UWL Research Ethics and Integrity Risk Assessment Form Analysis

This document presents a completed Research Ethics and Integrity Risk Assessment Form (Form A) for a research project investigating the attitude of software professionals towards healthy eating habits and dietary behavior. The form addresses various ethical considerations, including participant involvement, vulnerability, emotional harm, and potential risks. The research, based on a quantitative design, will employ an online survey with 17 software professionals selected by convenience sampling. The study aims to determine the attitude and perception of good dietary behavior and healthy eating habits, exploring the efforts taken by professionals to adopt a healthy diet, assessing their knowledge about healthy eating, and their attitude towards changing their dietary behavior. The research will use quantitative analysis, specifically representing the percentage of participants' responses from the online survey using graphical representations. The document also includes details of the research design, materials, and procedures, emphasizing participant consent, confidentiality, and the right to withdraw from the study at any point. The form includes detailed responses to ethical considerations, including the use of consent forms, the assurance of confidentiality, and the debriefing of participants. The student has indicated that the project does not have significant ethical implications requiring review by the School Ethics Panel.

RESEARCH ETHICS AND INTEGRITY
RISK ASSESSMENT FORM
FORM A
For all Undergraduate/Postgraduate Dissertations and Research Projects
Please fill in this form, then SAVE IT AS A PDF and submit as instructed by your
supervisor with your project proposal
Your name: (first) ……………………… (last) ………………………
Student number: …………… Your email address: ……………@student.uwl.ac.uk

PROJECT DESCRIPTON
Please answer the following questions:
1. Do you intend to involve human participants in the conduct of your research? If
no, please skip questions 2 & 3.
☐ Yes ☐No
2. Does your research involve vulnerable adults or under-18s?
☐ Yes ☐No
3. Could your research potentially expose you, anyone assisting you, or
participants to emotional harm?
☐ Yes ☐No
4. Will your research involve travelling to geo-politically unstable
regions/countries (e.g. areas affected by war, civil unrest, natural disasters, or
listed as unadvisable to travel by the UK government?
☐ Yes ☐No
5. Will your research involve access to security-sensitive material? If yes, you
must include a data management statement.
☐ Yes ☐No
This proposal must be completed with the assistance of your supervisor. You
can change the size of the boxes (below) by typing or deleting as necessary.
It is very important to convey with clarity:
• Your research questions/the problem/the theme or topic you are investigating
(what you are proposing to do and to find out or to create)
• The methodology or technical approach (for projects comprising in whole or in
part the creation of an artefact) you will adopt – methods, number of
participants, who the participants (if any) will be, survey instruments used
technology and equipment employed etc.; and what questions you are
planning to ask your respondents (if applicable); how you will deal with
technical challenges.

Title of project
Attitude of software professionals towards healthy eating habits and dietary
behaviour
_________________________________________________________________________
Name of researcher(s)
_____________________________________Email:[e-mail]
Name of supervisor _____________________________Date:________________________
WHERE APPROPRIATE TO YOUR CHOSEN
TOPIC/RESEARCH:
YES NO N/A
1
Will you describe in writing the main procedures to
participants in advance, so that they are informed about
what to expect? A copy of this must be attached to this
application
Yes
2
Will you tell participants that their participation is
voluntary?
Yes
3
Will you obtain written consent for participation and
include within this that they have a right to withdraw at
any point? A copy of this must be attached to this
application
Yes
4
If the research is observational, will you ask participants
for their consent to being observed?
Yes
5
With questionnaires, will you give participants the option
of omitting questions they do not want to answer?
Yes
6
Will you tell participants that their data will be treated with
full confidentiality and that, if published, it will not be
identifiable as theirs? This should be evidenced in the
consent form and with a signed copy of UWL’s data
management form, attached to this application.
Yes
7
Will you debrief participants at the end of their
participation (i.e. give them a brief explanation of the
Yes

study)? A copy of this must be attached to this application
If you have ticked No to any of Q1-7, but have ticked box A overleaf, please give
an explanation on a separate sheet.
[Note: N/A = not applicable]
YE
S
NO N/A
8
Will your project involve deliberately misleading
participants in any way?
No
9
Is there any realistic risk of any participants experiencing
either physical or psychological distress or discomfort? If
Yes, give details on a separate sheet and state what you
will tell them to do if they should experience any
problems (e.g. who they can contact for help).
No
If you have ticked Yes to 8 or 9, you should normally tick box B overleaf; if not,
please give a full explanation on a separate sheet
YES NO N/A
10 Does your project involve work with animals? If yes,
please tick box B overleaf.
No
11 Do participants fall into
any of the following
vulnerable groups? If they
do, please and tick box B
overleaf.
Note that you may also
need to obtain
satisfactory DBS
clearance (or
equivalent for overseas
students).
Schoolchildren (under 18
years of age)
No
People with learning or
communication difficulties
No
Patients No
People in custody No
People engaged in illegal
activities (e.g. drug-taking)
No
Any other groups who could
be reasonably argued as
representing any form of
vulnerability – please
specify
No

