Ethics in Research
14 Summary
Research is serious business. Not only must the conduct of research be undertaken in a manner such that it abides by society’s ethical standards, researchers must personally have a strong set of moral standards. Researchers must ensure that their participants (human and animal) are treated ethically and that, in the case of human participants, their confidentiality is maintained. They must also apply ethical principles in the design of their studies, as well as the collection, analysis and presentation of the data. Overall, an ethic of research involving both human and animal subjects should include two essential components: 1) the selection and achievement of morally acceptable ends, and; 2) morally acceptable means to the ends. The first component is directed at defining acceptable ends in terms of the benefits of the research for a given set of subjects, for associate groups, and for the purposes of advancing knowledge. The second component is directed at ethically appropriate means of conducting research.
Key Takeaways
- A human subject is defined as “a living individual about whom an investigator (whether professional or student) conducting research obtains: 1) data through intervention or interaction with the individual, or 2) identifiable private information).” Non-human research subjects, on the other hand, are objects or entities that investigators manipulate or analyze in the process of conducting research.
- Research on human subjects in underpinned by moral and ethical principles. Increasingly, there is an expectation that research on non-human animals will also be underpinned by such moral and ethical principles.
- There are five key ethical components a researcher must focus on as it relates to the research participants: confidentiality, conflict of interest, informed consent, protection of identities, respect for human dignity.
- The Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (2005), put forward eight ethical principles for researchers: respect human dignity, respecting free and informed consent, respecting vulnerable peoples, respecting privacy and confidentiality, respecting justice and inclusiveness, balancing harms and benefits, minimizing harm, maximizing benefits.
References
American Sociological Association. (1999) Code of ethics and policies and procedures of the ASA Committee on professional ethics [PDF]. Retrieved from http://www.asanet.org/sites/default/files/savvy/images/asa/docs/pdf/CodeofEthics.pdf
Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Of Canada, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. (2005). Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans, 1998 (with 2000, 2002, 2005 amendments) [PDF]. Retrieved from http://www.pre.ethics.gc.ca/archives/tcpseptc/docs/TCPS%20October%202005_E.pdf
Humphreys, L. (1970). Tearoom trade: Impersonal sex in public places. New Brunswick, NJ: AldineTransaction.
Humphreys, L. (2008). Tearoom trade: Impersonal sex in public places, enlarged edition with A retrospect on ethical issues. New Brunswick, NJ: AldineTransaction.
Jaschik, S. (2009, December). Protecting His Sources. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/12/04/protecting-his-sources
Milgram, S. (1974). Obedience to authority: An experimental view. New York, NY: Harper & Row.
National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects in Biomedical and Behavioral Research. (1979). The Belmont report: Ethical principles and guidelines for the protection of human subjects of research [PDF]. Retrieved from http://humansubjects.stanford.edu/education/2009_05_Belmont.pdf
National Research Act of 1974, Pub. L. no. 93-348 Stat 88 [PDF]. (1974). Retrieved from http://history.nih.gov/research/downloads/PL93-348.pdf
NCEHR, (n.d.). The importance of research involving humans. Retrieved from http://www.ncehr-cnerh.org/
Ogden, R. (2008). Harm. In L. M. Given (Ed.), The Sage Encyclopedia of Qualitative
Research Methods (pp. 379–380). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
Palys, T., & Atchison, C. (2014). Research decisions: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). Toronto, ON: Nelson Education Ltd.
Schmitz, A. (2012). Principles of sociological inquiry; Qualitative and quantitative methods. Washington, DC: Saylor Academy.
Shuster, E. (1997). Fifty years later: The significance of the Nuremberg Code. New England Journal of Medicine, 337, 1436-1440. doi:10.1056/NEJM199711133372006
University of California, Irvine (2015). Definition of human subjects’ research. Retrieved from http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/archive/irb/irb_glossary.htm
Text Attributions
- This chapter has been adapted from Chapter 3 in Principles of Sociological Inquiry, which was adapted by the Saylor Academy without attribution to the original authors or publisher, as requested by the licensor. © Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.
