(L-R) Mr. Peter A. Sy and Ms. Ria Valeria D. Cabanes
As part of the Research Conversations: Ethics Series 2021, a joint webinar of the UP Open University (UPOU) Institutional Research Ethics Committee (IREC) and Research Publications Committee (RPC) of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (OVCAA) was held on 12 April 2022 to discuss the conduction of ethical research that considers the privacy of its respondents and its insightful processes that a researcher may practice or consider.
The resource speaker of the event was Mr. Peter A. Sy, from the UP Diliman Department of Philosophy. Asst. Prof. Ria Valerie D. Cabanes, MAN RN, Chair of UPOU Institutional Research Ethics Committee and Assistant Professor and Program Development Associates for the Faculty of Management and Development Studies (FMDS), served as the moderator.
Dr. Primo Garcia, Vice Chancellor of UPOU OVCAA and a professor under FMDS delivered a welcome message where he discussed how ethical considerations in research are important in order to protect the dignity, rights, and privacy of research participants, as well as increase the legitimacy of the research work. VCAA Garcia shared that in order to be serious about the claims towards research sustainability then “research participants shall be considered as co-creators of knowledge and not just mere sources of data.” Dr. Garcia also highlighted the importance of protecting the participants’ interests and rights in the process of research.
Mr. Sy discussed that it is essential to have the informed consent of any research participant and let them know of the elements which they can agree or disagree on. Such elements include the research and participation being voluntary; ascertaining competence or decisional capacity of potential research subjects; and information disclosure.
Research participants have the “right to erasure or the right to be forgotten,” according to Mr. Sy. This means that research participants may opt to request their data to be deleted or not be stored anywhere. As a reminder to researchers, this right shall be practiced and can be merited when they do not need the data anymore.
Mr. Sy expounded on the rights to privacy or the Data Privacy Act of 2012 under the RA 10173. In collecting data, especially the personal data of respondents, it is essential to be guided by transparency as an important principle. “Data Management is a practice that researchers should be aware of– the back up, security, and processes on data sharing to avoid data breaches.”
Mr. Sy concluded that transparency in research should be practiced in order to ensure that both researchers and respondents are aware of the flow of the research study being conducted to yield favored, legitimate, and informative outcomes.
The recorded event of the Research Conversations: Ethics Series 2021 on Ethics and Privacy in Research may be watched on www.facebook.com/UPOpenUniversityNetworks or via www.networks.upou.edu.ph.
Written by Alessa Shainne Hostalero
Edited by Myra C. Almodiel and Anna Cañas-Llamas