Employee Retention Research: Ethical Approval Application Form Review

This document presents an ethical approval application form for a research project focused on employee retention within a business school context. The application includes sections detailing the rationale for the research, ethical considerations, project information (start date, duration, participant recruitment, and location), and an ethical checklist addressing issues such as informed consent, confidentiality, data security, and potential risks to participants and researchers. It also covers considerations for working with vulnerable individuals and includes an ethical statement outlining how the researcher intends to address ethical concerns. The form emphasizes the importance of obtaining necessary permissions, ensuring participant volition, and maintaining data privacy. The researcher declares familiarity with ethical research guidelines and commits to adhering to them throughout the project. A consent letter is also included, seeking permission from a company to conduct a survey among its employees.

Ethical Approval Application Form, modified Spring 2012 TPM
Approval Code:
E1- APPLICATION FORMFOR APPROVAL TO CONDUCT RESEARCH
BUSINESS SCHOOL ETHICS COMMITTEE
Dept/School
and unit
code:
Please select Postgraduate Project Undergraduate Project
(Double click on the box then click ‘Checked’ for a cross to appear in the box)
Project Title:
Researchers
Name(s):
Supervisor(s):
Date:
Applications should be submitted electronically to the Secretary of the School Research Ethics Committee as one single
file.One original hard copy must also be submitted with the signatures of all applicants and Supervisors.
Rationale: Please give a BRIEF description of the project in ‘lay language’.This summary will be reviewedby UREC and
may be published as part of its reporting procedures.
Ethical Considerations:Please give a BRIEF description of the ethical considerations of this project. Please mention
questions raised specifically in the form and, where appropriate, show that the basic ethical criteria have been met in
any use of (a) participant information sheets (b) consent forms (c) debriefing procedures.
This summary will be forwarded to and reviewed by UREC and may be published as part of its reporting procedures.
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Law and Finance/ Business School
Employees retention
Divine Tulomba
Helmut Schuster
01/03/2019
Employee job satisfaction and engagement aspects are elements of employee retention programs.
In addition, employee retention is the policies and practices which let the employee to remain in
the company for a long period of time. Employees can be retained by using effective strategy.

Ethical Approval Application Form, modified Spring 2012 TPM
Section A: PROJECT INFORMATION
1. Estimated start date.
When do you plan to begin your project? 19tof March 2019
2. Estimated duration.
How long do you think it will take? 4 weeks
3. Does this research proposal involve...
3a.Potential conflicts of interest, eg. roles in research, intellectual property,
responsibilities of funders, research with policy or other social implications etc? Yes No
3b. Only unpublished data obtained with the permission of the owner/archive curator?
3c.Primary data collection (obtained through interviews, surveys, observation, etc...)? Yes (✓) No
If you answer ‘YES’ to any of these questions (3a 3b or 3c), you should elaborate in Q27.
4. Is this research proposal exclusively concerned with...
Only published secondary data sources (eg, material already in the public domain)*? No
*If you answer ‘YES’ to Q4, go directly to Q. 26, and Q. 27 
5. Your informants...
5a. Who are the intended participants? (eg. students) 50 employees are selected in the British Petroleum
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The researcher will make sure to the participants that their information would not be revealed for
other purpose and would beremoved after completing the research. It is also addressed that grant
permission from applicants before conducting the survey is required as it assists to accomplish
the research outcome. It is also effective for attaining the trustworthy and feasible results.
Yes No

