Research Ethics Birkbeck, University of London的研究倫伯克貝克倫敦大學(xué)

1、research ethicssummary1but what has ethics got to do with research?is “pure” research above ethics and morality? is ethics and morality to do with technology and politics (the appliance of research) not research itself?2the chain of discoveryindustry in society - p pool li it ti ic cs ssolving probl

2、emstechnology as instrument - e ec coonnoommi ic cs sapplicationknowledge in archive - hhi is st toor ry ypublicationdiscovery by method - p phhi il loos soop phhy yresearchscientist with vocation - p ps sy yc chhool looggy y3the impact of research on values and values on research ethical considerat

3、ions are to the fore with the development of new technologies and new social systems society is inherently conservative and seeks to set the limits of research activityim damned if they are going to make me redundant4the scope of research ethics ethical considerations cover all aspect of research bu

4、t they are fore-grounded when the subject of the research are humans or animals 5 research involving human subjects in the medical, social and behavioral sciences poses complex ethical issues. it requires careful thought and consideration on the part of both researchers and research participants. pr

5、ospective participants must be given adequate information on both the possible risks and the potential benefits of their involvement to allow them to make informed decisions it has its disadvantagesbut it pays well6ethical issues justification for the research access to participants/privacy informed

6、 consent potential harm7 with research involving human subjects the risks and costs must be balanced against the potential benefits trivial or repetitive research is may be unethical where the subjects are at risk after years of experimentation the scientist proved that children become addicted to n

7、icotine8autonomy the ethical principle of autonomy means that each person should be given the respect, time, and opportunity necessary to make his or her own decisions. prospective participants must be given the information they will need to decide to enter a study or not to participate. there shoul

8、d not be pressure to participate. 9vulnerable participants potentially vulnerable participants such as children, the elderly, the mentally ill may be incapable of understanding information that would enable them to make an informed decision about study participation. consequently, careful considerat

9、ion of their situation and needs is required, and extra care must be taken to protect them. for example, how will you assess the diminished capacity of an elderly individual, who will be the guardian, and how and when will you involve another individual as guardian in the process?10the process of ob

10、taining consent1.identify participant population2.produce information sheet and consent document3.obtain permission from schools ethics committee4.present research information to participant and discuss its contents indicating that withdrawal at any time is possible5.answer participants questions6.g

11、ive a copy of the consent document7.allow the participant time to consider8.meet participant and discuss documents, to answer any more questions and assess participants understanding9.obtain appropriate signed consent10.start research11the participants the participants may not have the experience or

12、 educational background in order to fully understand the implications of the research they may be swayed because of their respect of and trust in the researcher who stands as an authority figure if they are being paid for their participation they may be swayed by economic considerations from a free

13、judgement of the risks12peer pressure the participants may be subject to social pressure of their peer group this is particularly prevalent in research groups13assessing participant understanding an important part of the process is for the researcher to ensure that the prospective participants under

14、stands the research, their role in it, and any risks they may be taking. during discussion the use of open-ended and nondirective questions (i.e. those that begin with words such as what, where, how often, when, and please describe.“) is most effective at doing this . 14a few of the questions you ma

15、y want to ask are: describe in your own words the purpose of the study. what more would you like to know? would you please explain to me what you think were going to ask you to do? what are your concerns? the idea is not to quiz the participant but to encourage an open exchange of information and en

16、courage them to ask questions. 15contact informationgive the names of people who can answer questions about the research; include the principal investigator. if the researcher is a student, include the names and phone numbers of the principal investigator and, where applicable, the chair of the scho

17、ol ethical committee for questions. furnish the contact name of a neutral third party who can explain the rights of research participants if the participant has any questions.16withdrawalalways stress the fact that participation is voluntary and that the participant can withdraw at any time state th

18、at refusing to participate will involve no penalty or decrease in benefits to which the participant is otherwise entitled. emphasize that the individual may discontinue participation at any time without penalty or loss of benefits. if there are limitations or risks involved in withdrawal, such as a

19、danger to the participants well being, these must also be clearly explained.17ethical problems may arisethe requirements of effective research sometimes conflict with the simple fulfillment of the obligation to obtain informed consent. for example in psychological research information and fore-knowl

20、edge may bias the results18reasons for limiting information the most common reason for limiting information is that valid data could not be obtained if the participants were fully informed about the purposes and procedures of the research. methodological requirements of the research may demand that

21、the participants remain unaware of the specific hypotheses under investigation. in other situations, incomplete information or misinformation may have to be provided to elicit the behavior of a naive individual or to create psychological reality under conditions that permit valid inference. 19decept

22、ion or concealmentfully informed consent cannot be obtained in some kinds of research without the possibility that the results may be biasedin those circumstances where a methodological requirement may necessitates the use of concealment or deception, the researcher has a special responsibility1. to

23、 determine whether the use of such techniques is justified by the studys prospective scientific, educational, or applied value2. whether alternative procedures are available that do not use concealment or deception3. that the participants are provided with sufficient explanation as soon as possible.

