Research

As a director of research ethics programs since 2008, I have developed a guiding philosophy based on the structure of the regulations governing research.  It is:

Every project should incorporate the processes warranted by
that activity. The review comments and subsequent
requirements should be indexed to the risks of the research.  

That is, low risk activities should not be required to have the strictures of activities with greater risk.  Having a system that recognizes the variations in risk, frees time for review committees to focus on those activities that have risk,  minimizes delays in conducting research, and reduces the chance that researchers would avoid institutional ethics review.