is perhaps up to the researcher to understand and address  them.  

Thank you all for your responses. I have followed up and the advice received is that as it is not human research the ethics committee do not need to review. However as Dr de Souza indicated the owners of the documents that are not in the public domain will need to give their consent for access and for any publication arising from the study.

Quite an interesting experience to explore.

David,

This is only my second time using this website, so I apologize if I am late in your effort to gather input.  In regards to you obtaining information in your question, I would venture the avenue of government organizations in various states, as each state in the U.S has different public records laws.  For example, here in Florida, if we were to have an agreement/arrangement with a hospital and had a copy of their plan on file, you may have to ask the hospital; however, it is now public record because we have accepted it and the sender has acknowledged acceptance by sending it to us electronically.  I know you are probably looking on more of a global scale, but figured I would give you the really small worldview.  

Thanks Matthew

I'm actually looking at a small scale project, so very similar to what you described. I believe I will be able to proceed with written approval from the chief executive of the organisation.

Fingers crossed it works like I hope it will.

David

ps welcome to ResearchGate - I hope you find it as valuabl;e as I do. What a great oppiortunity to access expertise from around the world!

Short answer: In general, you do not need ethics committee review, but there are good reasons to institute some of the practices now common in human subject research.

The modern protection of human subjects has a history spanning over a century (even before the Nuremberg code).  Today, most countries have laws/regulations/standards governing the protection of human subjects, therefore it is key to know and understand the laws/regulations/standards in your specific region.

The common theme to such laws/regulations/standards, is that they focus on the protection of human subjects, and more recently animal experimentation.  To my knowledge, the laws/regulations/standards do not cover research on organizations or institutions, however the laws/regulations/standards in your region may be different.  If the laws/regulations/standards in your region are similar to most of the international laws/regulations/standards, then you would not need ethics committee approval for your study, and in my experience most ethics committees would not be willing to review your protocol.

That being said, if you want organizations to send you sensitive policy, procedures, bylaws, etc., then it might be worth following protocols used in human subject research.  Many IRBs (REBs, etc.) require that sensitive patient data (PHI) be kept in locked file cabinets within a locked area, or in password protected files with subjects anonymized in the database and the subject key (matching subject number to names) in a separate password protected file.  Such protocols minimize the risk of PHI being inadvertently seen.  If you create similar safeguards for the sensitive materials submitted by institutions, and you inform institutions of these safeguards, they may be more willing to submit materials for your study.

I hope that helps.

Hi Alexander

Thanks for your thoughtful reply. I have had further discussions with the ethics committee and they have asked that I submit it as a low risk project - they agree with your point of view that it doesn't need ethics review, but under their existing rules only a meeting of the committee can determine that formally. So I need to submit so that they can tell me I don;t need to submit! 

I don;t mind though, as you say submitting a formal protocol and application will make for better research and better buy in for potential participants.

Regards

David