Research Ethics

Cheryl N. Poth, PhD, is a Professor in the Faculty of Education and faculty member of theresearch-intensive Centre for Research and Applied Measurement and Evaluation at theUniversity of Alberta. In this role, she has developed and taught graduate-level research methodsand program evaluation courses in addition to supervising and mentoring students, faculty,and local as well as global community members in qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methodsresearch. She is the author of over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles, three books as well asnumerous book chapters. Her work has been recognized by the American Educational ResearchAssociation with the Division D Significant Contributions to Research Methodology Awardin 2023 (with Peggy Shannon-Baker) and by the Textbook & Academic Authors Associationwith the Most Promising New Textbook Award in 2020 and the McGuffey Longevity Awardfor Qualitative Research book in 2018 (with John Creswell). She served as Editor of the SAGEHandbook of Mixed Methods Research (2023) and as Guest Coeditor of several journal specialissues, including the International Journal of Qualitative Methods. In addition to more than40 invited talks and 150 conference presentations, she has led research methods workshopswith diverse audiences on four continents. She served as an Advisory Board Member of the International Institute of Qualitative Methodology (2014–2020); the President of the MixedMethods International Research Association (2017–2018); a Research Fellow at the Universityof South Africa (2018–2020); a Helen Glass Scholar in the College of Nursing within the RadyFaculty of Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba (2022); and as a MERIT VisitingProfessor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University (2023–2025). In 2009, shecofounded the interdisciplinary Alberta Clinical and Community-Based Evaluation ResearchTeam to advance innovative community–university research partnership supports for programplanning and impact assessments of service delivery for individuals with complex needs. Sheserves as the Methodologist on several cross-disciplinary research teams and has led federally,provincially, and locally funded research projects. She is an Associate Editor of the Journal ofMixed Methods Research and is an editorial board member of several journals. Updates on herwork can be found on her website at https://sites.google.com/ualberta.ca/cheryl-poth/.

• What is meant by research ethics?How do I identify critical ethical issues for my research?How do I obtain free and informed consent from research participants?How do I protect privacy and confidentiality as a researcher?How do I design equitable research procedures?How do I conclude research projects ethically?What are the practicalities of responding to ethical issues as they arise?