RESEARCH REFLECTIONS Beyond seeking informed consent: Upholding ethical values within the research proposal

Congratulations! After weeks of conceptualizing, writing and revising, you have finally arrived at the final version of a research proposal. So, what’s next? Before implementing the study, all research involving human subjects is required to undergo a formal process to seek research ethics approval from a Research Ethics Board (REB) in Canada. Seeking research ethics approval goes far beyond submitting a well-written informed consent form. The purpose of this article is to describe the ethical values that underlie many aspects of the research proposal that would be subject to review by the research ethics board committee members. An investigator needs to take these values into consideration when planning the research study and preparing the ethics board application.