About Scitech
Scitech is a not-for-profit organisation proudly supported by the Western Australian Government through the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation
Introduction
At Scitech, we are committed to our obligation to protect the right to voluntary, informed consent, confidentiality, and respect of participants during any audience research we carry out as part of ongoing evaluations and other research projects, in compliance with the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research.
These guidelines have been developed to provide a practical starting point for ethical research conduct for anyone in Scitech who is conducting audience research, based on ethical research principles created by the Australian Education Research Organisation and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Scope
These guidelines are designed to provide ethical direction for audience research conducted at or on behalf of Scitech.
In scope
This includes all data collected for audience research purposes. This includes data collected via surveys, interviews and focus groups (including answers to closed and open-ended research questions, and personal contact information), and research artefacts (such as mind maps, brainstorms or participant-created prototypes).
All audience research conducted at, or on behalf of, Scitech must be approved by the Audience Research team to ensure ethical processes and other appropriate research conduct are adhered to. Always check first, no matter how small your data collection may be.
Out of Scope
These guidelines do not cover data that is ordinarily collected as part of Scitech bookings, ticketing or marketing/communications sign-up processes, such as visitor/teacher names, school names, or contact information, including, but not limited to, emails, phone numbers or postcodes. These data must be collected and stored securely according to Scitech’s Privacy Policy.
These guidelines do not supersede ethical conduct of research requirements outlined by research institutions Scitech is collaborating with (i.e. universities) that have their own Human Research Ethics Committee or equivalent regulatory body overseeing ethical research conduct. It is expected that External Research Collaborators will follow the ethical conduct of research requirements of their institution, in alignment with the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research and other relevant regulatory codes of practice.
Definitions
| Audience Research team | The team at Scitech who are responsible for audience research and evaluation of Scitech’s programs, content and experiences. Also responsible for overseeing projects with External Research Collaborators. |
| Research | The broad set of processes that describe the collection, analysis and reporting of data for the purpose of drawing evidence-based conclusions. |
| Audience research | Any research conducted with Scitech’s audiences.
This includes, but is not limited to:
Audience research includes Evaluation (which represents the majority of audience research conducted at Scitech) and academic research (typically conducted at/with Scitech by External Research Collaborators). |
| Evaluation (including Quality Assurance and Monitoring) | The systematic process of collecting and analysing data from Scitech visitors (including adults, children, teachers, and families), across all Delivery and Digital platforms for:
Evaluations seek to make recommendations for future practice, within the context of visitor needs and desires, operational and business limitations, opportunities, and resource capacity. |
| Data
|
Information collected and/or analysed as part of the Research process.
Types of data include:
Data may include information collected specifically for research purposes (e.g. from surveys, interviews, focus groups, brainstorming sessions etc), or information that is collated from other sources (e.g. landscape research of other science education providers’ offerings from their websites) for broader analysis. |
| Research outputs | Anything that is produced from Research (including Evaluation) processes, including but not limited to:
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| External Research Collaborators | All stakeholders from outside Scitech who are conducting research for Scitech.
This may be in collaboration with Scitech staff or on behalf of Scitech.
External Research Collaborators include university researchers (e.g. UWA, Curtin, ANU, Notre Dame, ECU, Murdoch), market research agencies (e.g. Painted Dog) and other research companies (e.g. Deloitte). |
Principles
The following are the key principles for the ethical conduct of audience research at Scitech.
The principles include:
- Respect and recognition,
- Research merit and integrity,
- Beneficence and protection from harm, and
- Justice, equity and accessibility.
Respect and recognition
- Informed, voluntary, current and specific consent. Participants are given clear information about what data will be collected, what it will be used for (including the possibility of future audience research projects), how it may be analysed and how it will be stored. All audience research participants must voluntarily opt in to research processes, and can choose to opt out at any time with no consequence. Specific consent is collected for all participation and data collection/usage, and consent is ongoing.
- Cultural competence. Researchers must be well-informed and competent in the cultural norms and practices of their target research participants and seek advice from experts or community gatekeepers as needed (e.g. Disability advocates and community groups). Researchers should also draw upon culturally-specific ethical guidelines where appropriate (e.g. AIATSIS Code of Ethics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research).
