Rimpelä, Arja
Kesanto-Jokipolvi, Heidi
Myöhänen, Anna
Heikonen, Lauri
Oinas, Sanna
Ahtiainen, Raisa
Funding for this research was provided by:
Tampere University
Article History
Received: 14 February 2023
Accepted: 25 November 2023
First Online: 6 December 2023
Declarations
:
: All methods in this study were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations. The data were the second and third survey of the study of Schooling, teaching, and well-being of school community during the COVID-19 pandemic in Finland. Local and national education authorities were contacted in April 2020. A collaboration agreement was made first with 16 municipalities in Southern Finland, after which the Ministry of Education and Culture supported the extension to the whole country. Research permits were obtained from the 16 original municipalities and for the rest of the country from the Ministry which is the highest authority for schools. School leaders (i.e., principals) were contacted for school-level research permits. The surveys were anonymous and were part of ordinary schoolwork.Our study complies with the guidelines of the Finnish National Board of Research Integrity (TENK publications 3/2019 <i>The ethical principles of research with human participants and ethical review in the human sciences in Finland</i>, ExternalRef removed). According to the guidelines, our study did not need an ethical review because it did not contain any of the following factors where the review was needed: 1 Participation in the research deviates from the principle of informed consent. Participation is not, for example, voluntary or the subject is not given sufficient or correct information about the research. 2 The research involves intervening in the physical integrity of research participants. 3 The focus of the research is on minors under the age of 15, without separate consent from a parent or carer or without informing a parent or carer in a way that would enable them to prevent the child’s participation in the research. 4 Research that exposes participants to exceptionally strong stimuli. 5 Research that involves a risk of causing mental harm that exceeds the limits of normal daily life to the research participants or their family members or others closest to them. 6 Conducting the research could involve a threat to the safety of participants or researchers or their family members or others closest to them.Participants’ informed consent was shown by their answer to the survey. The purpose of the study was stated in the information letter to the pupils and in the beginning of the pupils’ questionnaire. The pupils’ questionnaire started with information that the survey was voluntary, and no consequences will follow if the survey is not answered, and further that the pupil can interrupt answering any time without giving a reason. According to the ethical principles of research by Finnish National Board of Research Integrity (TENK publications 3/2019), for a minor of 15 years and over own informed consent is sufficient, and for minors under 15 years in survey-based research involving large number of respondents, it is enough to inform parents so that they can refuse their child’s participation, if they so desire. Using the ordinary digital information channels of the school, the school leader informed parents of the purpose and methods of the study with the information letter prepared by the research group. The possibility to refuse their child’s participation was explicitly stated in the parents’ information letter. If they wished to deny the participation, they were advised to notify the teacher.
: Not applicable.
: The authors declare no competing interests.