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The ethical statement for the DICE project

DICE (Drama Improves Lisbon Key Competencies in Education) is an international EU-supported research project aiming at long-term improvement of education by providing hard data on the use of drama with youth. It is a two-year-long cross-cultural research study undertaken to investigate a large population of 13-16-year-old adolescents in countries within and outside the European Community.

The aims and research procedures of the DICE project have been detailed and explained in the application; the project has been selected, contracted and funded by EU authorities for 2009-2010.
The EU does not require successful applicants to have further ethical approval at EU level. The DICE research proposal complies with all ethical considerations. Within the EU it is permitted to conduct research with the participation of children when it is justified and the subjects will benefit from the research long-term. This is true of the DICE project.

The staff involved in designing and carrying out the research in each country are professionals fully aware of respective national laws and ethical codes for researchers’ conduct. In view of the educational settings of the research all national special school policies and procedures will be followed by all DICE partners who will make every effort to inform those responsible for children in these settings of the purpose and the benefits of DICE.

All research tools have been carefully consulted on and negotiated with all partners and then piloted with special emphasis on eliminating any elements potentially harmful to children. The final design, tools and procedures are sufficiently sensitive not to cause any undue stress, loss of self-esteem, psychological injury or physical harm. Procedures for obtaining valid consent from participants will be observed according to local standards; and all DICE partners are aware of the imperative to ensure the right of every participant or his/her legal guardian to withdraw consent to participate in the research at any time. 

The DICE project is fully aware of the need to secure data protection for the involved parties, and measures to that effect have been implemented in the research design. The collection, storage, disclosure and use of personal data comply with the EU-level and national data protection legislation, since all data will be handled anonymously. The researchers will just enter the codes of the children, and data will be analysed statistically. It will not be possible to recognize participating schools, teachers or pupils in the presentation of the final results. Confidentiality and anonymity will be honoured with the highest respect.

The below named members of the Ethical Committee have approved the research design and procedures and will make all efforts to monitor the highest standards of consortium research activities, even though this is not required by the EU authorities.

Dr. Adam Jagiello-Rusilowski
University of Gdansk   

Dr. Margarida Gaspar de Matos
Technical University of Lisbon

Dr. Stig A. Eriksson
Bergen University College