Why is research governance important? | OmniStar (2024)

Envision a world where there were no policies, processes, rules, or regulations. What do you see? Chaos and confusion? Similarly, conducting research in the absence of clearly defined guidelines and policies may no doubt still yield new findings, however, they may or may not be entirely ethical and of great quality.

Just like all the other industries the research sector too is evolving rapidly. Today winning the funding is just starting point and brings along increased responsibility unlike in the past when the research activities were not heavily regulated by the government and legislation.

Good research governance is essential to protect the interests of participants, researchers, funders, and other stakeholders. It also enables research to be conducted efficiently and effectively, making the most use of available resources.

But what exactly does research governance imply and why is it important? To assist you gain a better understanding of the subject; read the article we have compiled below.

What is research governance?

The government, as well as the research institutions that perform research, establish rules and procedures from time-to-time basis on which research is planned, monitored, and managed. All these frameworks together, constitute research governance. It is a system that ensures that research is conducted ethically and with rigour and that the results are reliable.

Good research governance protects both the researcher and the participant while also ensuring that research is of the highest quality. And with the growing funding support available not just from the government but also from non-profit organisations for conducting research activities, and research being conducted on such a massive scale around the world, the need for governance is greater than it has ever been.

Importance of good research governance:

Research carries a significant impact on people's lives. The Research Governance framework includes a set of principles and practices that guide and manage the conduct of research. It ensures that research is conducted ethically and with integrity.

Good research governance is important for several reasons:

  • It protects the safety and welfare of participants in research studies:

The responsible conduct of research is a fundamental ethical obligation for all individuals involved in the design, conduct, and review of research. It is also a regulatory requirement for institutions receiving federal funding for research. Research governance not only promotes the safety and welfare of participants in research studies but also helps to ensure the validity and integrity of the research process is maintained.

  • It ensures that research is compliant with regulations:

Good research governance is founded on a system of organisational structures, policies, and procedures that are designed to promote ethical and responsible practices. These include: a code of ethics for researchers, a process for reviewing and approving research proposals, mechanisms for monitoring and supervising research, and procedures for responding to misconduct.

  • It promotes responsible use of data and results:

Research data and findings can be used by government to make important decisions about health, safety, and the environment and/ or by companies to make informed decisions towards improving existing or launching new products or and services.

But who is responsible for ensuring that the data is used responsibly? The principles and guidelines laid out in the research governance frameworks paves the way for responsible and ethical use of data and research results. It covers all aspects of data management, from how data is collected and stored, to how it is used and shared.

  • It helps to maintain public trust in research:

The role of research governance is to ensure that all research is conducted ethically, and that the public can trust in the results. It helps to maintain public trust in research, by ensuring that experiments are conducted properly, and that any data or findings are made available for public scrutiny.

  • It ensures that research is conducted ethically and with integrity:

Research governance includes policies and procedures that are put in place to protect the validity and integrity of the research and to ensure that research is conducted in an appropriate and responsible manner and in compliance with relevant laws and regulations.

  • It promotes transparency and accountability in the research process:

Research governance plays a huge role in ensuring that researchers are held accountable for their actions. This includes both individual researchers, and research institutions. Misconduct in research can carry a negative impact over an institution's standing and can even result in criminal charges.

How can research governance be improved?

Improved research governance can aid in ensuring research is reliable and of high quality. But how can one improve research governance within their organisation? Here are some tips to get you started:

  • establish clear guidelines and procedures for conducting research and ensure everyone involved in the research process understands and follows the same guidelines,
  • create and enforce standard operating procedures for all phases of the research process,
  • have a system in place for monitoring and reporting research misconduct to ensure researchers understand their obligation to perform their work in line with the ethical standards.
  • funding agencies could play an important role in improving research governance by providing more support to researchers and ensuring that their work is carried out in a safe and responsible manner,
  • finally, research organisations should consider fostering two-way communication to ensure that all stakeholders are aware of and understand their responsibilities.

While there is no one-size-fits-all answer to research governance. Each institution must develop and continually improve a system that meets the specific needs of its researchers, administrators, and governing board.

Solve your ethics and governance challenges with OmniStar Ethics:

Adhering to the revisions in research regulations and guidelines from time to time is something all parties involved in the research must comply with. This process could be simplified if research institutions leveraged technology to their advantage.

