Awareness and Attitude of Social and Behavioural Scientists to Research Ethics in Nigerian Universities

Abstract

Research ethics provides guidance for conducting research responsibly. Ethical approval is required before the commencement of research. Most biomedical studies do apply for ethics approval unlike social and behavioral studies. Whereas, data exist on awareness and patronage of Research Ethics Committee (REC) in biomedicine, there is dearth of information on Social and Behavioral Research (SBR) in Nigeria. This study, therefore, examined the awareness and attitude of social and behavioral scientists to REC in Nigerian Universities.

This study was conducted using descriptive cross-sectional survey involving 325 respondents (148 PG students and 177 lecturers) in three federal universities in Nigeria, namely, University of Port Harcourt in the east (53), Ahmadu Bello University in the north (73), and University of Ibadan in the west (199) based on their history of establishment, postgraduate training program and existence of REC. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to elicit from respondents’ information on demographic characteristics, awareness of REC, research ethics’ training, attitude to REC, and opinion on having a research ethics code for SBR in Nigerian institutions. The target population participated in the preparation of the survey tool, which was assessed for face validity. Univariate, bivariate and multivariate analysis were performed using SPSS version 15.0, while decision level was at p<0.05.

More males (80.3%) than females (19.7%) constituted the respondents irrespective of being lecturers or PG students. Only 36.3% of respondents were aware of the existence of REC. Respondents awareness of REC was significantly related to sex (p=0.017), status (p=0.001) and grade (p=0.001). However, results of the regression analysis on the strength of relationship between the respondents’ profile and awareness of REC, only institution was found to be significant (p=0.02). Out of the 118 respondents who claimed to be aware of RECs, only 57.6% had ever received ethics training and 42.4% had ever submitted their protocols for review. Majority of the respondents (93.5%) had a positive attitude towards establishment of REC. More than half of the respondents (64%) mentioned that the existence of REC was to provide guidance for research.

Poor awareness of REC irrespective of attitude to REC was responsible for low patronage by social and behavioral scientists. Ethics training targeting social and behavioural scientists should be intensified in Nigerian universities.