A. University of St. La Salle Research Ethics Review Office (RERO)
1. What is RERO?
The University of St. La Salle has established the Research Ethics Review Office (RERO) under the Center for Research and Engagement (CRE) with the goal of ensuring the effective governance of research ethics review processes of researches that involve human participants of the faculty, staff, students in the university and other researchers.
2. What is RERO’s primary task?
As the university commits itself to produce relevant, ethical, and quality research that will benefit the academic and external community and society as a whole, the RERO, together with the Research Ethics Review Committee (RERC), ensure that all research should be conducted with the highest level of ethics, objectivity, fairness and integrity.
B. Common Questions about Research Ethics
1. What is research ethics?
Research ethics serves as a guide for a responsible conduct of research. It ensures that the researcher prioritizes the welfare of the research subjects, perform their work excellently and must give importance in safeguarding the rights of the research stakeholders.
2. What are the *three universal principles of research ethics?
The three universal principles of research ethics are:
RESPECT FOR PERSON- This principle is the recognition of a person as autonomous, unique, and free individual. It also means that each person has the right and capacity to make his or her decisions. Respecting a person values dignity.
BENEFICENCE- This principle means “to do good” for the people involved. This principle involves acts of kindness and charity that goes beyond strict obligation.
JUSTICE- This principle requires a fair and equal distribution of benefits and risks of participation. It is important that the selection and recruitment of participants must be fair and equal. Additionally, this principle forbids exposing other groups to risk for the benefit of others. More so, this principle establishes special protections to vulnerable persons.
3. What is research ethics review and why do we conduct research ethics review?
Research Ethics Review is a process to ensure that the researcher and the research adheres to ethical and responsible conduct of research. When the research receives an ethics clearance, this means that the researcher adheres to the accepted ethical requirements and standards in doing research.
4. Who performs the review in the university?
The USLS Research Ethics Review Committee (RERC) is responsible for reviewing protocols for research ethics. These protocols are categorized as Faculty/Institutional Research, Graduate School Student research, Graduate School Student (Project Free) research and External Research application.
For undergraduate student research, the College Research Ethics Review Council (CRERc) of different colleges can perform the research ethics review. The College Research Ethics Review Council is a body composed of research ethics reviewers and functions as the counterpart of the Research Ethics Review Committee of the university. It has the responsibility to conduct a research ethics review of all undergraduate research papers, ensure that the ethical responsibilities related to research are adhered to the international and disciplinary standards, and have the authority to issue ethics clearance.
If the research paper being reviewed by CRERc requires the review of the USLS-RERC, the CRERc chair can endorse the paper to the committee. Note that the policy and standards set by the USLS-RERC will be observed in reviewing the research protocol.
5. What areas of research does the ethics review committee look at when reviewing a research protocol?
The USLS-RERC evaluates the ethical soundness of the research protocol and the compliance of the researcher to the research ethics standards set by the institution. The committee may review the technical aspect of the research protocol, primarily focused on the method section of the paper.
