Research

To obtain permission to undertake research at ELTC, you should complete the research request form. Incomplete forms, or forms with insufficient information, will not be considered. You can expect to hear from us within 7 days.

Timing

You should consider the timing of your request and data collection carefully, bearing in mind that ELTC full-time, pre-sessional courses run on a termly basis:

• Term 1 - late September to mid-December
• Term 2 - mid-January to March
• Term 3 - April to mid-June
• Term 4 - late June to early September

At the start of each term ELTC students may have just arrived in Britain and have a lot to get used to. ELTC staff are also very busy at the beginning of terms.

Towards the end of each term, students usually have coursework deadlines and/or exams and teachers are busy marking and writing reports. For these reasons, ELTC students and staff may be unwilling to volunteer as participants at these times. 

Please note that research during our busy International Summer School (Term 4) is restricted to University of Sheffield staff and students only.

Ethical approval

TUOS has a list of partner institutions which are considered to have sufficiently robust ethical review procedures. If your institution is on our list of recognised institutions your ethical approval documentation should be sufficient.

Organisations recognised by Sheffield’s Research Ethics Committee (PDF, 53KB)

Notes for a successful application

To facilitate a successful application, please note the following:

1. Information from your Research Request form will be made available to potential participants so you should ensure that it is clearly written and that your contact details are complete
2. Due to GDPR regulations, we cannot provide contact details of ELTC students or staff to researchers; however, we will include your contact details on our list of research projects so that they can contact you if they are interested.
3. It is not acceptable for a researcher to approach ELTC students or staff via email, outside their classrooms or in offices, without prior permission.
4. ELTC cannot oblige ELTC students or staff to participate in any research project.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) information

You must comply with the 2018 General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).

Guidance and useful templates for researchers

Research and ethical procedures

For further information about Research and ethics at the ELTC, please click on the appropriate heading below:

Information for ELTC staff

ELTC is part of Professional Services. All research undertaken within Professional Services (and therefore ELTC) which involves human participants and/or personal data (or human tissue - but that's unlikely at ELTC!) must undergo an ethical review.

University of Sheffield applications for ethical approval are now online:

Applying for ethics approval

If you are undertaking research as part of a CPD activity (E.g. MA, PhD) in another institution, you may need to seek ethical approval from the University of Sheffield, even if you have already received it from the institution in which you are studying.  Please note that research during our busy International Summer School (Term 4) is restricted to University of Sheffield staff and students only.

If you have any questions relating to undertaking research at ELTC, please contact Dr Lynne Newcombe: l.newcombe@sheffield.ac.uk

ELTC Staff at the University of Sheffield International College (USIC)

Please contact Joanna Coley j.coley@sheffield.ac.uk

Information for ELTC students

1. Ethical approval will be provided for the group.
2. You will need to ask your participants to complete a consent form

Information for other University of Sheffield students

In addition to completing the ELTC Research Request Form, please could you provide copies of the following documents:

1. Your completed and approved ethical approval form
2. Any detailed participation information sheets
3. Any participant consent forms

We will email you to tell you whether or not your request has been successful.

Information for students from other institutions

At certain times of the year, we receive a large number of requests to recruit participants at ELTC. Our students and staff have sometimes commented that they feel 'volunteer fatigue'.

While your request will always be considered, University of Sheffield student researchers will be given priority at times of high request. 

If your request is successful, we will ask you to provide further documents (e.g. copy of participant consent form, etc). We would also like you to share your findings and recommendations with us.

Unless your institution is on the University of Sheffield’s recognised partner list for ethical approval, you will be obliged to seek ethical approval from the University of Sheffield.

We will email you to tell you whether or not your request has been successful.

Please note that research during our busy International Summer School (Term 4) is restricted to University of Sheffield staff and students only.

Information for staff from other institutions

In the interests of collegiality and furthering research, we will endeavour to help you. However, please bear in mind that we sometimes receive a large number of requests to recruit participants at ELTC.

ELTC students and staff have sometimes commented that they feel ‘volunteer fatigue’. It may also be difficult to recruit participants for longitudinal research as our students may have left the ELTC, and staff may not feel able to commit themselves to this type of activity.

While all requests are carefully considered, University of Sheffield student researchers will be given priority at times of high request.

If your request is successful, we will ask you to provide further documents. Unless your institution is on the University of Sheffield’s recognised partner list for ethical approval, you will be obliged to seek ethical approval from the University of Sheffield.

We would also like you to share your findings and recommendations with us.

We will email you to tell you whether or not your request has been successful.

Please note that research during our busy International Summer School (Term 4) is restricted to University of Sheffield staff and students only. 

Information for other organisations or individuals

While all requests are carefully considered, at times of high request the following order of priority will be given:

1. University of Sheffield students
2. University of Sheffield staff
3. Colleagues in other Higher Education institutions
4. Student researchers in other Higher Education institutions
5. Other organisations
6. Other individuals

If your request is successful, we will ask you to provide further documents. It is likely that you will be obliged to seek ethical approval from the University of Sheffield.

We would also like you to share your findings and recommendations with us.

We will email you to tell you whether or not your request has been successful.

Please note that research during our busy International Summer School (Term 4) is restricted to University of Sheffield staff and students only.