What is the difference between research and quality assurance activities?
The answer is not simple and does require consideration and judgement.
Irrespective of whether an activity is QA, evaluation or research, the activity must be conducted in a way that is ethical.
In many situations, oversight of the activity is required, but ethical review is not necessary.
As explained in the NHMRC guidance, where ethical review by an HREC is not required, organisations should consider providing a statement which affirms that an alternative approach to ethical review was considered to be appropriate for the specific QA/evaluation activity if this is required for publication purposes.
