Tool 9: Carrying out research in Social Care
Who is it for?
The Essex County Council Research Governance Framework currently applies to the following service groups:
- Adult Social Care and other parts of Adults, Health and Community Wellbeing directorate under certain circumstances
- Social Care in Children’s services
It is expected that all research carried out by or for the Essex County Council will adhere to high quality research standards and ethical principles.
Research Governance is not an optional extra for organisations that engage in social care research. The Department of Health requires them to have a rigorous and effective research governance system in place that ensures that all research involving:
- Service users and Carers
- Employees
- Volunteers
or their data, be reviewed independently to ensure it meets ethical standards. Coverage of the Research Governance Framework also applies to:
- Contracted providers
- Independent agents
where service users and carers are placed or referred or where the local authority provides funds. In this context, the framework does not cover research with people who are paying privately to the independent agency. However, those managing independent services may consider that all service users, whether state or private would benefit from the protection provided by the framework.
Full details of the Department of Health Research Governance Framework for Health and Social Care can be found at their website.
The original authors of this site were Essex County Council, Rochford District Council and Uttlesford District Council, and is now supported by the Essex Community Engagement Network. You are free to share, copy or adapt this work but you must attribute it to Essex Engagement Toolkit.
Images: Mass Ascension by a4gpa (Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic Creative Commons Licence), Pink Penstemons by aussiegall (Attribution 2.0 Generic Creative Commons Licence), Tools In The Garage (1) by Viewoftheworld (Attribution 2.0 Generic Creative Commons Licence.)