The Vancouver School Board does not have a research
department. Educational research is provided by outside research
consultants or organizations. Research applications are accepted from
teachers, post-graduate students or faculty members. However, any
research examining contentious or personal topics, making unreasonable
demands on the time of participating schools, or which do not contribute
to the improvement of education, cannot be considered.
All research done in the Vancouver School District must be approved by the Research Committee. This committee meets throughout the year. Researchers
are advised to submit their proposal well in advance of the time period
in which they plan to conduct their research.
Researchers
must submit their proposal including relevant consent forms, sample
survey questions, and the relevant institution's board of ethics
approval to plegg@vsb.bc.ca.
Researchers have to approach
individual schools directly, and in case of personal information
gathering, letters of permission are required from parents/guardians of
students. The anonymity of participants has to be maintained.
VSB
has an agreement with the Universities Ethics Committees, which provide
interim approval for the research to be undertaken. If a letter of
approval is required from VSB, please contact District Learning
Services at (604) 713-4594.
More detailed guidelines or a copy of the
agreement for conducting more extensive research is available by opening
the pdf file below called "Research Guidelines".