24、 these issues should be explored before undertaking the research with colleagues, supervisor(s) and the school/departmental ethics committee. 20risk assessmentresearch is by nature uncertain. the researcher may not be fully aware of the possible hazards involved in the proposed research. for example

25、 in the early stages of the development of new drugs their long term effects may not be known. in these circumstances the participant may not be fully informed of potential risks.21the perception of risk is central to informed consentperceived through investigation e.g. in science by experiment and

26、observationvirtual risk that is not known or cannot be known, or where there are different opinionsperceived directly by the participants own senses or experience e.g. such as driving a cara participant in research will probably not have the experience to perceive the risk directly and may be confus

27、ed by mixed messages of virtual risk and so rely on the researchers understanding of riskrisk22consent formmight take the following formi have read the information sheet and have had the details of the study explained to me. my questions have been answered to my satisfaction, and i may ask further q

28、uestions at any time.i understand i have the right to withdraw from the study at any time and decline to answer any particular questions.i agree to provide information to the researcher(s) on the understanding that my name will not be used without my permission.i agree/do not agree to the interview

29、being recorded electronically.i understand that i have the right to ask for the tape to be turned off at any time during the interviewi agree to participate in this study under the conditions set out in the information sheetsignature name - date23research designmost research is sponsored it is ethic

30、al behaviour for a researcher to use resources efficiently and effectively to work hard to ensure the well-being of all colleagues and participants24minimising the risksmaximising the potential for valuable resultsit is standard practise in research to carry out a preliminary small-scale project in

31、order to enable more effective assessment of risks more efficient design of the main project 25in fact two types of error can arise when considering whether or not to reject the null hypothesis 26failure of the research design a research design that has a high chance of a type ii error is unethical

32、because it wastes resources accepting the null hypothesis when it is in fact false can be an important consideration. if you fail to reject ho is that genuinely because ho is correct? or is the power of the test inadequate?27the mertonian norms communalism universalism disinterestedness originality

33、scepticism 28the ethical matrixprovides a means of examining the ethical positions of all interest groups ensuring equality of treatment (justice/fairness).it helps to identify where one stronger principle might overcome a weaker one or where a compromise should be soughtseparates well-being, autono

34、my and fairness respect for:well-beingautonomyfairnessinterest group 1best outcomebest outcomebest outcomeinterest group 2best outcomebest outcomebest outcomeinterest group 3best outcomebest outcomebest outcomeinterest group 4best outcomebest outcomebest outcome29communalismone of the mertonian prin

35、ciples of science is communalism that the results of research are public knowledge, freely available to allresearch to provide public knowledge, freely available to allbut what about secret government research? secret commercial research? who owns the results - patents ? the diggers believed that th

36、e land belonged to everyone30who owns the information?however the participants in research have a right to privacy alternatively much research is private, owned by the funder of the research either the government or a commercial concernthe conflict between privacy, confidentiality and the public acc

37、ess to knowledge creates an ethical arena “who owns the information?”31secrecy32whistle-blowing researchers are in a privileged position they may come across information about wrong-doing or danger to the public the reporting of this information may go against any confidentiality agreement the repor

38、ting of such information is likely to damage their career the public disclosure act 1998 protects certain classes of workers from the consequences of whistle-blowing33confidentiality confidentiality of electronically stored participant information. appropriate selection and use of tools for analysis

39、 of the primary data who has access to the data data protection act34universalismthere are no privileged sources of scientific knowledge race, sex, politics ? specialism ? authority ? but certain classes and ethnic groups are under-represented in research.35disinterednessscience is done for its own

40、sakehow impersonal is research in practice ? research is competitive, not just in the search for funding but also for status. high achieving researchers tend to be highly ambitious? personal feuds are rife in academia ? for example in disputes over priority ? 36the same academic institutions that ar

41、e responsible for oversight of scientific integrity and human subjects protection are entering financial relationships with the industries whose products which might directly impinge on these. 37knowledge for its own sake a belief that scientific knowledge is politically and ethically neutral is cha

42、llenged by the misuse of scientific knowledge38originalityscience is the discovery of the unknown plagiarism ? publication of the same results in multiple journals ? routine “stamp-collecting” surveys ? 39sceptical is sceptical of given opinions challenges accepted views40research is social activity

43、 research is not just a method and a system of organised knowledge it is a social activity carried out by groups of competing/co-operating/communicating scientists 41three dimensions of academic researchcommunitypersonknowledgemeetingsinceritytheorypublicationcontroversyauthorityexperiment42the part

44、icipation of colleaguesa key consideration concerns the status/rank/class of not just subjects but all participants including colleaguesthis will influence the ethical relationship/responsibility of the researcher. not all people are equal. colleagues may vary from superiors such as project leaders,

45、 “equals” but with varying degrees of experiences and status, to technicians and support staff. there is a special responsibility to colleagues with less experience or of a lower rank who may find it more difficult to refuse to participate. 43ethical relationships with supervisorsthe relationship be

46、tween the student and the supervisor is unequal and hierarchical.the supervisor plays many roles as adviser, promoter, boss, teacher, friend, principal investigator” etc.this multiplicity of roles may lead to conflictthe relationship may be or may seem to be co-ercive abusivea student must feel free

47、 to make their own decisions44ethical supervision non-coercive nurtures the students confidence and skills permissive does not use the student just as a technician or assistant but allows the student to develop the project in new ways not jealous of the students success but allows the student to tak

48、e ownership of their project and get the credit for it45ethical relationships with colleagues effective and ethical relationships with colleagues will aid a student to make more rapid progress on their project46publications are how the world sees you. determine whether you get funding for further re

49、search or not! determine whether you get promoted or not! determine whether you keep your job or not!47the negative data problem48the negative data problem can negative results be important? are they publishable? would journals full of negative results sell? if they are not published are they doomed

50、 to be repeated wastefully? how can positive results be validated without knowing about negative ones?49two types of authorship problem gift authorship inclusion of authors who did not contribute significantly to the study this might include a phd supervisor! hierarchy (expectation / favour) colleagues ( increase publications) ghost authorship absence of authors professional writers ( should be acknowledged) hierarchical / political / personal reasons