Do all University of Oxford research projects involving human participants need ethical approval?
Yes. All projects which involve human participants, that is people participating in a direct way by for example answering questions about themselves or their opinions, or performing tasks, or being observed, or which involve data about identified or identifiable people must secure ethical approval from an appropriate body. All research brings researchers into contact with other people: people will show you how equipment works, provide information about matters connected with your research, and give their views on your research. These people do not count as human participants in the technical sense. They are not giving you information about themselves and the opinions which they offer are not themselves the subject of the research. You need not get ethical approval of your research if your contact with people is confined to this sort of interaction.
