Using personal data in research
Code of Practice for SOAS staff and students
As well as conforming to ethical standards, all research projects that involve working with personal or special category data must conform to the requirements of current data protection legislation.
The Code of Practice for SOAS researchers: Using Personal Data in Research (PDF, version 6) applies to all researchers at SOAS, where the research involves the gathering or use of personal data.
The guidance should also be read in conjunction with SOAS Research Ethics Policy. The Code of Practice includes sections which explain:
- How the Data Protection Legislation applies to academic research
- The importance of seeking informed consent from research participants
- How informed consent should be recorded
- Issues relating to audio-visual material, photographs and surveys
- How to keep research data secure
- Anonymisation, pseudonymisation, privacy by design
- The access rights of research participants
- Intellectual property and ownership issues
Appendix B and C of the Code of Practice provide a Model Consent form / Participant Information sheet (PDF) which can be used and adapted by SOAS researchers. A Word version is available on MySOAS.