Best practice guidance

CUREC has approved best practice guidance documents for use by researchers. The use of best practice guidance is not mandatory – researchers should decide whether available guidance is relevant to their research. Some guidance documents are more suited to applications made to specific CUREC subcommittees, as indicated in the table below.

For guidance on oral and/or written consent processes, please see our Informed consent page.

List of CUREC best practice guidance documents

Best practice guidance	Topic	Relevant to which subcommittees?
BPG 01 Researcher safety BPG 01 Researcher safety	Researcher safety, including interviewing in non-public places and considerations when employing local/casual staff for research projects/fieldwork	All
BPG 02 Ethnographic and other types of qualitative research BPG 02 Ethnographic and other types of qualitative research	Guidance on identifying and addressing ethical issues relating to qualitative research, particularly ethnographic research	Mainly SSH IDREC
BPG 03 Elite and expert interviewing BPG 03 Elite and expert interviewing	Gaining informed consent in elite or expert interviews	All
BPG 04 Competent youths BPG 04 Competent youths	Research involving 'competent youths'	All
BPG 05 Payments and incentives in research BPG 05 Payments and incentives in research	Guidance on making payments (financial or otherwise) to research participants	All
BPG 06 Internet-based research (IBR) BPG 06 Internet-based research (IBR)	Guidance on internet-based research (IBR). Includes guidance on Social Media research, consent issues and an informed consent template for use in online surveys	All
BPG 07 Prevent Duty BPG 07 Prevent Duty	Guidance for applicants whose research may potentially fall within the scope of the 'Prevent’ duty. Please also see the University guidance on research involving security sensitive research material: Guidance on research involving security-sensitive research material	All
BPG 08 Psychological distress BPG 08 Psychological distress	Studies where there is a possibility of identifying psychological distress or disorder in non-NHS participants	All
BPG 09 Data collection, protection and management BPG 09 Data collection, protection and management	Collection, protection, storage and management of data collected for research purposes (including anonymisation and identifiers)	All
BPG 14 Research in archives BPG 14 Research in archives	Consulting and/or photographing archival material (eg with restricted access)	Mainly SSH IDREC
BPG 15 Ethics review of research with human tissue BPG 15 Ethics review of research with human tissue	The use of human tissue samples from healthy volunteers: when and where to apply for ethical review	All
BPG 16 Ethical review of social science based research overseas BPG 16 Ethical review of social science based research overseas	Streamlined ethics review process for large Oxford-led collaborative projects with a number of partners and complex sub-studies, as well as general guidance on seeking local ethics review for other research studies where appropriate. Appendix A includes an ethical issues checklist in international research.	Mainly SSH IDREC
Research in emergency settings Research in emergency settings	Guidance produced by the Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities for research conducted in response to public health or humanitarian emergencies	All