General note on the assignments:
At your internship you are encouraged to engage in conversations with as many of your colleagues as possible and feasible. While this will undoubtedly inform your work on the assignments for this course, be mindful to distinguish between informational, professional conversations and formal data gathering and research during your internship. Professional conversations are for your personal purposes, while data gathering requires individual ethical approval prior to engaging with data collection. Together with your academic supervisor / instructor you will work on an REB application and acquire ethical approval, specific to your project, as necessary in regards to the scope of your inquiry. Please plan ahead as REB approval can require 6-8 weeks to complete before data collection can begin. Ensure to plan this time into your timeframe.
Furthermore, be mindful regarding the confidentiality of the materials, insights, and personal perspectives you will have access to during your internship. Treat all input you receive with respect and integrity, honouring the confidentiality of individuals and organisations that you encounter. When in doubt, check in with your host supervisor (and course instructor) about what information you can share within the parameters of this course, how you can present it to maintain confidentiality, and what insights are not to be shared at all. Be mindful of the open learning format of the MACAL program, and some of the outward facing components of the course. Use the Chatham House Rule as your general guide, i.e., you “…are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.” See more at: https://www.chathamhouse.org/about/chatham-house-rule#sthash.7ajQRd5w.dpuf
Regarding research ethics and preliminary professional conversations, see: TCPS 2, Chapter 10, Article 10.1: “Researchers need to have the opportunity to engage in preliminary visits and dialogue to explore possible research relationships, and to define research collaborations with particular settings or communities. Activities may include, but are not limited to, determining research questions, methods, targeted sample and sample size, and addressing community-based concerns in the project design and data collection. REBs should be aware that dialogue between researchers and communities at the outset, and prior to formal REB review, is an integral component of the research design.”