Researchers
must ensure that those taking part in research will not be caused distress
. They must be protected from physical and mental harm. This means you must not embarrass, frighten, offend or harm participants.
How can you protect participants from harm in research?
- Obtaining informed consent from participants.
- Protecting the anonymity and confidentiality of participants.
- Avoiding deceptive practices when designing your research.
- Providing participants with the right to withdraw from your research at any time.
What does harm mean in research?
There are many ways a researcher can harm a participant unintentionally. Physical harm, defined as pain, injury,
illness or impairment caused by another
, could be avoided by collecting adequate information and removing risky individuals.
What is risk of harm in research?
Risk The probability of harm or injury
(physical, psychological, social, or economic) occurring as a result of participation in a research
study. Both the probability and magnitude of possible harm may vary from minimal to significant. Federal regulations define only “minimal risk.”
Why is it important to do no harm to research participants?
In its simplest form, it means
to maintain the welfare of human research participants by
doing no harm to them. … In addition to providing these resources, qualitative researchers must disclose on the informed consent form the potential risks associated with participating in the research study.
What are the rights of research participants?
- To have enough time to decide whether or not to be in the research study and to make that decision without any pressure from the people who are conducting the research.
- To refuse to be in the study at all, and to stop participating at any time after you begin the study.
What is unethical research?
Experiments that contravene ethical norms, such as the protection of research participants, the treatment of research animals, patient confidentiality, consent to take part or withdraw from a study or informing participants about the nature of the research. There is currently no content classified with this term.
What are examples of harm?
- neglect and acts of omission.
- financial or material.
- psychological or emotional.
- physical.
- sexual.
What are types of harm?
There are three types of harm:
physical, emotional and psychological
. Any of the four types of abuse can cause any of the three types of harm. For example, physical abuse may result in physical harm but it can also result in emotional or psychological harm.
Is it OK to use deception in research?
In general,
deception is not acceptable in human studies
. Occasionally, it is necessary to mislead the participants who are subjects of a study in order to obtain unbiased information. The Institute Review Board (IRB) must review very carefully the proposals that use deception or misrepresentation.
What steps can you take to minimize the risk of psychological harm to participants in a research study?
You can take several concrete steps to minimize risks and deception in your research. These include
making changes to your research design, prescreening to identify and eliminate high-risk participants
, and providing participants with as much information as possible during informed consent and debriefing.
What are ethical considerations in research?
There are six broad ethical areas that need to be considered in your research. In this chapter, we will discuss
voluntary participation, informed consent, confidentiality and anonymity
, the potential for harm, communi- cating the results, and more specific ethical issues.
What is a risk assessment example?
A risk assessment involves considering what could happen if someone is exposed to a hazard (for example,
COVID-19
) and the likelihood of it happening.
What ethical principle requires equity in research?
The principle of justice
may be defined as the ethical obligation to distribute the benefits and burdens of research fairly. Researchers have an obligation to ensure that the means used to select research participants are equitable.
What is the most important ethical principle in research?
Beneficence
and non-maleficence
Research should be worthwhile and provide value that outweighs any risk or harm. Researchers should aim to maximise the benefit of the research and minimise potential risk of harm to participants and researchers. All potential risk and harm should be mitigated by robust precautions.
Why are ethics important in research?
Ensuring ethical standards and procedures for research with human beings. Research ethics
govern the standards of conduct for scientific researchers
. It is important to adhere to ethical principles in order to protect the dignity, rights and welfare of research participants.
