Friday (14/1) the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Psychology UGM in collaboration with the Doctoral Study Program in Psychology held a Research Ethics Seminar. This event took the theme “Informed Consent on Research Involving Humans”. This event is a series of intensive courses related to research ethics for doctoral students of the Faculty of Psychology UGM but also opens opportunities for the academic community of the Faculty of Psychology UGM to participate. This event took place at 2.30 PM until 4.30 PM and was attended by 150 participants.
The speaker at this event was Dra. Sri Kusrohmaniah, M.Sc., Ph.D., lecturer at the Faculty of Psychology UGM. Kusrohmaniah is a reviewer member of three ethics committees, namely the Faculty of Psychology UGM, Faculty of Medicine UGM, and Universitas Gadjah Mada. His involvement as a member of the three ethics committees has made Kusrohmaniah already have experience in reviewing a lot of research.
On this occasion, Kusrohmaniah gave a presentation on how research ethics is very important for all types of research, especially for research involving human participants. Every research that will be carried out should ideally have gone through an ethical review from a reviewer who is an expert in his field. Likewise, the informed consent made must truly provide a sense of justice and protection for research participants.
To apply for ethical clearance before conducting research, the applicant must meet the requirements required as a submission file. Each ethics committee has different requirements. On this occasion Kusrohmaniah gave an example from the website of the ethics committee of the Faculty of Medicine UGM.
“For information that each ethics commission has its own guidelines, in fact yes, so you can write down the guidelines as a guide for ethical clearance applicants or applicants,” explained Kusrohmaniah while explaining the features of the guide for ethical clearance applicants that anyone can read through the website of the ethics committee of the UGM Faculty of Medicine.
In its development, the research process has its own characteristics depending on where the researcher will conduct the research. Kusrohmaniah emphasized to prospective researchers to pay attention to the policies set in each community, unit or agency where the research was held. There must be permission from the head of the association or agency when conducting research there.
“I once said that certain hospitals are currently also asking for ethical clearance which is submitted to the hospital even though the researcher has obtained an ethical clearance from a certain ethics committee,” explained Kusrohmaniah.
At the end, the speaker explains about the vulnerable groups in the study. Kusrohmaniah explained that the vulnerable groups in the study included children, individuals with limited mental capacities, and individuals under acute or unconscious stress. Regarding participants with children, researchers must first obtain parental consent.
“So to use children in research you must first get permission from the parents. So the process is from the parents first, and then getting approval from the children,” explained Kusrohmaniah.
The event was smooth and interactive. Some participants actively asked questions and discussed with the presenters about research ethics with human participants.