- Privacy and confidentiality (including data collection, use, storage and deletion when necessary). The dignity of research participants is respected, including confidentiality before, during and after data collection as appropriate. Data is managed effectively, including anonymous storage if required. Any Scitech staff handling identifiable data must adhere to applicable privacy laws, including the Privacy Act 1988, Australian Privacy Principles, and National Principles for Child Safe Organisations.
Research merit and integrity
- Design and methodology. Research is designed using appropriate methods by staff members with relevant expertise in audience research. Research is either conducted by members of the Audience Research team or (co-)facilitated by Scitech staff who have been instructed in appropriate research approaches (e.g. requesting sign-ups to receive post-education program surveys or facilitating bean polls at events). Research methods should be documented in sufficient detail to allow them to be replicated in the future.
- Presenting the truth. Findings from research must be presented accurately and minimise bias. Ideally, multiple perspectives should be captured (including internal and external feedback) to maintain balance when developing conclusions and recommendations.
Beneficence and protection from harm
- Benefits to participants. Audience research must always be conducted with the aim of benefitting Scitech’s audiences. This may involve directly benefitting the participants themselves (especially for longitudinal programs or repeat engagements) or using the results of the research to improve the quality of Scitech’s offerings (or similar benefits) for future audiences.
- Protection from harm (for participants and their personal/professional communities). Audience research should pose no harm to participants or their wider personal/professional communities (e.g. Families, teacher networks etc). Harms are most likely to occur when results or data are linked to individuals or specific groups of participants, reinforcing the importance of confidentiality in data storage and anonymised presentation of results during dissemination. As a rule, ‘do no harm’ should apply to both the research process and any activities involving participants, and the outcomes of research for those not directly involved.
- Management of risk (to Scitech). Risks must be minimised as reasonably practicable where possible. In an audience research context, risks to the organisation and individual staff members are likely to be risks to reputation. Before research methods are designed, any potential risks should be identified, minimised and confirmed as acceptable by appropriate managers or members of the Scitech Leadership Team as appropriate.
Justice, equity and accessibility
Considerations for vulnerable groups. Care must be taken in research design and implementation to avoid further exclusion of vulnerable groups by ensuring their perspectives and opinions are actively sought during the research process, in a manner that is appropriate and accessible to them. Vulnerable groups include, but are not limited to:
- children,
- people with disabilities,
- members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and
- people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
Examples of extra steps may include additional or differently presented (e.g. plain English, accessible by screen-readers) information to inform consent, the ability to ask extra questions before consenting to participate, pilot-testing of questions to confirm language is inclusive and appropriate and so on.
- Equitable and inclusive involvement. Research participants should be selected equitably, with no individual, community or vulnerable group excluded without valid reasons. Participants also shouldn’t be excluded due to barriers that should have been considered and addressed during the planning process (e.g. unable to read questions because language is too complex, unable to participate in brainstorming workshops due to living outside the Perth metro area). No individual or group should have an unfair burden of participation – it should be accessible to all, within the capability and resources available to the organisation.
- Dissemination of research. Outcomes of audience research should, where possible and/or appropriate, be shared with participants or Scitech’s audiences. Results from evaluation and continuous improvement may not always be appropriate for sharing broadly, but findings from larger, targeted research projects (especially those conducted with External Research Collaborators) should be shared with participants and/or their communities and professional networks. Outcomes should be shared in a manner that is meaningful, age and linguistically appropriate, accessible, and helpful for their specific context.
A note on the use of AI tools
Generative Artificial Intelligence tools, including ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot and Gemini, have become popular in the last few years for a range of applications, including data analysis.
Any data collected for audience research purposes at Scitech must not be copied and pasted directly into any AI tool. This is to protect the privacy of participants and maintain the integrity of research findings.
Directly copying research data into AI tools would also be a breach of the principle of Respect and Recognition (seeking informed, voluntary and specific consent about all aspects of the research process).
AI tools may be used to rephrase summaries or conclusions drafted by Scitech staff members, or AI may be used to suggest alternative sentence structures for reporting. In other words, AI tools may only be used during the final stages of reporting and must not be given direct access to raw data.
Relevant sources and other guidelines
- Australasian Evaluation Society Guidelines for the Ethical Conduct of Evaluations
- Australasian Evaluation Society Code of Ethics
- NHMRC Ethical Considerations in Quality Assurance and Evaluation Activities
- NHMRC National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research
- NHMRC Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research
- AIATSIS Code of Ethics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research