To comply with local and government policies and regulations you need reliable processes and information you can trust. With OmniStar’s in-built compliance controls, you can save your applicants' time, researchers' time by streamlining and automating ethics and governance processes within your organisation.

Contact an OmniStar expert today to discuss how we can help solve your ethics and governance challenges with OmniStar Ethics.

Why is research governance important? | OmniStar (2024)

FAQs

Why is research governance important? ›

Research Governance concerns setting standards to improve research quality and safeguard the public. It involves enhancing ethical and scientific quality, promoting good practice, reducing adverse incidents, ensuring lessons are learned and preventing poor performance and misconduct.

Why governance is important? ›

Governance helps you to always act in the best interests of the business. More specifically, it can improve the performance of your business, help it become more stable and productive, and unlock new opportunities. It can reduce risks, and enable faster and safer growth. It can also improve reputation and foster trust.

What do you mean by research governance? ›

Research governance can be defined as the broad range of regulations, principles and standards of good practice that ensure high quality research.

What is the role of the research governance office? ›

​​​​​​​​​Research Governance Offices

The role of a Research Governance Officer (RGO) is to provide a governance review, involving a site specific assessment (SSA) or access request review, prior to authorisation of a research project.

Why is project governance important? ›

Project governance provides direction and defines decision-making procedures and metrics for validating impacts to the project. It also enables the project team to deliver on requirements and creates a forum for issue resolution to occur in a timely manner.

What is the importance of good governance and effective leadership? ›

Having a modern governance outlook allows organizations to adapt quickly to changing times, so that they can endure and thrive. Recognizing strong governance leaders gives employees a sense of career satisfaction, creates a strong connection with the organization, and builds trusts between them and their superiors.

What are the 5 principles of good governance? ›

The five principles of corporate governance are responsibility, accountability, awareness, impartiality and transparency.

What are the principle of good governance? ›

Here at BoardPro, we have identified nine major characteristics of good governance. It is participatory, consensus-oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective, efficient, equitable, and law-abiding and demonstrates a strategic vision.

What is the difference between research governance and ethics? ›

Research governance is about ensuring high standards in research, including research ethics. In practice, research governance includes regulations and checks before the research can begin. Ethics is possibly just one of these checks, depending on the nature of the research.

What is the basic meaning of governance? ›

: the act or process of governing or overseeing the control and direction of something (such as a country or an organization) : government. a centralized system of governance.

Why does governance mean? ›

Governance encompasses the system by which an organisation is controlled and operates, and the mechanisms by which it, and its people, are held to account. Ethics, risk management, compliance and administration are all elements of governance.

What are the roles and responsibilities of the information governance team? ›

The Information Governance Working Group will meet as often as is required and will provide an assurance that information assets are being properly identified, recorded, risk assessed and managed in accordance with corporate policies and procedures.

What are the main roles within the project governance structure? ›

Project sponsor. Project manager. Project stakeholders. These are the three roles in a project governance framework.

Why is ethics important in research? ›

Research ethics govern the standards of conduct for scientific researchers. It is important to adhere to ethical principles in order to protect the dignity, rights and welfare of research participants.

What are the strengths of good governance? ›

Good governance has nine major principles or characteristics:
  • Participation. ...
  • Consensus-Oriented. ...
  • Accountability. ...
  • Transparency. ...
  • Responsiveness. ...
  • Effectiveness and Efficiency. ...
  • Equity and Inclusiveness. ...
  • Rule of Law.
Oct 26, 2022

What is the most important factor in good governance? ›

For the World Bank, good governance consists of the following components: capacity and efficiency in public sector management, accountability, legal framework for development, and information and transparency.

What are the three pillars of good governance? ›

The three pillars of corporate governance are: transparency, accountability, and security.

How can good governance lead to project success? ›

With a good governance structure in place, project managers can feel confident and empowered to deliver to their best abilities; without a good structure, risk levels increase, and delivery can fall short of specifications.

How do you demonstrate governance? ›

How can your company demonstrate good corporate governance?
  1. Clarify the board's role. ...
  2. Increase diversity. ...
  3. Prioritise risk management. ...
  4. Monitor and review performance of the company. ...
  5. Routine internal audits.
Aug 9, 2021

What are the four pillars of project governance? ›

Many of the sessions I attended at the conference re-enforced what I believe to be four pillars upheld by the project manager: trust, respect, accountability and change management.

