Etisk förhandsprövning av studentarbeten: lärosätenas ansvar

Abstract

How common is it for students to undertake projects involving ethically sensitive content? This article describes an investigation concerning formalized ethical review of student essays. The survey includes essays that have passed an examination at the Faculty of Health and Society, Malmö University, 2014-2017.

Ethically sensitive content refers here to sensitive personal data and invasive methods, which in research require ethical review according to the Act (2003:460) on ethical review of research involving humans. Out of a total of 1215 reviewed essays, 277 (22.8%) contained ethically sensitive content; the most common was sensitive personal data relating to health. 165 (13.6%) essays contained such information. Ethically sensitive content was proportionally more common in essays at advanced level (32.9%) than at first level (20.4%). In accordance, one in five undergraduate students completed studies that would have required the approval of the Ethical Review Authority, had they been researchers.

According to the faculty's guidelines, all student work with content that would have required prior ethical review had it been research, must be reviewed by the faculty's ethics council for students. But only 191 of the 277 essays (68.9%) that should have undergone such handling, passed the ethics council. The implementation of formalized ethical review of thesis projects seems to work best when the student's supervisor has their own experience of ethical review. Different institutional/disciplinary cultures also seem to have a large impact on how well a formalized ethical review of student essays can be implemented.