Ethical Considerations in Research PDF

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN RESEARCH; TYPES & EXAMPLES PUBLISHED ON OCTOBER 18, 2021 BY PRITHA BHANDARI. REVISED ON DECEMBER 2, 2022.  Research Ethics Research Ethics is defined here to be the ethics of the planning, conduct, and reporting of research. This in...

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN RESEARCH; TYPES & EXAMPLES PUBLISHED ON OCTOBER 18, 2021 BY PRITHA BHANDARI. REVISED ON DECEMBER 2, 2022.  Research Ethics Research Ethics is defined here to be the ethics of the planning, conduct, and reporting of research. This introduction covers what research ethics is, its ethical distinctions, approaches to teaching research ethics, and other resources on this topic.  Why do research ethics matter? Research ethics matter for scientific integrity, human rights and dignity, and collaboration between science and society. These principles make sure that participation in studies is voluntary, informed, and safe. Ethical considerations in research are a set of principles that guide your research designs and practices. Scientists and researchers must always adhere to a certain code of conduct when collecting data from people. The goals of human research often include understanding real-life phenomena, studying effective treatments, investigating behaviors, and improving lives in other ways. What you decide to research and how you conduct that research involve key ethical considerations. These considerations work to: protect the rights of research participants enhance research validity maintain scientific or academic integrity This article mainly focuses on research ethics in human research, but ethical considerations are also important in animal research. Why do research ethics matter? Research ethics matter for scientific integrity, human rights and dignity, and collaboration between science and society. These principles make sure that participation in studies is voluntary, informed, and safe for research subjects. You’ll balance pursuing important research objectives with using ethical research methods and procedures. It’s always necessary to prevent permanent or excessive harm to participants, whether inadvertent or not. Defying research ethics will also lower the credibility of your research because it’s hard for others to trust your data if your methods are morally questionable. Even if a research idea is valuable to society, it doesn’t justify violating the human rights or dignity of your study participants. Getting ethical approval for your Before study you start any study involving data collection with people, you’ll submit your research proposal to an institutional An IRB isreview board (IRB). a committee that checks whether your research aims and research design are ethically acceptable and follow your institution’s code of conduct. They check that your research materials and procedures are up to code. If successful, you’ll receive IRB approval, and you can begin collecting data according to the approved procedures. If you want to make any changes to your procedures or materials, you’ll need to submit a modification application to the IRB for approval. you may be asked to re-submit with If unsuccessful, modifications or your research proposal may receive a rejection. To get IRB approval, it’s important to explicitly note how you’ll tackle each of the ethical issues that may  TYPES OF ETHICAL ISSUES There are several ethical issues you should always pay attention to in your research design, and these issues can overlap with each other. a. Voluntary participation Voluntary participation means that all research subjects are free to choose to participate without any pressure or coercion. All participants are able to withdraw from, or leave, the study at any point without feeling an obligation to continue. Your participants don’t need to provide a reason for leaving the study. It’s important to make it clear to participants that there are no negative consequences or repercussions to their refusal to participate. After all, they’re taking the time to help you in the research process, so you should respect their decisions without trying to change their minds. Example of voluntary participation When recruiting participants for an experiment, you inform all potential participants that they are free to choose whether they want to participate, and they can withdraw from the study anytime without any negative repercussions. Voluntary participation is an ethical principle protected by international law and many scientific codes of conduct. Take special care to ensure there’s no pressure on participants when you’re working with vulnerable groups of people who may find it hard to stop the study even when they want to. b. Informed consent Informed consent refers to a situation in which all potential participants receive and understand all the information they need to decide whether they want to participate. This includes information about the study’s benefits, risks, funding, and institutional Example approval. of informed consent You recruit participants outside a train station for a quick survey. You make sure to provide all potential participants with all the relevant information about what the study is about the risks and benefits of taking part how long the study will take your supervisor’s contact information and the institution’s approval number You also let them know that their data will be kept confidential, and they are free to stop filling in the survey at any point for any reason. They can also withdraw their information by contacting you or your supervisor.  Usually, you’ll provide participants with a text for them to read and ask them if they have any questions. If they agree to participate, they can sign or initial the consent form. Note that this may not be sufficient for informed consent when you work with particularly vulnerable If you’re collecting groups data of people. from people with low literacy, make sure to verbally explain the consent form to them before they agree For to participate. participants with very limited English proficiency, you should always translate the study materials or work with an interpreter so they have all the information in their first language. In research with children, you’ll often need informed permission for their participation from their parents or guardians. Although children cannot give informed consent, it’s best to also ask for their assent (agreement) to participate, depending on their age and maturity level. c. Anonymity Anonymity means that you don’t know who the participants are and you can’t link any individual participant to their data. You can only guarantee anonymity by not collecting any personally identifying information—for example, names, phone numbers, email addresses, IP addresses, physical characteristics, photos, In many cases, it and mayvideos. be impossible to truly anonymize data collection. For example, data collected in person or by phone cannot be considered fully anonymous because some personal identifiers (demographic information or phone numbers) are impossible to hide. You’ll also need to collect some identifying information if you give your participants the option to withdraw their data at a later stage.  