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Question 3b 

Do my activities:

  • Risk infringing the privacy or professional reputation of participants, providers or organisations? 
  • or
  • Use data or analysis from QA or evaluation activities for another purpose? 
  • or
  • Gather information about participants beyond that which is collected routinely? 
  • or
  • Use non-standard/innovative protocols or equipment (including interviews and non-validated instruments)?
  • or
  • Compare cohorts? 
  • or
  • Use randomisation, control groups or placebos? 
  • or
  • Involve targeted analysis of minority or higher-risk groups separate to the overall analysis?
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Yes

a wooden block with the word no on it

No

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I Don't Know

More information

What is "beyond that which is collected routinely"? 

This phrase means that activities cannot collect data that would not be collected as part of normal activities. Using the example for an evaluation of a school program, analysis of data generated by the program such as exam scores meets this requirement, but interviews with the teacher about their experiences of delivering the program would be a non-routine activity. Observation of a classroom by an evaluation team is likely to be non-routine.

What is "non-standard" or "innovative"?

Any data collection process where evaluators/QA teams have developed questions or data collection metrics tailored to the environment and objectives is likely to be non-standard in nature. Some examples of where this is almost always the case:

  • Interviews (regardless of who is being interviewed)
  • Focus groups
  • Surveys using unvalidated questions (most surveys are of this type)

Examples of a standard instrument include validated tools such as the Kessler-10 (K10) questionnaire and the Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI) instrument.

What is "a minority or higher-risk group"? 

This refers to the NHMRC's guidance at Section 4 of the National Statement, and the concept of "specific population groups." The full discussion of this can be found at Chapter 4.1, but such groups include (but are not limited to) those that have explicit guidelines in the National Statement on how research and evaluation should take place them. These are:

  • Pregnant people and unborn children
  • Children and young people
  • People in dependent or unequal relationships
  • People experiencing physical or mental ill health or disability
  • People living in other countries
  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities
  • People who have experienced natural disasters, public health emergencies, or other crises
  • People who are involved in illegal activities that may be discovered as part of research or evaluation activities

Where can I find out more?

We've written an article on QA and Evaluation criteria here.