Ethical Approval Application Form, modified Spring 2012 TPM
Company to get relevant response about proposed topic
5b. How will you recruit them?
Probability sampling technique will be considered for this
research paper in which random sampling technique will be
chosen so that everyone gets equal opportunity to get
selected.
6. Estimated duration of participants’ involvement...
(Eg, questionnaire 10 mins, Interview 20 mins, etc.) 20 min
7. Location of Research/Fieldwork to be conducted:
7a. Where will you conduct your research? (eg, LRCfoyer) The research will conduct in London where the company is
situated
7b. Do you need to secure permission to conduct research at this location? Yes ✓ *No
*If you answered ‘NO’, say why permission is not needed.
8. Is this research funded by an external sponsor or agency?
Yes No ✓
If ‘YES’ please provide the name(s) and elaborate in Q. 27
Section B: ETHICAL CHECKLIST
For Qs 9-21, tick the box to show if your answer is YES, NO or Not Applicable. Please elaborate in Q. 27 if necessary.
If you tick ‘NO’ to any question 9-21, please give a brief explanation in Q. 27.
If you answer ‘YES’, it must be clearly illustrated in the relevant paperwork which must be attached
(ie, Participant Information Sheet, Consent Form, Debriefing Form, Questionnaires, Advertisement, etc…)
9. Have you obtained permission to access the site of
research?
If YES,provide the name, position and
business address of the person. Also, give
the name of the organisation.
Aletter of confirmation is to be attached to
this form.
Yes No N/A
10. Does this research entail collaboration with other researchers?
If YES,providethe names and institutions of your collaborators. ✓
11. Collaborative projects.
11a.If the research is collaborative, have you considered issues to do with roles in
research publication strategies/authorship?
✓
11b. If the research is collaborative, have you devised a framework to ensure that all
participants are given appropriate recognition in any outputs? ✓
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Researcher would gain permission by discussing the research concern.
Furthermore, permission would be taken from manager of British Petroleum
Company.
Yes No ✓ N/A