Data pseudonymization is an alternative method where you replace identifying information about participants with pseudonymous, or fake, identifiers. The data can still be linked to participants but it’s harder to do so because you separate personal information from the study data. Example of data pseudonymization You’re conducting a survey with college students. You ask participants to enter demographic information including their age, gender identity, nationality, and ethnicity. With all this information, it may be possible for other people to identify individual participants, so you pseudonymize the data. Each participant is given a random three-digit number. You separate their personally identifying information from their survey data and include the participant numbers in both files. The survey data can only be linked to personally identifying data via the participant numbers. d. Confidentiality Confidentiality means that you know who the participants are, but you remove all identifying information from your All report. participants have a right to privacy, so you should protect their personal data for as long as you store or use it. Even when you can’t collect data anonymously, you should secure confidentiality whenever Exampleyou can. of confidentiality To keep your data confidential, you take steps to safeguard it and prevent any threats to data privacy. You store all signed consent forms in a locked file drawer, and you password-protect all files with survey data. Only other researchers approved by the IRB are allowed to access the study data, and you make sure that everyone knows and follows your institution’s data privacy protocols.  Some research designs aren’t conducive to confidentiality, but it’s important to make all attempts and inform participants of the risks involved. Example of focus group confidentiality In a focus group study, you invite five people to give their opinions on a new student service in a group setting. Before beginning the study, you ask everyone to agree to keep what’s discussed confidential and to respect each other’s privacy. You also note that you cannot completely guarantee confidentiality or anonymity so that participants are aware of the risks involved. e. Potential for harm As a researcher, you have to consider all possible sources of harm to participants. Harm can come in many different forms. - Psychological harm: Sensitive questions or tasks may trigger negative emotions such as shame or anxiety. - Social harm: Participation can involve social risks, public -embarrassment, Physical harm: orPain stigma. or injury can result from the study procedures. - Legal harm: Reporting sensitive data could lead to legal risks or a breach of privacy. It’s best to consider every possible source of harm in your study as well as concrete ways to mitigate them. Involve your supervisor to discuss steps for harm reduction. Make sure to disclose all possible risks of harm to participants before the study to get informed consent. If there is a risk of harm, prepare to provide participants with resources or counseling or medical services if needed. Example of potential for harm In a study on stress, you survey college students on their alcohol consumption habits. Some of these questions may bring up negative emotions, so you inform participants about the sensitive nature of the survey and assure them that their responses will be confidential. You also provide participants with information about student counseling services and information about managing alcohol use after the survey is complete. f. Results communication The way you communicate your research results can sometimes involve ethical issues. Good science communication is honest, reliable, and credible. It’s best to make your results as transparent as possible. Take steps to actively avoid plagiarism and research misconduct wherever possible. Plagiarism Plagiarism means submitting others’ works as your own. Although it can be unintentional, copying someone else’s work without proper credit amounts to stealing. It’s an ethical problem in research communication because you may benefit by harming other researchers. Self-plagiarism is when you republish or re-submit parts of your own papers or reports without properly citing your original work.  This is problematic because you may benefit from presenting your ideas as new and original even though they’ve already been published elsewhere in the past. You may also be infringing on your previous publisher’s copyright, violating an ethical code, or wasting time and resources by doing so. In extreme cases of self-plagiarism, entire datasets or papers are sometimes duplicated. These are major ethical violations because they can skew research findings if taken as Example of duplication original data. You’re conducting a meta-analysis on whether working from home is related to better stress management. You gather all studies on this topic that meet your search criteria. You notice that two published studies have similar characteristics even though they are from different years. Their sample sizes, locations, treatments, and results are highly similar, and the studies share one author in common. If you enter both data sets in your analyses, you get a different conclusion compared to when you only use one data set. Including both data sets would distort your overall findings.  g. Research misconduct Research misconduct means making up or falsifying data, manipulating data analyses, or misrepresenting results in research reports. It’s a form of academic fraud. These actions are committed intentionally and can have serious consequences; research misconduct is not a simple mistake or a point of disagreement about data analyses. Research misconduct is a serious ethical issue because it can undermine academic integrity and institutional credibility. It leads to a waste of funding and resources that could have been used for alternative research. Example of misconduct (MMR vaccine misinformation) In 1998, Andrew Wakefield and others published a now- debunked paper claiming that the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine causes autism in children. Later investigations revealed that they fabricated and manipulated their data to show a nonexistent link between vaccines and autism. Wakefield also neglected to disclose important conflicts of interest, and his medical license was taken away. This fraudulent work sparked vaccine hesitancy among parents and caregivers. The rate of MMR vaccinations in children fell sharply, and measles outbreaks became more common due to a lack of herd immunity. In reality, there is no risk of children developing autism from the MMR or other vaccines, as shown by many large studies. Although the paper was retracted, it has actually received thousands of citations.