The Aberdeen Computing Science department has set up an ethics
committee, which will approve experiments involving human
subjects.
When is Ethical Approval Needed
Ethical approval is needed for experiments with human subjects,
except as follows
- Ethical approval is not needed for activities associated with
taught modules; however it is needed for experiments associated
with student projects.
- Ethical approval is not
needed if all subjects are staff and/or PhD students in the CS department.
- Ethical approval is
not needed if the experiment only involves software testing and/or requirements analysis.
Please note that in some cases ethical approval will also be needed from
external bodies; for example any experiment involving the NHS must be
approved by an NHS Regional Ethics Committee.
Procedure
To obtain ethical approval, please fill out the
Ethics Approval Form
(this is adapted from the form used at Dundee).
Please email
a soft copy to Ehud Reiter.
If you ticked "no" to all of the Part B questions,
approval is normally routine, and granted within
a week. If you ticked "yes" to any of the Part B
questions, the committee will consider your
application, and give you a response within
one month.
Members of Aberdeen CS Ethics Committee
- Ehud Reiter (convenor)
- Martin Kollingbaum
- Judith Masthoff
- Chris Mellish
