Requests to Conduct Research

The Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board supports educational research through its Research Advisory Committee.

Please note:  The KPR Research Advisory Committee has no meetings scheduled for this school year at this time.
We are in the process of hiring a new staff member to take on the role of research lead and no meetings of the committee are planned until the hiring process is complete. Consideration of external research applications is on hold, at this time.

How to Apply

Individuals wishing to conduct research studies with staff, principals, vice-principals, parents or students in KPR schools (including surveys) must submit a formal Application to Conduct Research, which is available in Microsoft Form.

 Submit Application to Conduct Research at KPR 

Complete application forms and all relevant attachments can be submitted by email to catharine_tozer@kprdsb.ca (preferred), or regular mail to:

Dr. Catharine Tozer
Chair, Research Advisory Committee
Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board
1994 Fisher Drive
Peterborough, ON
K9J 6X6

Applications must be received ten calendar days in advance of a meeting of the KPR Research Advisory Committee in order to be included on a meeting agenda.

Requests and Approvals

Requests received from individuals and/or organizations are reviewed by the Research Advisory Committee to evaluate the relevance of the topic and the design of the study including meeting the standards of the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS2).

Research Applications will be evaluated on the following criteria:

• Meet or exceed ethics standards of TCPS2 including informed consent and data security;
• Consistency with Board policies, priorities and the Board strategic plan; conform to MFIPPA and other relevant legislation;
• Minimum disruption to schools, schedules and programs; protection of instructional time, and;
• Benefit to students in KPR schools including a clear plan to share study findings with the KPR Research Office in a timely manner (school level results, where possible).

The protection of staff and students is carefully evaluated to ensure appropriate participant information and consent is in place; to determine the clarity of expectations for staff and/or student time; to evaluate potential disruption to school programs and to ensure the proposed study is free from sensitive or offensive items, free from racist, sexist, religious or other bias and that participants are free from mental and physical discomfort or harm. Because informed consent is not a form to be signed, but a process in which the participant has an understanding of the research and its risks, informed consent is essential before data collection and ongoing during participant engagement.

Like other Ontario school boards, every year the number of external research applications received would overwhelm schools if all were approved. Priority is given to those studies and surveys whose results and knowledge dissemination would benefit KPR students. Undergraduate studies are not normally accepted for review.

Committee Decision

Applicants will be sent a communication from the Committee within two weeks of the meeting. If approved, please note that approval of the application's ethics standards and other components is only the first step. The school Superintendent will then decide whether the study is relevant for their school district. Each principal will decide whether the study is appropriate at this time for their school, and each participant will have the option to personally participate in the study or not. In other words, the Research Advisory Committee has the responsibility of initial approval of the ethics standards and practices described in the research application, however external researchers may not approach participants with an invitation to participate until they have the agreement of the Superintendent(s) and Principal(s) involved. Whomever is being asked to participate in the external research study (staff, students and/or parents) then each decide if they wish to participate.

For more information about educational research at KPR, please review our Guidelines for Educational Research in Schools (currently under review).

Meeting Details

The following dates are when the Research Advisory Committee will be meeting:
There are no scheduled meeting dates of the Committee in the 2021-2022 school year.
If rare exceptions are made to consider a longitudinal study of student mental health, or proposed research that is highly relevant to the nature of education as it is in 2021-2022, the Committee will meet as needed.