When planning a STEM project that involves humans, there are a few steps you should take before you start. This will help make sure your project is ethical to do, and will keep your participants and yourself safe.

Note: Even projects where you will be conducting a survey or having people test your innovation count as projects involving people.

Questions to ask yourself

And as you brainstorm for your project in your logbook, consider the following questions:

• Who could be my scientific supervisor? (Someone with expertise in working with humans in research, who can offer advice on my STEM project.)
• Do I have experience working with people in research?
• How could I get training to better work with research participants?
• What will I be asking people to do? Is it safe and ethical?
• If using a survey, is the survey topic and/or questions ethical to be asking?
• How will you find the people to participate in your research?
• How will you make sure your participants aren’t harmed (physically, mentally, confidentiality, etc.)?
• How can you make sure you have enough participants for your results to be statistically meaningful? You can learn more about figuring out your sample size here.

You MUST get consent

If you want to involve people in your project, you must get consent before they participate. Use these templates to help you:

• Before people agree to participate, they need to understand what your project is about and what they will be asked to do. Use this template to create a letter to tell your participants all of the important information they need to know: Letter of Information, Informed Consent template
• After they read your letter, they need to consent to participate by signing a permission form. Use this template to create your participant permission form: Permission Form, Informed Consent template
  • Note: If your participants are under 18, their parents/guardians must sign the permission form.
• If you will be asking your participants to do some kind of physical exercise as part of your research, you must get them to complete this form to make sure they are healthy enough to participate: Form – Physical Exercise Permission

Seek Approval

If your STEM project is for school, your regional STEM fair, or another STEM opportunity, it is important for you to get approval before starting your project. This typically means talking to your teacher to see if they have any concerns about how you plan to involve people in your research. If you’re interested in participating in your regional STEM fair, use these forms to explain your project and get permission from their judges:

• Request for Advice or Ruling Ethics Committee
• Risk Level:
  • If your project is considered Low Risk – Form – Participation of Humans in Research – Low Risk Approval form
  • If your project is considered Significant Risk – Form – Participation of Humans in Research – Significant Risk Approval.

Learn about whether your project is Low or Significant Risk here.

Your teacher can help you complete these forms, and if you have questions, you can find the contact information to reach out to your regional fair here.

Learn more about making sure your project is ethical here, and you can also check out our safety and ethics resource.