Data management in RDI projects involves factors related to legislation, agreements, guidelines and ethics that must be taken into account already when planning the project. These include e.g. the following:
Metropolia is committed to promoting open RDI. The requirements of open access should be addressed in the letters of intent and cooperation agreements and in informing research participants.
For example, the agreements can stipulate the following: “Parties to the agreement aim to publish all research data generated in the project according to the principles of open access and make the generated research data available for anyone. Open access does not apply to the confidential data of the parties nor to the background material.”
Research participants must also be informed of the opening of data in order to obtain their consent for it.
Before collecting any material, it is important to examine what permits and consents are needed for data collection. If the research targets the operations of an organisation (e.g. hospital, educational institution, company), a permit for carrying out the research must usually be requested from the organisation.
The research permit is requested from the target organisation according to the practices it has determined. Many organisations describe their permit practices on their website. In large organisations, in particular, the permits are processed according to a particular pattern and schedule, meaning that the processing of a permit request may take a long time.
Informed consent to participate in research is a central ethical principle in research with human participants. People participating in research have the right to participate voluntarily but also to refuse to participate without fear of negative consequences.
The research participant must be aware that they are participating in research, especially in situations where the researcher also has another role in relation to the participant, for example the participant’s superior or teacher.
The starting point of consent is that the person giving their consent knows and understands what they are consenting to. The research participant must be informed in a clear and understandable way of the purpose of research, its authors, possible risks or harms to research participants, voluntary participation and provision of data, data processing, confidentiality, duration of storage, disclosures and possible archiving and opening of research data.
Based on being informed, the research participant can give their consent to:
Further information
Metropolia is committed to complying with the following national guidelines:
Responsible research promotes reliable and collectively accepted practices of producing, publishing and assessing research results. It supports the transparency, presence and utilisation of science in society.
Medical research always requires advance ethical review, research in human sciences in certain cases. If your research involves human participants, read the Metropolia guidelines to find out whether your research calls for ethical review. If an ethical review is needed but not carried out, this constitutes a violation of responsible conduct of research.
A researcher can request a statement from the ethics committee if required by the research target, funder or cooperation partner, or if the research findings are to be published in a publication that requires ethical review. In research with human participants, the ethical review is carried out by the ethics committee determined by the place where the researcher conducts their research. At Metropolia, this means the Human Sciences Ethics Committee of the Helsinki Region Universities of Applied Sciences. It is an advance review – no statements are provided after the completion of the research.
Further information is available on the Metropolia website. It also provides information on committee members from your own organisation. You can contact them with concerns about the ethics of your RDI project.
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