Research ethics and methodology

Research ethics and methodology for societal impact Assessment

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Research ethics and methodology

Research ethics and methodology for societal impact Assessment

Submit an Enquiry

Course Overview

Course Purpose

This course equips participants to design, conduct, and ethically review societal impact assessments for educational qualifications, public programmes, corporate social investments, and community development interventions. It addresses the critical national need for reliable data on graduate employability and community impact, not only to illuminate youth unemployment but also to equip participants with practical toolkits for designing interventions that restore pride, dignity, and social cohesion in fractured societies.
Crucially, the course responds to the growing requirement for departments and universities to align their strategic objectives and annual performance plans with measurable societal impact. Participants will learn to assess whether institutional strategies, programme outcomes, and public investments are achieving their intended social and economic goals; and to design evidence-based interventions that address systemic challenges.
The course is grounded in contemporary theories of Pan-African development, BRICS cooperation, Global Value Chains, and Institutional Governance to ensure assessments are contextually relevant and methodologically robust. Participants will develop the applied competence to:
Design holistic, cross-cutting interventions that address the root causes of social dysfunction and link rural-urban and formal-informal economies.
Develop comprehensive research proposals and logic models for societal impact studies.
Apply established frameworks, including BGA (MBA) accreditation rubrics for societal impact.
Design ethical, POPIA-compliant studies involving graduate tracking, community engagement, and cross-border trade impact assessment.
Critically evaluate the societal impact of qualifications, public investments, and regional integration initiatives.
Align impact assessments with institutional strategic objectives and annual performance plans, providing evidence for planning, budgeting, and reporting cycles.
The course is grounded in contemporary theories of Pan-African development, BRICS cooperation, Global Value Chains, and Institutional Governance to ensure assessments are contextually relevant and methodologically robust. Participants will develop the applied competence to:
Design holistic, cross-cutting interventions that address the root causes of social dysfunction and link rural-urban and formal-informal economies.
Develop comprehensive research proposals and logic models for societal impact studies.
Apply empirically valid frameworks and rubrics to assess societal impact.
Design ethical, POPIA-compliant studies involving graduate tracking, community engagement, and cross-border trade impact assessment.
Critically evaluate the societal impact of qualifications, public investments, and regional integration initiatives.

Course Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

  • LO1:
    Design a theory of change and logic model for a university programme, public sector initiative, corporate CSI project, or holistic community development intervention.
  • LO2:
    Select and apply appropriate societal impact indicators and rubrics
  • LO3:
    Develop a POPIA-compliant research ethics protocol for a longitudinal graduate tracking, community impact, or cross-border economic study.
  • LO4:
    Construct and justify a mixed-methods research design for assessing employment, social, or economic outcomes of a programme.
  • LO5:
    Critically assess a draft impact assessment proposal for ethical and methodological rigour, using relevant theoretical frameworks to inform the evaluation.
  • LO6:
    Design holistic, cross-cutting interventions that explicitly link rural-urban and formal-informal economies, addressing the root causes of social dysfunction to develop youth holistically
  • LO7:
    Prepare a comprehensive research or intervention proposal for government, university, corporate, or donor clients, incorporating budgets, timelines, and stakeholder engagement strategies.

Course Outline

1

Application

Request Research Ethics Application through a form on our website or by sending an email to ethics@datalit.co.za
We will acknowledge receipt of all applications within five (5) working days.
Completion of training is a prerequisite for application processing.
Incomplete applications will be returned for amendment.

2

Received

Once a complete application form has been received, a quotation for the ethical clearance review process will be issued. The review process will proceed only once the quotation has been accepted and payment received.

3

Acceptance

Following acceptance and payment of the quotation, the Chairperson assigns at least two independent reviewers with relevant expertise to the proposal. The reviewers will evaluate and deliberate on the proposal using the established review checklist, with feedback provided to the applicant within twenty-one (21) working days.Following acceptance and payment of the quotation, the Chairperson assigns at least two independent reviewers with relevant expertise to the proposal. The reviewers will evaluate and deliberate on the proposal using the established review checklist, with feedback provided to the applicant within twenty-one (21) working days.

4

Approval

Approval 
– Research may proceed as described.
Approval with Conditions.
– Research may proceed subject to specified modifications.
Resubmission
– Substantial revision required; application may be resubmitted.
Rejection
– Application not approved; no retrospective approvals granted.
Decisions may be appealed in writing to the Chairperson.

5

Approved research

Researchers must:
- Submit progress reports periodically (minimum annually),
- Report protocol deviations or adverse events
- Request renewal for research extending beyond one year
Lastly the Submit Query button can they get a form (new page) with the details provided below. The form needs to send an email to ethics@datalit.co.za

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