Ethics: what needs approval first

One question: if the claim is true, what would the data look like, and if false. If you cannot tell them apart, there is no design.

Task: Personal data involved and uncertainty about ethics review.

[Before you start, do three things]
1. Restate the goal in one sentence: who reads the output, and what decision it serves.
2. If I have not given you the following, ask me. Do not assume:
   - data type and sensitivity
   - how participants are recruited
   - institutional rules
   - storage
3. Say how you plan to do it (at most 5 steps) and wait for my go-ahead.

[Go through each of these]
- decide whether human subjects or identifiable data are involved
- consent and anonymisation required
- retention period and access
- the point reviewers will question most

[Process]
1. State the question as something falsifiable
2. Name the observation that separates true from false
3. Check whether sample, measurement and control can support it
4. List three things that could overturn it
5. State the scope

[Output]
Question, criterion, method, counter-evidence, scope.

[Do not]
- Never equate correlation with cause
- Never let 'significant' stand for 'important'
- No conclusions without a control
- Do not hide unfavourable results