Ethics in scientific research is a multi-faceted and very interesting issue. I had been part of the Pilot Research Ethics Committee of TU Wien since 2021 and, hence, have a good knowledge about reviewing studies involving human participation.
It is very interesting to see the differences and commonalities in Ethics review vs approval. While we review study designs at TU Wien, formal approval needs to be obtained here at UCSB for studies involving human subjects. Both of my studies, the online study and the real-world wayfinding study involve human subjects. The questions I need to answer in order to apply for ethics approval are very specific and very thought-provoking. The ones I enjoyed most thinking about are the risks my research entails for participants, how I can mitigate these and, finally, how the benefits outweigh the mitigated risks!