Ethical Approval Application Form, modified Spring 2012 TPM
12. Volition. Will you tell participants that their participation is voluntary? ✓
13. Informed Consent. Will you describe the procedures to participants in advance so that
they can make an informed decision about whether or not to participate? ✓
14. The right to withdraw. Will you tell participants that they may withdraw from the
research at any time and for any reason, without having to give an explanation? ✓
15. Written consent.Will you obtain written consent from participants? ✓
16. Recording. If the research involves making recordings (manuscript, digital, audio or
video), will you ask participants for their consent to be observed, videoed or taped? ✓
17. Confidentiality.Will you tell participants that their data will be treated with full
confidentiality and that if published, it will not be identifiable as theirs? ✓
18. Data Security.Will participants be clearly informed of how the data will be stored, who
will have access to it, and when the data will be destroyed? ✓
19. Debriefing. Will you debrief participants at the end of their participation, i.e. give them a
brief explanation in writing of the study? ✓
20. Omission.With interviews and questionnaires, will you give participants the option of
omitting questions they do not want to answer? ✓
21. Relationships.Are any of the participants in a dependent relationship with the
investigator (eg lecturer/student)?
If YES, please give full explanation in Q27.
✓
Section C: RISK AND SAFETY
For Qs 22-25, tick the box to show if your answer is YES, or NO. You should elaborate in Q. 27 where appropriate.
Yes No
22. Deception.Will your project involve deliberately misleading participants in any way?
If YES, explain in Q. 27 why it is necessary and how debriefing will occur.
✓
23. Risk to Participant(s). Is there any realistic risk to any paid or unpaid participant, field
assistant, helper or student involved in the project? (Nb,‘risk’ means experiencing any
physical, psychological distress or discomfort)
If YES, please explain in Q.27, saying what you will do if they should
experience any problems, eg who to contact for help.
✓
24. Risk to Researcher(s) Is there any realistic risk to the investigator?
If YES, have the appropriate risk assessment forms been submitted to
the appropriate Safety Committee(s)?
✓
25. Risk of Harm or Damage.Do you think the results of your research have the potential to
cause any damage, harm or other problems for people in your study area?
If YES, explain in Q. 27 why it is necessary and how debriefing will occur
✓
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Ethical Approval Application Form, modified Spring 2012 TPM
Section D: WORKING WITH CHILDREN/VULNERABLE PEOPLE
For Qs 26a-g, tick the box to show if your answer is YES, or NO. You must elaborate in Q. 27 any ‘YES response in this section.
26. Vulnerable individuals. Do participants in this study fall into any of the following special groups?
If they do, please tick the appropriate answer, refer to the relevant guidelines and complete Q.27.
Yes No
a. Children (under 18 years of age). ✓
b. People with learning or communication difficulties. ✓
c. Patients (including careers of NHS patients). ✓
d. People in custody. ✓
e. Institutionalised persons. ✓
f. People engaged in illegal activities, eg drug-taking. ✓
g. Other vulnerable groups.
(please specify) ✓
There is an obligation on the Lead Researcher & Supervisor to bring to the attention of the School Ethics Committee
(S.E.C.) any issues with ethical implications not clearly covered by the above checklist.
Section E: ETHICAL STATEMENT
27. Write a clear but concise statement of the ethical considerations of this project,clearly stating how you intend
to addresseachof them.
An investigator has practiced rules and regulation of university to perform the research in an
ethical manner. It aids to obtain the valid as well as reliable result from investigation. An
investigator has also provided citation in each paragraph for completing the research in an ethical
way. A researcher has used their own words for assessing the information regarding research
concerns (Anitha, 2016).
Researcher has made favourable liaison with applicants for longer time by securing their
confidential data. Different factors were considered such as data manipulation, copyright act
violation, and plagiarism in order to conduct ethical researcher (Ahammad, et. al., 2016).
Researcher would focus on eliminating different unethical issues. For this, he would consider
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Ethical Approval Application Form, modified Spring 2012 TPM
certain strategies such as volition, informed consent, the right to withdraw, written consent,
recording, confidentiality, data security, debriefing, and omission.
28. Assuring Confidentiality. As we regard informants’ consent to be finite, please say how and where you will
store your data (to guard against accidental data loss) and the date by which your data will be destroyed
(usually, within 6 months after the completion of your course).
Researcher has maintained privacy act where they did not share the confidentiality of
respondents in order to maintain privacy. The following strategy was used to assure the
confidentiality during and after completion of course:
 Create comprehensive confidentiality strategy
 Make sure confidentiality extends to partners’
 Make sure private data is stored within secure system
 Execute best practice IT security policies
 Encrypt and password protection for all laptops and smartphones as these devices are
highly susceptible to being stolen
 Enforce workforce policy where complex password is required containing symbols, mix
of letter, and numbers because hackers can easily crack the general password.
 Never share password with team members.
Section E: DECLARATION
I, the researcher declare that...
(i) I am familiar with the BMRI Guidelines for Ethical Research Guidelines
for Research practices, and I have discussed them with all researchers involved
in this project.
(ii) I have attached all relevant paperwork linked to this project.
(Nb, supervisors may need to seek guidance before giving approval.)
(iii) I understand that any substantive changes to this proposal will require
a new application to the School Ethics Committee.
Researcher(s)
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No ✓ Yes
No Yes ✓
Divine Tulomba

Ethical Approval Application Form, modified Spring 2012 TPM
Signature
Date
Supervisors must ensure they have read both the application and the guidelines before signing below.
Supervisor(s)
Signature
Date
O F F I C I A L U S E O N L Y
STATEMENT OF ETHICAL APPROVAL
This project has been considered using agreed University Procedures and has been:
Not Approved ✓ Approved
More Clarification Required
New Submission Recommended
Referred to UREC
Convener’s Name
Signature
Date:
Adapted by TM Nov 2011 from: http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/utrec/SCHOOLFORMS/index.shtml
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19/03/2019
Helmut Schuster
19/03/2019
No ✓ Yes
19/03/2019

Ethical Approval Application Form, modified Spring 2012 TPM
Consent letter
19 March 2019
Dear respondents,
Greeting for the day!!!
I am conducting the research entitled "employee retention: A case study of British Petroleum
Company, London" because it is requirement of completing my course.
Because of this, I appeal to you to provide your supports in terms of gathering the required
information from your employees.
Kindly grant me permission for conducting the survey through questionnaire on your human
resources with regards to my research issues.
I would like to express my gratitude for your support in solving this research concern.
I am thankful to you for giving me your grateful support.
Yours sincerely,
Divine Tulomba
Senior HR Manager of company
Helmut Schuster
British Petroleum Company
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