Welcome to the Guidelines, Policies and Templates page for Research Ethics at Queen’s University.
This centralized hub is your go-to resource for navigating the ethical landscape of research at our institution. Here, researchers will find a comprehensive repository of guidelines, policies, and templates for use to facilitate the ethical conduct of their research studies.
Research Ethics Board (REB) Guidebook
Our REB guidebook is your comprehensive companion for ethical considerations to use when conducting research involving human participants.
View Guidebook Use the search function of the below table
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Informed Consent Templates are listed below this table.
Guidelines/ Templates:
Informed Consent Guidelines and Templates
The consent process is fully discussed in Chapter 3 of the Tri-Council Policy Statement Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS 2). This includes a discussion of the information generally required for informed consent. The following are some sample consent forms that you may use to guide the development of the consent forms that are most appropriate to your research study.
Do not be concerned by the length of these templates. They are long only because they contain guidance and explanations which are for you and which you will not be including in the informed consent forms that you develop and provide to participants in your research.
| Informed Consent Form Guideline/Policy | Document |
|---|---|
| Remote and Econsent | Guidelines on Remote and Econsent (PDF 135 KB) |
| Alterations to Standard Consenting Procedures | Guidelines on Alterations to Standard Consenting Procedures (PDF 131 KB) |
| Waiver of Consent | Guidelines on Waiver of Consent (PDF 124 KB) |
| Informed Consent Form Name | Description | Template |
|---|---|---|
| ICF for Prospective Research with Human Participants-GREB | This ICF template is to be used for prospective research studies involving human participants submitted to GREB. Prospective research evaluates the relationship between people and their surroundings, including how people interact with each other, their communities, and institutional systems. They include psychological phenomena such as emotions, biases, and motivations. Psychological therapy and counselling studies fall under behavioural research. Emergent design and community-based studies are considered social science and behavioural research unless a clinical intervention is involved. Common methods include, but are not limited to, interviews, focus groups, surveys, questionnaires, behavioural therapy workshops, experimental coaching, and observations. | ICF template for Prospective Research with Human Participants-GREB (WORD 107 KB) |
| ICF for Prospective Research with Human Participants-HSREB | This ICF template is to be used for prospective research studies involving human participants submitted to HSREB. Prospective research evaluates the effects of one or more health-related interventions on health outcomes. Investigations include, but are not restricted to, drug administration, surgical procedures, radiologic procedures, devices, genetic therapies, cells and other biological products, radiopharmaceuticals, natural health products (NHPs), preventive care, manual therapies, psychotherapies, as well as prospectively collecting data/biological specimens, or interventions and physical interventions, interviews, surveys, questionnaires, focus groups/sharing circles, biological sample collection, creation of a database, etc. | ICF template for Prospective Research with Human Participants-HSREB (WORD 136 KB) |
| Verbal Consent Documentation Log Template | Informed Consent could also be conducted verbally. Ensure documentation of verbal consent by using the verbal consent log template. This can be used for studies submitted to either HSREB or GREB. | Verbal Consent Log Template—HSREB and GREB (WORD 82 KB) |
| Implied Informed Consent Form (ICF)/Letter of Information (LOI) for Prospective Research with Human Participants for Survey Research-HSREB and GREB | This ICF template is to be used for prospective research studies involving human participants submitted to GREB or HSREB when using implied consent as the model of consent for survey research. Implied consent may be appropriate for minimal risk studies, where participants indicate that they knowingly agree to participate in the study by completing a research activity (e.g., by completing a survey/questionnaire). It does not require a signed consent form (i.e., express/explicit consent), but it does require provision of information to research participants so they can make an informed choice. It is most used in research that involves the completion of a simple, one-time survey/questionnaire, where the act of completion and return of the survey/ questionnaire implies their consent to participate. |
Implied Consent Template—HSREB and GREB (WORD 92 KB)
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