Tri Council Policy Statement

This document is a joint policy of Canada's three federal research agencies, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. This updated version replaces the TCPS 2 (2010) as the official human research ethics policy of these agencies.

For decades now, researchers in the social sciences and humanities have been expressing a deep dissatisfaction with the process of research-ethics review in academia. Continuing the ongoing critique of ethics review begun in Will C. van den Hoonaard's Walking the Tightrope and The Seduction of Ethics, The Ethics Rupture offers both an account of the system's failings and a series of proposals on how to ensure that social research is ethical, rather than merely compliant with institutional requirements. Containing twenty-five essays written by leading experts from around the world in various disciplines, The Ethics Rupture is a landmark study of the problems caused by our current research-ethics system and the ways in which scholars are seeking solutions.

Kitchin helps readers pick their way through the minefield that stands in the way of all who seek to find clarity as to the ethics of Internet research. The Internet poses new challenges to researchers, and the author clearly discusses these challenges in all their complexity. Issues of copyright, privacy and ethical use of Internet materials loom large. Kitchin analyzes contradictions between the federal Tri-Council Policy Statement and university-based research ethics boards and offers a simple solution to policy makers who grapple with the ethics of Internet research. Book jacket.