Any research involving human participants or personal data must adhere to strict ethical standards and guidelines. The guidance on this page will help you design your research to meet these standards.

Guidance on designing research involving people

Step 1: All research within Cambridge University is subject to the University Policy on the Ethics of Research Involving Human Participants and Personal Data. Please read this before designing your research and applying for ethical approval.

Step 2: Read the guidance for your type of research, to help you design your research:

1. Controlled experiments for technology evaluation: typically involves recruiting participants from outside the research team, asking them to come to your office or laboratory, and collecting data while they perform experimental tasks that you have defined.
2. Ethnographic and field study techniques: typically research involves observing people in the place where they live or work, as they go about their normal activities.
3. Action-based management research: research involving trying to change things in another organisation, most often through a consultancy-style arrangement.
4. Surveys: research involving collecting data from people with questionnaires or interviews.
5. Data research: research with data relating to living identifiable individuals.
6. Release of instrumented software: research involving releasing software that collects data about its usage.
7. Diary and probe studies: research involving asking people to collect information about their everyday lives.
8. Collaborative and participatory design: research involving recruiting people from outside the research team to contribute to design work.
9. Design for ageing and disability inclusion: research concerned with the design of products for ageing and disability inclusion.

Step 3: Design your research, then apply for ethical approval before beginning. See How to apply for ethical approval.

Research involving direct contact with children or vulnerable adults

You may need to obtain a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check as part of your experimental design, in addition to obtaining ethical approval. For further information, see the University’s guidelines for staff or students.

Research requiring specialist review

The School of Technology only provides guidance and review for research on purely technological questions. If your research falls into one of the areas below, you should instead seek ethical approval from a specialist body as follows:

1. Medical or clinical research

All medical research in the UK is regulated via the National Health Service (NHS), and ethics applications are reviewed by the NHS Research Ethics Service (RES). NHS REC review is required for most research involving NHS patients, staff or facilities, as well as certain other forms of clinical and social science research. Their webpage includes a tool to help you identify whether you need to seek NHS REC approval (www.hra-decisiontools.org.uk/ethics).

If you have any questions about legal and regulatory requirements, email the Clinical School on research_governance@medschl.cam.ac.uk.

2. Research involving biological materials and animals

See the University Animal Research site and the University Biomedical Services website for further information, including how to apply for a personal or project licence for your research.

Other categories of research

If your research involves the participation of people outside the research team, but does not come into any of the categories above, contact your department ethics committee for advice. If your department does not have an ethics committee, contact the School Research Facilitator on researchstrat@tech.cam.ac.uk.