DESCIBE THE MEANING OF INFORMED CONST AND THEIFDENTITY ISSUES RELATING TO IT IN RESEARCH ON HUMAN SUBJECTThere are a number of ethicalprinciples that should be taken into account whenperforming research. At the core, these ethical principles stress the needto do beneficence and do no harm as non-malfeasance.
In practice, these ethical principlesmean that as a researcher, you need to: (1) obtain informed consent frompotential research participants (2) minimise the risk of harm toparticipants (3) protect their anonymity and confidentiality (4) avoid using deceptivepractices (5) give participants the right to withdraw fromyour research 1) MINIMISING THE RISK OF HARMResearch should not harm participants. Wherethere is the possibility that participants could be harmed or put in a positionof discomfort, there must be strong justifications for this. Such scenarioswill also require an additional planning to illustrate how participantharm will be reduced, informedconsent, and detailed debriefing.2) OBTAINING INFORMEDCONSENTInformed consent means that participantsshould understand that they are taking part in researchand what the research requires of them. Such information may includethe purpose of the research, the method being used, the possible outcomes ofthe research, as well as associated demands, discomforts, inconveniences andrisks that the participants may face.
Another component of informed consent is theprinciple that participants should be volunteers, taking part withouthaving been coerced and deceived. 3) PROTECTING ANONYMITY AND CONFIDENTIALITYProtecting the anonymity and confidentiality ofresearch participants is another practical component of research ethics. Participantswill typically only be willing to volunteer information, especiallyinformation of a private or sensitive nature, if the researcher agrees to holdsuch information in confidence. Whilst it is possible that researchparticipants may be hurt in some way if the data collection methods used aresomehow insensitive, there is perhaps a greater danger that harm can becaused once data has been collected. This occurs when data is not treatedconfidentially, whether in terms of the storage of data, its analysis, or duringthe publication process .An alternative is to remove identifiers e.g.,vernacular terms, names, geographical cues, etc.
or provide proxies whenwriting upTherefore, you need to consider ways ofovercoming the problems, such as aggregating data in tablesand setting rules that ensure a minimum number of units are presentbefore data/information can be presented.4)AVOIDING DECEPTIVE PRACTICESAtfirst sight, deceptive practices fly in the face of informedconsent. After all, how can participants know (a) that they aretaking part in research and (b) what the research requires of them ifthey are being deceived? This is part of what makes the use of deceptivepractices controversial. For this reason, in most circumstances, dissertationresearch should avoid any kinds of deceptive practices. However, thisis not always the case.5)PROVIDING THE RIGHT TO WITHDRAWWiththe exception of those instances of covert observation where is notfeasible to let everyone that is being observed know what you are doing,research participants should always have the right to withdraw fromthe research process. Furthermore, participants should have the right towithdraw at any stage in the research process. When a participant chooses towithdraw from the research process, they should not be pressured or coerced inany way to try and stop them from withdrawing.
DISCUSSTHE MAJOR ETHICAL PRINCIPLES RHAT GUIDE RESEARCHER IN THEIR WORKEthicalconsiderations in research are critically about choices and actions, especiallyin decision making which distinguish between right and wrong. Itdetermines the difference between acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. Ethicalstandards will prevent against the fabrication or falsifying of data andtherefore, promote the pursuit of knowledge and truth which is the primary goalof research. Ethical behavior is also critical for collaborative workbecause it encourages an environment of trust, accountability, and mutualrespect among researchers. This is important when considering issuesrelated to data sharing, co-authorship, copyright guidelines, confidentiality,and many other issues, in order for the public to support and believe in theresearch. Other guidelines such as human rights, animal welfare, compliancewith the law, conflicts of interest, safety and health standards and so forth,must be followed by the researcher.
These ethical issues are greatly impactthe integrity of the research project and affected the chances to receivefunding if researcher cannot achieve this requirement.Ethical considerationsare so important in research, so that many professional associations andagencies have adopted codes and policies for the outline of ethical behaviorand guide researchers. The examples of codes address issues is a honesty,objectivity, respect for intellectual property, social responsibility,confidentiality, non-discrimination and many others.
It provides basicguidelines, but researchers will still be facing with additional issues thatare not specifically addressed and this will require decision-making on thepart of the researcher in order to avoid misconduct. The resources onthis page address includes many of those issues and the case studies used inthese resources provide excellent examples of these types of issues. One of the most importantethical considerations in research is the use of human subjects.
Toaddress these considerations, most institutions and organizations havedeveloped an Institutional Review Board (IRB). An IRB is a panel ofpeople who help to ensure the safety of human subjects in research and who can assistin making sure that human rights are not violated. They review theresearch methodology in grant proposals to assure that ethical practices arebeing utilized.
The use of an IRB also helps to protect the institutionand the researchers against potential legal implications from any behavior thatmay be deemed unethical. Examples of some of theseissues include voluntary participation and informed consent. The voluntary participation requires thatpeople not be coerced into participating in research. It required of informed consent whereby participants must be fullyinformed about the procedures and risks involved in research and must givetheir consent to participate. Harm can be defined as both physical andpsychological.
Ethical standards also protect theconfidentiality and anonymity of the subjects. Goodresearch practice often requires the use of a no-treatment control group – agroup of participantswho do not get the treatmentor program that is being studied. But when that treatment or program may have beneficial effects, thepersons assigned to the no-treatment control may feel of their rights to equalaccess to services are being curtailed.
