Table 1.

Summary of descriptive characteristics of participants (n = 21)

Participant code	Gender	REC status	REC experience (years)	Ethics qualificationa	Expertise
REC1	Male	Chair	> 15	Postgraduate Diploma	Clinical specialist Regulatory affairs Research ethics
REC2	Female	Chair	10–15	Masters	Health professional Bioethics
REC3	Female	Member	10–15	Postgraduate Diploma	Professional care Research ethics
REC4	Female	Chair	> 15	Honours	Health professional Qualitative methods Applied ethics
REC5	Male	Chair	> 15	–	Medical scientist Quantitative methods
REC6	Female	Member	10–15	Postgraduate Diploma	Health professional Research ethics
REC7	Female	Member	1–5	–	Laboratory scientist
REC8	Female	Member	> 15	Doctorate	Bioethics Social scientist
REC9	Male	Member	6–10	–	Clinical specialist Clinician researcher
REC10	Female	Member	1–5	–	Health professional
REC11	Female	Member	10–15	–	Clinical specialist Quantitative methods
REC12	Female	Member	10–15	–	Health professional Qualitative methods
REC13	Female	Member	1–5	–	Clinical specialist
REC14	Male	Chair	6–10	Postgraduate Diploma	Laboratory scientist Research ethics
REC15	Female	Chair	> 15	Doctorate	Clinical specialist Research ethics Biostatistics
REC16	Female	Chair	> 15	Postgraduate Diploma	Health professional Research ethics
REC17	Male	Chair	> 15	–	Professional care
REC18	Female	Chair	6–10	Postgraduate Diploma	Health professional Research ethics
REC19	Female	Member	1–5	–	Social scientist
REC20	Female	Chair	10–15	–	Laboratory scientist
REC21	Female	Member	> 15	Doctorate	Legally qualified Research ethics

^adenotes formal ethics qualification. All participants had undergone research ethics training in the last three years