Ethics for independent research and evaluation: Tools and guidance

This resource, developed by Learning for Sustainability, provides practical ethics tools to support independent researchers, evaluators, and teams working outside formal ethics systems.

It offers downloadable protocols, templates, and guidance for peer review and ethical reflection in applied research and evaluation settings. Created in 2013, the tools and guidance have been substantially revised and expanded since then. 

The most recent release (2025) introduces two separate open-access, fillable templates designed to support ethical reflection and peer-facilitated review, particularly in contexts where formal institutional ethics systems may not be available.

Social research ethics protocol

This protocol is designed to help research teams consider ethical principles across the life of a project. While especially useful for participatory, community-based, and action research, it can be applied more broadly. It can be used:

• As a self-check for individual researchers or research teams
• As the basis for a collaborative peer review discussion

Evaluation ethics protocol

This protocol supports ethical thinking across the life of an evaluation. While especially suited to participatory, community-based, or developmental approaches, the questions apply more broadly—across a wide range of evaluation types, including formative, summative, impact, and process evaluations conducted in applied, policy, or programme settings.

Supporting ethics in research and evaluation

Additional context, including a short overview of the protocol’s background and use, can be found in the accompanying article Working with care: Supporting ethics in research and evaluation.