Approved

If your letter from the ERC states that “The Committee approved your ethics application,” this means that your application has received full ethical approval. You may proceed with the proposed data collection in accordance with the approved research protocol.

Conditional Approval

If your letter from the ERC states that “The Committee conditionally approved your ethics application,” this means that the Committee has approved the study in principle, subject to the fulfilment of the conditions specified in the letter.

You are required to address the conditions and obtain the formal letter of ethics approval before commencing data collection. Data collection must not begin until the formal approval has been granted.

Revise and Resubmit

If your letter from the ERC states that “The Committee requests that you revise and resubmit the ethics application form,” this means that the application requires further revision before it can be considered for approval.

You are required to carefully address the comments and recommendations provided by the ERC and resubmit the revised application. The revised application will then be reassessed by the ERC before a decision is made.