Any contact with human participants for research purposes, including recruitment, requires clearance from either CUREB-A or CUREB-B.
Carleton University Researchers
All research conducted by members of Carleton University who act in their Carleton capacity while carrying out research involving human participants must be cleared by the appropriate REB. This includes research conducted at Carleton, research conducted off campus (e.g., businesses, hospitals, prisons, schools), research approved by another academic institution, and may include archival research. To be clear, all research conducted with human participants requires ethics approval with the exception of the use of anonymous (not anonymized) secondary data. Please see the CUREB Scope of Authority Policy for more information on who requires ethics clearance.
External Researchers Conducting Studies at Carleton or with Carleton Faculty, Staff, or Students
All research taking place on campus or targeting Carleton University staff and/or students as participants, must have approval by the REB. In these instances, please apply for administrative review.
To apply, please submit:
1) the documents previously submitted and approved at the originating institution. This includes the application form, appendices, any email correspondence with the institution and your approval form.
2) a brief cover letter with the following information:
-the purpose of the study,
-a description of participants surveyed in the study,
-the research methods,
-and the extent of Carleton involvement (i.e., Carleton participants, team members, labs or resources).
Please email ethics@carleton.ca for instructions on how to submit your request for an administrative review in our online system, CuResearch.
Human Research that also involves the use of Animals, Biohazards, or Biological Samples
In addition to securing human ethics clearance, you will also require clearance for research with animals and biohazards. For more details on these processes, please consult the following webpages:
*Please note that you can begin securing approval at the same time as you apply for your human ethics clearance . Clearance will be conditional until your project has secured all necessary approvals.
Archival Research
The Tri-Council Policy states that REB review is not required for research that relies exclusively on secondary use of anonymous information (i.e., when personal identifiers were never collected at any stage of the research), or anonymous human biological materials, so long as the process of data linkage or recording or dissemination of results does not generate identifiable information. In the case of all other types of data (including anonymized or de-identified data), approval must be sought from the REB.