The Psychological Research Ethics Board (PREBO) was formed to ensure a competent and effective review of psychological research at CEU PU Vienna. The PREBO fully follows CEU's Ethical Research Policy and CEU Ethical Research Guidelines.
This policy regulates the operation of the PREBO and specifies the procedures that researchers applying to PREBO need to observe regarding the ethical review of their research.
1. Mandatory ethical training
All applicants and board members are required to have completed the following online course on research ethics: https://tcps2core.ca/login
This course, developed by the Government of Canada and widely used for ethics training, provides a comprehensive introduction to Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans. The PREBO application form contains an item asking whether the applicant and everyone involved in data collection has completed the required ethical training. The board can request proof of completed training.
2. Review procedure
Applicants need to submit to PREBO the completed application form, along with any material specified in the application form:
-copy of information sheet for participants;
-questionnaires where applicable,
-photo-video consent form if applicable
-include a sentence of how long the data will be stored: “Your data will be stored for XX years.”
-add a sentence to the consent form “More information about your rights can be found at https://www.ceu.edu/privacy.”
to the Department Coordinator in Vienna, Gyorgyne Finta.
Documents such as information sheet, consent form and quesitonnaires can be submitted in different languages but they must be accompanied by releted English version.
The PREBO Chair identifies one lead reviewer among the board members who must not have any conflict of interest. The application gets sent to two board members or one board member and one external reviewer as needed.
Any of the following constitutes a conflict of interest (CoI):
a) being involved in the proposed research;
b) being a supervisor or having been a supervisor of the applicant (even if not involved in the proposed research);
c) self-reported CoI for any reason. Board members with CoI need to self-identify and abstain from the review process for the respective proposal.
Based on the reviews received, the lead reviewer assigns the application to one of the following four categories:
a) acceptance: no objections were raised by the board members within the given timeline
b) clarification: there were one or more minor clarification requests; the lead reviewer communicates with the applicant by email to achieve clarification and confers with the board as necessary
c) revise and reapply: the lead reviewer communicates with the applicant by email and explains why the application was not approved and what kind of revisions are deemed necessary
d) reject: the lead reviewer communicates with the applicant by email and informs the applicant why the application was rejected
3. External ethics advisor
PREBO includes an external ethics advisor who regularly reviews the operations of the board and is consulted if there is disagreement among board members.
4. Submission of amendments to an earlier application
Applicants are advised to add and highlight any amendments to the earlier application in the original form as it was submitted in the first instance.
5. Generic ethics proposals (validity: 5 yrs from the date of approval)
PREBO accepts generic ethics proposals for studies on adults, children, and infants that involve minimal risk for the participants. These proposals can define broad stimulus classes to be presented to the participants, different sets of procedures to be used for data collection, different forms of data collection (e.g., online/laboratory), and different kinds of payments or compensation conditions.
For each study informed consent needs to be obtained in a meaningful way. This implies that participants/parents receive specific information about the specific stimuli/material they will encounter, the specific procedures that will be used to collect data, the specific payment conditions in place for the study, and the expected duration of the study. Information about the purpose of the study also needs to be provided. Thus specific information sheets/consent forms are required for each study and should be submitted together with the generic ethics proposal.
Additional information sheets/consent forms for generic applications can be filed subsequently and will be assessed by the PREBO chair once a generic application has been approved.
Principal Investigators (PIs) of research grants are responsible for ensuring that generic proposals they submit are in line with requirements of the respective funding agencies.
Validity for general ethics proposals is 5 years from the date of PREBO approval.
For more information please contact:
Department Coordinator, Gyorgyne Finta
Email: szabor@ceu.edu
USEFUL LINKS