Ethical Research Practices Flashcards
In Canada, which document governs all research practices with human participants?
The Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS 2)
What are Canada’s 3 federal research agencies?
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
- Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)
Why is the Little Albert Experiment considered unethical?
No informed consent, violated principle of “do no harm”
Why are all studies performed at the university mandated to get the Research Ethics Board’s approval?
Without clear guidelines on how to conduct research with human subjects, psychological and/or physical harm can occur
What are the 3 types of research that are exempt from REB review?
- Publicly available information
- Observation of people in public spaces (naturalistic observation)
- Research exclusively based upon secondary use of data or biological material
Information that is publically available must be what, specfically?
Publically and legally accessible; free of reasonable expectations of privacy
What cases of publicly available research would need to be cleared by the REB?
Publically accessible websites like chat rooms or self-help groups with restricted membership
Observation of people in public places need to follow what 3 rules to be exempt from REB review?
- No staged intervention
- No reasonable expectation of privacy
- No identification of specific individuals
Research exclusively on secondary use of data or biological material is exempt from REB review under what 2 conditions?
- The data or biological human material is anonymous
- The process of data linkage or recording or dissemination of results does not generate identifiable
information
What are the 3 core principles of ethical research?
- Respect for Persons
- Concern for Welfare
- Justice
How might we describe the Respect for Persons principle in ethical research?
Recognizing the intrinsic value of human beings and that it is unacceptable to treat them as an ends to a means (tools toward a goal)
What is the central concept for the Respect for Persons principle?
Autonomy
Participant autonomy in research design must be what to qualify as consent?
- Voluntary
- Informed
- Ongoing
Voluntary autonomy can be described as what?
Free of coercion or undue influence, not overly affected by incentives
When must consent be obtained in a research study?
Before the study starts or the data collection takes place
A consent form must be what to be sufficient for the participant to give consent?
Must have sufficient information for the participant to give informed consent under an informed decision
Give 4 examples of what would be considered vulnerable populations.
- Children
- People with cognitive impairments
- People with mental health issues
- Prisoners
What does the Concern for Welfare principle of ethical research illustrate?
Research participation can affect the welfare of an individual or group in many ways; researchers must do their best to ensure participants are not exposed to unnecessary risks
What is risk in the context of research?
A function of the magnitude or seriousness of the harm, and the probability that it will occur to
participants or to third parties
To evaluate risks, what two factors must be evaluated?
- Probability of harm
- Magnitude of harm
What is the ethical duty of confidentiality?
The obligation of an individual or organization to protect
entrusted information
What is the difference between fairness and equity in research?
Fairness: treating all people with equal respect and concern for their welfare
Equity: the distribution of the benefits and burdens of research participation
What is post-hoc storytelling?
When researchers collect data, analyze it, and then build a theory based on what they have found
What are the two different types of research regarding hypotheses?
- Confirmatory research: hypotheses are specified before the data collection stage and are grounded in
existing research - Exploratory research: no hypotheses are proposed, the existing data is explored for different
relationships
