21. Ethics Approach

This research involves primary interactions with human participants, including public-sector officials, practitioners in sensitive institutional contexts, and community members in developing-market environments. The following minimum safeguards will apply throughout:

All participants will be informed of the research purpose, commissioning organisation, intended outputs, and distribution channels before any interaction
Participation is voluntary; participants may withdraw consent at any time without affecting their relationship with PRISMA or the Cardano ecosystem
Where participants are in institutional contexts where expressing views on blockchain or digital assets could create professional or regulatory risk, PRISMA will explicitly offer fully anonymous participation and will not push for attribution against participant preferences
PRISMA will not mislead participants about the purpose or audience of the research, the likely use of their contributions, or the confidentiality treatment of their responses
Extra care will be applied in public-sector, humanitarian, and community contexts where institutional or political risk is more acute
Where community or beneficiary-level participants are included in any component of the research, PRISMA will ensure that their participation does not create economic, social, or safety risks
No personally identifiable information beyond what is required for research contact management will be collected or stored

PRISMA will prepare a research ethics brief before fieldwork begins, aligned to broadly accepted principles of responsible research practice. This brief will be shared with the CPC at the Research Design Review checkpoint.