12 Will you be accessing materials which may be
considered security-sensitive under the Counter
Terrorism Act (2015)?
No
There is an obligation on the researcher to bring to the attention of the School Ethics
Panel any issues with ethical implications not clearly covered by the above checklist.
PLEASE TICK EITHER BOX A OR BOX B BELOW AND PROVIDE THE DETAILS
REQUIRED IN SUPPORT OF YOUR APPLICATION. THEN SIGN THE FORM.
Please tick
A. I consider that this project has no significant ethical implications to
be brought before the School Ethics Panel.
✔
B. I consider that this project may have ethical implications that
should be brought before the School Ethics Panel, and/or it will be
carried out with children or other vulnerable populations.
✔
I have received guidance on ethical research practices relevant to my subject as
part of my preparation for this module.
Signed ___________________________ Print Name ______________________ Date
_______________
(UG Researcher(s))
Signed ___________________________ Print Name ______________________ Date
_______________
(Supervisor)

Introduction to the research
Background to research topic area (with references where applicable). 200 words approx.
Include Aims and Hypothesis, Research Question(s) of the dissertation/project or an
outline of the aims and the context of the creative artefact (where the project is a
creative artefact)
Healthy diet and eating pattern is usually considered to deliver support to
persons for improving and/or preserving their general health and welfare.
Healthy eating includes a diet that encompasses important nutrients, such as,
micronutrients, fluids, macronutrients, and adequate calories. Furthermore,
healthy eating and diet patterns do not just incorporate the procedure of
following strict diet regimen, or depriving an individual of the food items that
are essential. It has often been found that there are numerous persons who
follow a day-to-day monotonous routine that encompasses having unhealthy
lunch, skipping their meals, grabbing sweetened beverages and soda, and
binge eating. Binge eating has also been identified as a common disorder
where individuals exhibit an inclination to over consume food products that
contain low fiber content, or have high content of sugar, salt, and
hydrogenated fats. Numerous persons fail to pay satisfactory consideration to
the quantity of calories and fats that they eat on a consistent basis, thus
becoming more susceptible to a range of health diseases. Taking into
consideration the work schedule and stress that software professionals are
subjected to, it is also expected that they might not be able to show adherence
to healthy eating patterns.
Research question
What is the attitude of software professionals towards healthy eating habits
and dietary behaviour?
Research aim
To determine the attitude and perception towards good dietary behaviour and
healthy eating habits
Research objectives
1. To explore the efforts taken by software professionals for adopting a healthy
diet
2. To determine the knowledge about healthy eating amid software
professionals
3. To assess attitude of software professionals towards changing their dietary
behaviour

Method
Outline all methodological issues - e.g. Design, participants, questionnaires, tests,
method of data collection. Who are you working with? How? What Measures?
What interventions/manipulations? What controls? If your research entails
exclusively the consultation of published documents, books, articles or other work
in the public domain please state this under the heading ‘materials’. In the case of
creative artefacts please use relevant sections of your dissertation/project
proposal to place in the section below to which they most closely pertain.
Students and supervisors may also find it helpful to cross-refer to the Health and
Safety clearance documents for any level 6 research projects which need to be
completed by students in certain fields. Sections completed by students for the
latter forms may be suitable to be repeated below.
Research design or schedule (for creative artefacts)
Quantitative research based on positivism research philosophy
Participants (where applicable)
17 software professionals selected by convenience sampling
Materials (to include locations and objects/resources)
IT company located in the district
Internet connection
Email
Laptop
Procedure or details of technical aspects of creative production
Consent form sent to all participants through email
Information to be kept confidential

All participants provided with
opportunity to withdraw or refuse
participation at any point of time
Online survey sent to each of them at their respective email address
Analysis
Please complete this section only if your project requires written analysis to be
submitted as the assessment or as part of it. If the project you are undertaking
comprises a creative artefact such as a film or body of photographic work please
type ‘Not applicable’ in this box
CLEARLY describe the method of analysis you are going to use. Is it qualitative
or quantitative?
Quantitative analysis by representing the percentage of participants
who selected each answers from the MCQ based online survey
Graphical representation of the percentage of participants for each
question present in the survey