QSRA wishes to promote and encourage ethica lresearch by its members.

QSRA believes all research should be undertaken with the fully informed consent of research subjects, eg Meetings and the participants in those Meetings. No research should be undertaken within a Meeting or of other groups of Quakers without receiving unambiguous consent from the parties involved. This could be done using a consent form, as long as it is written in accessible language and covers all aspects of the research process.

Those being researched need to be fully informed of:
- the aims, nature, and scope of the research;
- its duration and methodology;
- plans for distribution and publication of results;
- the location and means of the storage of data collected;
- degrees of confidentiality and anonymity being promised by the researcher, and;
- any changes which take place following the initial discussion/ agreement.

Participants need to understand what is being suggested and the possible implications, and to know that they can refuse. The need to know when the research starts and ends. The onus is on researchers to ensure this is done and to demonstrate to their supervisors and colleagues that they are conducting their research ethically. We trust researchers will work within the guidelines of the Ethics Committee of their institution, the Data Protection Act, as well as this code. Supervisors should ensure that their researchers are following ethical practice. For further consideration of the issues involved in research ethics, we recommend: Homan, Roger. The Ethics of Social Research, London: Longman, 1991. Adopted by the Annual General Meeting of the Quaker studies Research Association, October 21, 2000.

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