Collect information
As with all projects, it is good practice to develop a project plan stating:
As with all projects, it is good practice to develop a project plan stating:
Ethical requirements need to be considered for any evaluation that involves engaging with people, such as students, passengers, station staff and BTP officers. Ethics principles include:
There is extensive guidance on research ethics. The extent of ethics requirements should be proportionate to the risk.
Lower risk evaluations include conducting interviews, questionnaire or workshops with employees, or adult members of the public on topics such as the process of fencing or use of CCTV. A half or one page ‘informed consent’ form may suffice, containing:
Interviews and other forms of engagement with children or vulnerable persons will be a higher risk evaluation and an ethics risk assessment and research protocol may be required as outlined by the Social Research Association guidance and / or the SPIRIT checklist.
An assessment of risk should be conducted and documented, along with ethics measures covering matters such a recruitment of participants and the procedures for care and protection of vulnerable persons.
It is recommended that specialist advice is sought for high risk evaluations.
Whilst engaging stakeholders does provide high value inputs to an evaluation, it places a resource demand on those conducting the evaluation and those participating.
Due consideration is also needed to determine the effort to collect and manage data and how to respond to stakeholders about concerns on data protection.
The potential risk to people collecting information as part of an evaluation should be assessed, especially with respect to field work (i.e. site visits) such as:
Suitable safety measures should be considered, such as:
It is good practice to provide aids, such as logs, to facilitate the recording of information such as:
The option of providing notes on, for example, the suitability of a location for a roadshow can also facilitate recording information.