Why is good governance ethics important? ›

Ethics also builds on credibility among the public, that is, ethics creates credibility with the public especially so when in the governance sector. With this in mind, it is worth noting that gaining the confidence of the community is vital to the public sector.

Why is it important to have strong leadership and corporate governance? ›

Strong and effective corporate governance helps to cultivate a company culture of integrity, leading to positive performance and a sustainable business overall. Essentially, it exists to increase the accountability of all individuals and teams within your company, working to avoid mistakes before they can even occur.

How does governance relate to leadership? ›

Governance provides direction and strategy for leadership (Authority B). In addition, the case studies highlight that governance provides important boundaries for leaders. Governance will prescribe on occasions what you can do as a leader and how much you can do.

What are the 4 elements of governance? ›

The board of directors must act following the four principles of governance — accountability, transparency, fairness and responsibility — for the best interest of stakeholders, shareholders and the business as a whole.

How do you implement good governance in an organization? ›

How to achieve good corporate governance
  1. Balance board composition. ...
  2. Evaluate the board regularly. ...
  3. Ensure director independence. ...
  4. Ensure auditor independence. ...
  5. Be transparent. ...
  6. Define shareholder rights. ...
  7. Aim for long-term value creation. ...
  8. Manage risk proactively.
Oct 13, 2021

What are the 8 major characteristics of good governance? ›

All eight principles are elaborated upon in the following paragraphs.
  • Participation. ...
  • Rule of law. ...
  • Transparency. ...
  • Responsiveness. ...
  • Consensus orientation. ...
  • Equity and inclusiveness. ...
  • Government effectiveness and efficiency. ...
  • Accountability.

How do you promote good governance? ›

Governance programs include efforts to promote:
  1. Civil Service and Public Administration.
  2. Decentralization and Local Governance.
  3. Legislative Strengthening.
  4. Public Financial Management and Domestic Revenue Mobilization.
  5. Urbanization.

What is accountability in good governance? ›

Accountability, in terms of ethics and governance, is equated with answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and the expectation of account-giving. As in an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in the public sector, nonprofit and private (corporate) and individual contexts.

What are the 7 principles of ethics in research? ›

These principles include voluntary participation, informed consent, anonymity, confidentiality, potential for harm, and results communication. Scientists and researchers must always adhere to a certain code of conduct when collecting data from others.

What is the use of ethics that govern the research process? ›

Strive for honesty in all scientific communications. Honestly report data, results, methods and procedures, and publication status. Do not fabricate, falsify, or misrepresent data. Do not deceive colleagues, research sponsors, or the public.

What are the 5 ethics of research? ›

Five principles for research ethics
  • Discuss intellectual property frankly. ...
  • Be conscious of multiple roles. ...
  • Follow informed-consent rules. ...
  • Respect confidentiality and privacy. ...
  • Tap into ethics resources.
Jan 3, 2003

What is a simple example of governance? ›

Governance bodies establish a mission, vision and set of principles that guide decisions at the management and working level. For example, a sustainability principle such as "we strive to minimize our impact on the environment."

What are three concepts of governance? ›

Governance has three legs: economic, political and administrative. Economic governance includes decision-making processes that affect a country's economic activities and its relationships with other economies.

What is good governance in one word? ›

Good governance means that processes and institutions produce results that meet the needs of society while making the best use of resources at their disposal. The concept of efficiency in the context of good governance also covers the sustainable use of natural resources and the protection of the environment.

What words describe governance? ›

noun
  • government.
  • administration.
  • rule.
  • regime.
  • jurisdiction.
  • sovereignty.
  • leadership.
  • power.

What is the process of governance? ›

Process governance includes activities relating to developing, launching, controlling, and reviewing policies, guidelines, and technology adoption frameworks that guide process management practices within an organization.

What are the four key responsibilities of the data governance team? ›

The data governance team is typically responsible for gaining budget approval, setting governance goals and priorities, architecting the data governance model, selecting technologies to adopt, and evangelizing the program.

