Week 12a - Ethics Flashcards
what are ethical guidelines?
rules about whether and how to conduct a study in a manner that protects participants while advancing knowledge
what are related problems of ethical guidelines?
- Scientific misconduct: fraud and plagiarism
- Improper sponsorship of research (e.g., suppression of findings, bias and excessive profit
what occurred in nazi medicine?
- Nazi doctors such as Mengele subjected concentration camp prisoners (including twins) to experiments to test exposure to cold, air pressure, poisons, etc.
- Eugenics ideology
- Serious psychological and physical harms (including death)
what is the Humphreys’ Tearoom Trade?
- About 100 men were observed engaging in sexual acts as Humphreys’ acted as a lookout for them
- Followed them to their cars and secretly recorded their license plate numbers
- Interviewed them a year later
- No consent, deception, harm
what is Milgram’s obedience study
- The participants signed “informed” consent forms and were “randomly” assigned to be the teacher or pupil
- Encouraged to “shock” student after errors
- About 2/3 administered lethal-level shocks
- Deception and psychological and emotional stress
what is the Tri-Council Policy Statement 2 ?
- Research Ethics Boards (REBs) must approve research funded by NSERC, SSHRC or CIHR or research at institutions that receive that funding (TCPS 2, p 3)
- Approval is given if the research protocol complies with the guidelines
Who is the Research Participant?
Human Participants” are those individuals whose data, or responses to interventions, stimuli or questions by the researcher, are relevant to answering the research question
TCPS2: Core Principles
Respect for human dignity (intrinsic value)
- Respect for persons (autonomy)
- Concern for welfare (harm and benefit)
- Justice (fairness)
what does Respect for Persons: Consent mean?
- Voluntary (art. 3.1)
No coercion; incentives “should not be so large as to encourage reckless disregard of risks” - Informed (art. 3.2)
Who the researcher is, what the research involves, risks, benefits, conflicts of interest, etc. (see Box 3.3) - Ongoing (art. 3.3) and Documented (art. 3.12)
what does Respect for Persons: Consent mean?
- Voluntary (art. 3.1)
No coercion; incentives “should not be so large as to encourage reckless disregard of risks” - Informed (art. 3.2)
Who the researcher is, what the research involves, risks, benefits, conflicts of interest, etc. (see Box 3.3) - Ongoing (art. 3.3) and Documented (art. 3.12)
- Third-party consent for those who lack capacity (art. 3.9)
- Waiver of consent requirement permissible in some situations (subject to strict constraints)
what does Concern for Welfare (harm) mean?
- Minimize risks and maximize benefits
potential risks to be clearly explained before consent obtained - Benefits to individual or society
- Physical harms (adverse events)
- Psychological harms
- Legal and reputation risks
e.g., report abuse of children, risk of arrest or subpoena
how does ethics relate to Privacy and Confidentiality?
- Beware of privacy and confidentiality issues
try to anonymize the data - Privacy: intimate personal information
questions necessary for research purposes
beware of possible consequences of loss of privacy - Confidentiality: protection of information
identifying information must be kept secure
how does ethics relate to Justice
Obligated to treat people fairly and equitably (art. 4.1)
No segment of population should be unfairly excluded or harmed;
Research benefits should be fairly distributed
Special concerns re: women, children, the elderly, students, prisoners, persons lacking capacity, and aboriginal persons
what are the challenges of qualitative research in ethics?
Open-ended interviews, documentary research, participant observation
Consent may be more dynamic and ongoing
Observational studies may not require consent or even REB review
what does it say about aboriginals?
- Respect the community’s traditions and engage the community
- Avoid “parachute” research and beware of research fatigue
- Share research benefits with participants
