Ethical Considerations

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.

The twentieth century witnessed a succession of heinous experiments on human subjects in the name of science. The deplorable nature of these experiments led to the development of several guidelines that laid down the principles of research ethics. Respect, bene cence, and justice are the principles that form the foundation of research ethics today. These principles should be implemented through the channels of the informed consent process, privacy and con dentiality, risk bene t analysis, and fair recruitment. Proper implementation of research ethics ensures the protection of the rights and well-being of the participants. Some individuals are considered to be “vulnerable” in the research context because their autonomy is either diminished or lacking. Examples include children, some elderly persons, those with temporary or permanent cognitive impairment, prisoners, and refugees. Vulnerable groups require additional protection measures if they are involved in research. Public health research differs from general health research that necessitates additional ethical considerations. Research involving public health interventions or research conducted during public emergencies, such as natural disasters and disease outbreaks, has unique ethical challenges. Furthermore, in public health research, an understanding or familiarity with the community in which the research will be done is essential to ethical conduct of research. research ethics committees [otherwise known as institutional review boards (IRB)] play a central role in research involving human participants. The proposed research must be reviewed and approved prior to initiation and monitored thereafter with ongoing reviews of safety reports, progress reports, and emerging information or circumstances that may impact the study. A substantial number of conditions need to be met to ensure research starts and then remains ethical. Researchers should be quali ed by education, training, and experience to take on the role of investigators. The scienti c aspects of the research should be robust and valid and the research itself should be purposeful. It is important that ethical considerations be a constant, integrated into the research undertaking, from inception right through to the dissemination and or sharing of the results.

ABSTRACT This module will introduce you to the ethical concepts underlying applied ethical decision-making in the area of research involving human participants. We will also learn what the issues are that people involved in research on research ethics are concerned with. Ethics without an understanding of historical and legal context makes arguably little sense. It is for this reason that this module will begin with a brief history of research ethics and ends with a brief overview of the relevant national and international guidelines pertaining to ethical issues in research involving human participants.

Tshidi M Wyllie, 2019

Research is about acquiring knowledge through a systematic study or approach, through exploration, thinking, observations, experiments and testing hypotheses. In the quest for acquisition and accumulation of knowledge data is collected through interaction with human research participants, in efforts to attain data some practices have proved to be harmful, inhumane, exploitative and unethical. History reveals that some data collection strategies deployed in research involving humans as research subjects impacted negatively on people's lives and in some cases lives were lost in the process (MacColl et.al, 2005). This article discusses the importance of ensuring adherence to research ethics.

2012

Ethical norms are so everywhere that one might be tempted to consider them as simple rational. Most civilizations use laws to implement widely accepted moral standards and legal rules. It is important to know that ethics and law are not the same. An act may be lawful but immoral/unethical or unlawful but moral/ethical. There are a number of reasons why it is essential to stick to ethical norms in conducting research. First, is to support the aims of research, such as knowledge, truth, and avoidance of error. For example, preventions of fabricating, falsifying, or misrepresenting research data support the truth and avoid error. Second, ethical standards promote the values that are vital to collaborative work, such as trust, accountability, joint respect, and fairness since research usually involves cooperation and coordination among many researchers in a mixture of disciplines and institutions. For example, many ethical standards in research, such as copyright, patenting policies, data sharing policies, and confidentiality rules in peer review, are deliberated to protect intellectual property interests as well as encouraging collaboration. Third, some ethical norms help to guarantee that researchers can be held responsible to the public. For instance, federal policies on research misconduct, conflicts of interest, the human subjects' protections, and animal care and use are necessary in order to make sure that researchers who are funded by public money can be held accountable to the public. Fourth, ethical norms in research also help to build community support sustainability for research. Fifth, many of the ethical standards of research promote a variety of other moral and social values, such as human rights, animal welfare and compliance with the law, health and safety. Ethical descends in research can significantly harm the whole society and animal subjects. For example, a researcher who fabricates data in a clinical trial may harm or even kill patients. Also a researcher who fails to stand for guidelines and regulations relating to radiation or biological safety may endanger health and safety of himself, staff and students.

1997

Two ethical issues pertinent to applied research are discussed: consent and confidentiality. Informed consent is described as a hallmark of ethical research, whether in the laboratory or the applied setting. The researcher's role is to provide information that any researcher in the same situation would want to know in order to weigh the risks and benefits of participation in the research. Passive consent is considered a common practice in which parents are asked to respond only if they do not want their children to participate in a study. Ethical considerations suggest that passive consent does not meet the requirements of informed consent, but practical considerations mean that a sample acquired only through active consent may not represent the study population adequately. Another issue that is not adequately addressed by American Psychological Association standards is that of confidentiality, especially with regard to minors. Parents may have the right to information about the study participant, and there may be legal reporting requirements to which the researcher must respond. When planning research, it is necessary to anticipate problems like these and plan approaches to minimize them. (SLD)

1998

Journal of Emergency Nursing, 2014