SDN is proud to support research and evaluation activities by staff, and by external agencies in collaboration with our staff.

All proposed projects are considered by SDN’s Research Ethics Committee, whether the applicant(s) is from within or outside the organisation. A different application form is required for internal and external applicants.

Our Guidelines for Research and Evaluation at SDN provide helpful information about the application process. If your project requires consent from participants, our sample consent forms may be of help.

Research at SDN refers to any planned and systematic investigation that:

• is undertaken in order to confirm existing or gain new knowledge, and
• has the potential to produce results that can be generalised from one program or project to other populations, programs, contexts or times.

Research does not include activity undertaken on a regular basis, such as child observations for the purposes of documenting children’s learning, or collecting information for ongoing monitoring or accreditation processes.

While similar to research in some respects, evaluation focuses on a specific program or project, and seeks to judge how effective, adequate or good the program is at achieving its stated goals. An evaluation may be formative – describing and documenting how a program can be implemented to best achieve its goals (focusing on processes), or summative – assessing whether the program’s goals have been accomplished in the end (focus on outcomes).

SDN’s Research Ethics Committee

The establishment of a Research Ethics Committee was approved by the SDN Board in July 2008. The Committee’s role is to:

• make decisions regarding the approval or otherwise of applications for research and evaluation at SDN
• monitor compliance by those granted approval to undertake research and evaluation activities at SDN
• deal with complaints about research and evaluation practices deemed to be unethical
• provide advice on policies and procedures pertaining to research and evaluation at SDN.

The committee meets regularly; see 2012 meeting dates.

For enquiries and assistance, please email or phone 02 9213 2400 .