What are good governance roles and responsibilities? ›

The five functions of governance
  • Defining the organisation's objective. ...
  • Defining the ethics of the organisation. ...
  • Planting the seed that grows into the company culture. ...
  • Ensuring compliance by the organisation. ...
  • Defining and applying the governance framework.
Sep 19, 2022

What are the key areas of information governance? ›

This self-assessment tool covers the five key aspects of information governance as it relates to personal health information including: information governance management • privacy and confidentiality • data quality • information security • secondary use of information.

What is the impact of governance on managing an individual project? ›

Governance helps in combining the project's objectives with organizational goals. These days individual projects have the same or more risk than group projects. Governance helps in creating a kind of environment that supports multiple projects.

Who is responsible for managing the governance of projects? ›

The project board, also known as the project steering committee, is responsible for ensuring that the project is properly managed.

Who is responsible for ensuring research is conducted ethically? ›

Within a framework of good governance and appropriate training, responsibility for the conduct of ethical research must ultimately lie with the researchers themselves.

What are the six ethical issues in research? ›

In developing a trusting relationship, researchers adhere to a number of ethical principles which they apply to their work - namely beneficence; autonomy; non-maleficence; justice; veracity; and privacy.

Why is research ethics and integrity important? ›

What are research ethics and research integrity and why are they important? Research ethics and integrity practices make sure that research is conducted according to the highest standards of practice, and with the minimal risk of adverse or harmful outcomes or consequences.

Why is research important in democratic governance? ›

It allows for new and unexpected discoveries and the development and exchange of unorthodox ideas. New knowledge and discoveries in basic research usually do not compromise other freedoms and rights. … the two ideals, “freedom of research” and “democratising science”, are both equally relevant in a democratic society.

What is the importance of social responsibility in research? ›

Researchers have an obligation to relate this new knowledge to society in such a way that the general public can make informed decisions. The general public provides the financial support that makes all research possible. The occurrence and consequences of research discoveries are essentially impossible to foresee.

What are the ethical considerations in research? ›

Ethical considerations in research are a set of principles that guide your research designs and practices. These principles include voluntary participation, informed consent, anonymity, confidentiality, potential for harm, and results communication.

What is ethics and governance? ›

In the public sector, ethics refers to well based standards of right and wrong, and prescribe what public servants ought to do. Good corporate governance is an aspect of ethics which refers to the set of systems, principles and processes by which public service organizations are governed.

What is the importance of qualitative research in politics and governance? ›

Today, political scientists employ a variety of qualitative research methods to understand topics as varied as the dynamics of revolution, campaign strategies, and the impact of political change on communities and individuals.

What is the role of governance in democracy? ›

Governance is a system that provides a framework for managing organisations. It identifies who can make decisions, who has the authority to act on behalf of the organisation and who is accountable for how an organisation and its people behave and perform.

What is the importance of social responsibility and governance? ›

The relationship between good corporate governance and social responsibility helps corporations keep things in good balance. It also supports the company's efforts to develop control mechanisms, increasing shareholder value and improving satisfaction among shareholders and stakeholders.

What are the five importances of social research? ›

This article throws light on the five major objectives of social research, i.e,(1) Manipulation of Things, Concepts and Symbols, (2) Generalization, (3) Verification of Old Facts, (4) Extension of Knowledge, and (5) Knowledge May be Used for Theory Building or Practical Application.

What is social responsibility and why is it important in an organization? ›

Social responsibility means that besides maximizing shareholder value, businesses should operate in a way that benefits society. Socially responsible companies should adopt policies that promote the well-being of society and the environment while lessening negative impacts on them.

What is ethical considerations in research and why it is important? ›

It is important to adhere to ethical principles in order to protect the dignity, rights and welfare of research participants. As such, all research involving human beings should be reviewed by an ethics committee to ensure that the appropriate ethical standards are being upheld.

What is research ethics and why is it important? ›

Research ethics are moral principles that guide researchers to conduct and report research without deception or intention to harm the participants of the study or members of the society as a whole, whether knowingly or unknowingly.

Why is governance important in ethics? ›

Corporate governance rules are important because they outline a company's ethical beliefs and provide a working roadmap for a company's objectives and activities. In short, these plans affect and influence every aspect of a company's daily operations and management.

What are the ethical values of governance? ›

Objectivity: Holders of public office should make choices only on merit. →Accountability: Owners of public offices should be as open as possible on all the decisions and actions that they take. Honesty: Holders of public offices have a duty to declare any private interest relating to their public duties.

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