Title: Ethical Considerations in Developing Research Studies

Journal of Business Systems, Governance & Ethics, 2014

This paper addresses the principles that govern the outlook and decisions of research ethics committees. The purpose of the paper is to outline such underlying principles in order to aid understanding for researchers into aspects of social and commercial behaviour. Prior to conducting research in any corporate area there is an obligation toward any human participants. That obligation is set out most clearly in the information and forms put out by the various ethics committees charged with examining the proposal, and with giving formal ethical approval. The principles that invest the understanding of ethics committees are those of protecting the vulnerable, and of protecting justifiably good reputations. Ethics committees should be seen as enabling and protecting rather than as a barrier to research. Peer reviews should be seen to include ethics matters in research, and are thus a natural extension of the common scientific endeavour. To this end the article outlines and discusses the issues commonly addressed by research ethics committees. By highlighting these principles, this paper aims to give insights and suggestions that should make the ethics application task easier.

Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, 2014

Considering the nature of qualitative studies, the interaction between researchers and participants can be ethically challenging for the former, as they are personally involved in different stages of the study. Therefore, formulation of specific ethical guidelines in this respect seems to be essential. The present paper aimed to discuss the necessity to develop explicit guidelines for conducting qualitative studies with regard to the researchers' role. For this purpose, a literature review was carried out in domestic and international databases by related keywords. Health care providers who carry out qualitative research have an immense responsibility. As there is no statistical analysis in qualitative studies, the researcher has to both evaluate what he or she observes and to interpret it. Providing researchers with the necessary skills and applying stringent supervision can lead to better extraction of reliable information from qualitative studies. This article presents a debate in order to illustrate how researchers could cover the ethical challenges of qualitative studies and provide applicable and trustworthy outcomes. Researchers face ethical challenges in all stages of the study, from designing to reporting. These include anonymity, confidentiality, informed consent, researchers' potential impact on the participants and vice versa. It seems of paramount importance that health care providers, educators and clinicians be well informed of all the different aspects of their roles when acting as qualitative researchers. Hence, these adroit roles need to be well defined, and the use of practical guidelines and protocols in all stages of qualitative studies should be encouraged.

Health Law Review, 2009

Nursing Standard, 1999

Chapter topics • The history of the evolving recognition of the need to regulate research involving human subjects • Consideration of some key ethical principles relevant to the research process

2014

Considering the nature of qualitative studies, the interaction between researchers and participants can be ethically challenging for the former, as they are personally involved in different stages of the study. Therefore, formulation of specific ethical guidelines in this respect seems to be essential. The present paper aimed to discuss the necessity to develop explicit guidelines for conducting qualitative studies with regard to the researchers' role. For this purpose, a literature review was carried out in domestic and international databases by related keywords. Health care providers who carry out qualitative research have an immense responsibility. As there is no statistical analysis in qualitative studies, the researcher has to both evaluate what he or she observes and to interpret it. Providing researchers with the necessary skills and applying stringent supervision can lead to better extraction of reliable information from qualitative studies. This article presents a debate in order to illustrate how researchers could cover the ethical challenges of qualitative studies and provide applicable and trustworthy outcomes. Researchers face ethical challenges in all stages of the study, from designing to reporting. These include anonymity, confidentiality, informed consent, researchers' potential impact on the participants and vice versa. It seems of paramount importance that health care providers, educators and clinicians be well informed of all the different aspects of their roles when acting as qualitative researchers. Hence, these adroit roles need to be well defined, and the use of practical guidelines and protocols in all stages of qualitative studies should be encouraged.

Whilst public trust remains an integral part of code-of-conduct practices within social psychology, professionals continue to struggle with misinterpretations of ethical obligations that undermine authority of scientific expertise, its objectivity and integrity within scientific research. Although good research seeks to create ethical balance between a moral dilemma and the possibility of improving lives of a chosen target group, underdeveloped proposals impede desired research outcomes.

Current Psychology, 1991

In this examination of the use of cost-benefit analysis by subjects in the making of ethicality judgments and participation decisions, 318 subjects read one of eight hypothetical descriptions of a study representing four levels of possible subject costs and two levels of possible societal benefits. Six-point, Likert-type scales were used to assess: perceived level of risk; perceived level of benefit; meaningfulness of benefit; costbenefit balance; participation willingness; and, ethicality of the study. Support for the use of cost-benefit analysis by subjects was found for both participation willingness and ethicality ratings. However, the data indicate that the subjects' decision making uses a subject-determined, cost-benefit ratio that differs from the experimenter-determined ratio. Since the adoption of the Ethical Principles in the Conduct of the Research with Human Participants (American Psychological Association, 1973), the cost-benefit orthodoxy has been the guiding research ethical principle. This tenet specifies that all foreseeable benefits of a study must outweigh all foreseeable costs. The fulcrum in this orthodoxy is not fixed but rather shifts between the costs and benefits in an attempt to insure balance (Korchin & Cowan, 1982). Greater costs may be acceptable provided greater benefits will accrue. While the research study participants may experience directly both the costs and benefits, more frequently the participants suffer the costs and science and society reap the benefits. Despite expressed concern about the cost-benefit orthodoxy (

Handbook of Research Ethics and Scientific Integrity, 2020

Although the origin of professional codes of ethics can be traced back to ancient Greece, their peak was in the late twentieth century with more than 70% of codes of ethics being created after 1990. Today professional ethical standards are formulated as codes of ethics, sets of principles or guidelines, declarations, conventions, charters, or laws, and they differ in scope, form, and content. As there is no consensus on what is meant by "research ethics" and "research integrity," both concepts are clarified here.