Research

Grup de Recerca en Educació, Interacció i Plurilingüisme
Grupo de Investigación en Educación, Interacción y Plurilingüismo
Research Group for Education, Interaction and Plurilingualism

GREIP has been involved in many different projects throughout its history. Team members have participated in local, state and international initiatives, and, on several occasions, held the role of PI. Our projects establish synergies between research, teaching innovation and the development of materials, in order to broaden and deepen knowledge between social interaction and language learning in various multilingual social contexts.

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Research projects

The GREIP research team (Grup de Recerca en Ensenyament i Interacció Plurilingües) aims to ensure that our research and teaching satisfies all ethical principles based on the UNESCO Universal Declaration of Bioethics, the Declaration of Helsinki and the Belmont Report. These declarations enshrine the principles of benevolence, non-maleficence (an obligation not to intentionally inflict harm), autonomy and justice as well as the protection of human rights, human dignity and the right to privacy and confidentiality of the data derived from research. An important focus of our research is to try to ensure that the results of our research benefit society and as well as the subjects involved in our investigation.

For these reasons, we have produced and duly respect the following research protocol, based on the guidelines by the UAB Ethics Committee and the European Ethics Documentation Centre.

GREIP Research Protocol

• Before embarking on any research project, the GREIP research team will carefully consider any potential risks or harm that may arise as a result of the research. In the case of potential risks, the research team will establish the means to minimise the likelihood and impact of each potential harm that has been identified.
• The GREIP research team will always provide sufficient information to reviewers, ethical board members and participants to fully comprehend the scope of any research project under the aegis of the research team. This will include clear information on the aims of the research, the rationale and justification for the research, the study design (including data collection and methods of analysis) as well as a justification for all of the research methods to be used. The head researcher of the project will make their contact details available to all informants for any complaints or ethical issues that may arise during the period of research and these will be dealt with through the local ethics board. This procedure includes doctoral studies supervised by any GREIP research team member. 
• The GREIP research team will always obtain informed consent from all parties involved in the research prior to implementing the research project. This will include full disclosure of any anticipated risks to the subjects, whether the respondents will be compensated in any way, the methodology to be used and data treatment. A compliance document between parties (GREIP research team and the informant) will be signed by the individuals who are responsible for each institution (e.g. head researcher, head of school). In the case of research carried out with children under the age of 18 and which is in collaboration with schools, the education centre will provide parental consent for research to be carried out in the centre. In the case of a research project carried out with informants outside of an institution, on a one-to-one basis, signed consent will be obtained by each informant prior to beginning the research. In the case of research carried out with children under the age of 18 and which is not in collaboration with schools, the head researcher will seek signed parental consent. These procedures include doctoral studies supervised by any GREIP research team member. 
• Requests for consent will always include the possibility of opting out of the research. In cases where opting out carries ethical issues of an individual being unable to partake in educational activities, the individual will take part in the research activity but data will not be collected whenever possible. The filming of the whole group will avoid close-ups of these people. In cases where it is impossible to avoid up-close data recording of said persons, the data will be eliminated.
• The GREIP research team will ensure confidentiality of all research subjects, including data resulting from systematic reviews of documents, which may be considered sensitive due to a) the racial or ethnic origin of the participant; b) their political opinions; c) their religious beliefs or other beliefs of a similar nature; d) whether the participant is a member of a trade union; e) their physical health including their mental health or any medical conditions; f) their sexual practices; g) the commission or alleged commission by them of any offence; or h) any proceedings for any offence committed or alleged to have been committed by the participant, the disposal of such proceedings or the sentence of any court in such proceedings. This confidentiality clause includes data from doctoral studies supervised by any GREIP research team member. 
• In the case of compilation of personal data from the informants, such data shall always be obtained only for specified and lawful purposes, and shall not be further processed in any manner incompatible with those purposes. Personal data shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purpose or purposes for which they are processed. Personal data shall be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date. Personal data shall not be kept for longer than is necessary. Appropriate technical and organisational measures shall be taken against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal data. This procedure includes doctoral studies supervised by any GREIP research team member.
• Participant schools or informants may request viewing of all data related to the research before data management begins. If data is considered objectionable by the participating school or individual informant it will be destroyed upon presentation of a justifiable argument for doing so.
• Access to raw data collected under the aegis of the GREIP research team will only be allowed to members of the immediate research team (in the case of locally, nationally and internationally funded research projects), to doctoral students and their supervisors (in the case of doctoral studies) and to collaborating researchers who are fully accredited (e.g. completion of an international ethics research exam; demonstrable research trajectory), following explicit permission by the research members involved in the data collection and full disclosure to the informants.
• The method of processing the data will be fully disclosed to the informants before beginning data compilation. These methods include anonymising the names of individuals and institutions, blurring of faces in videos and images, deleting information that can lead to recognition of participants such as locations, names of cities, etc.
• Processed data (anonymised, codified, etc.) may be used for academic or educational purposes such as publications, conferences, teaching materials and policy documents only if this has been included in the written consent form signed by the informants. Anyone who has not been directly involved in the data compilation may only have access to processed data for such purposes (publications, teaching materials, etc.) after requesting explicit permission from those responsible for the data collection. 
• In the case of international research collaboration in which a member of the GREIP team is the principal investigator, the ethic statements of all the countries involved in collecting and handling the data will be studied. Explicit protocols concerning collection and treatment of data as well as use of data for publications and other academic output will be produced which cover as many of the ethical requirements of the countries as possible. However, compliance with the ethical considerations concerning the collection and handling of data in each country will be the direct responsibility of the collaborating researcher in that country.