TCPS Principles and Ethical Research in Canada Practice Test

Research Ethics Boards protect participant information by evaluating and mandating safeguards for privacy and confidentiality as part of the ethics review. They examine how data will be collected, stored, accessed, used, shared, and eventually disposed of, and they require concrete measures to minimize risk to participants’ information.

This is a shared responsibility with researchers. The board reviews the data management plan, consent language about data use, security practices (like encryption and access controls), plans for de-identification or anonymization, data retention periods, and how any data will be shared with others. They also look at procedures for reporting and handling breaches and how researchers will train staff to protect information. Through review and ongoing oversight, the board ensures that the protections are appropriate before the study begins and maintained during conduct.

Why the other actions aren’t about protecting information: collecting data is a research activity, not a protection function; deciding the study’s hypotheses is a design choice, not a data-protection duty; and saying they’re not involved in data protection is inaccurate because safeguarding information is a central part of ethics review.