Research EthicsPub Date : 2023-06-14DOI: 10.1177/17470161231180829
Janice Aurini, V. Iafolla
{"title":"Who owns your consent? How REBs give away participants’ agency","authors":"Janice Aurini, V. Iafolla","doi":"10.1177/17470161231180829","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/17470161231180829","url":null,"abstract":"We draw on three illustrative vignettes to examine how REBs manage participants’ agency in the context of qualitative research. We ask: Who owns a participant’s consent? Central to informed consent is the principle of Respect for Persons, which privileges the autonomy of individuals to make decisions about what happens (or not) to them. Yet, REBs sometimes require researchers to get permission from organizations to conduct research on their current and former members, even when the research is not about those organizations. Our aim is to raise awareness about the inherent contradictions of this practice and to consider guidelines for determining the appropriateness of involving organizations that may be tangentially connected to the research objectives or potential participants.","PeriodicalId":38096,"journal":{"name":"Research Ethics","volume":"33 7-8 1","pages":"474 - 493"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2023-06-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77649507","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research EthicsPub Date : 2023-06-12DOI: 10.1177/17470161231176932
H. Davies, Rosie Munday, Maeve O’Reilly, Catriona Gilmour Hamilton, Arzhang Ardahan, S. Kolstoe, K. Gillies
{"title":"Reshaping consent so we might improve participant choice (II) – helping people decide","authors":"H. Davies, Rosie Munday, Maeve O’Reilly, Catriona Gilmour Hamilton, Arzhang Ardahan, S. Kolstoe, K. Gillies","doi":"10.1177/17470161231176932","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/17470161231176932","url":null,"abstract":"Research consent processes must provide potential participants with the necessary information to help them decide if they wish to join a study. On the Oxford ‘A’ Research Ethics Committee we’ve found that current research proposals mostly provide adequate detail (even if not in an easily comprehensible format), but often fail to support decision making, a view supported by published evidence. In a previous paper, we described how consent might be structured, and here we develop the concept of an Information and Decision Aid (IDA) that can support decision making and be used to guide the dialogue between researcher and potential participant. Our proposal requires limited changes to current processes or paperwork and would provide an easily accessible document for others that the potential participant might approach for advice. It could later be integrated with the Informed Consent Form to ensure all matters of concern to the individual participant have been addressed before consent is formally signed off.","PeriodicalId":38096,"journal":{"name":"Research Ethics","volume":"1 1","pages":"466 - 473"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2023-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76708557","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research EthicsPub Date : 2023-06-12DOI: 10.1177/17470161231179663
Kajsa Norberg Wieslander, A. Höglund, Sara Frygner-Holm, T. Godskesen
{"title":"Research ethics committee members’ perspectives on paediatric research: a qualitative interview study","authors":"Kajsa Norberg Wieslander, A. Höglund, Sara Frygner-Holm, T. Godskesen","doi":"10.1177/17470161231179663","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/17470161231179663","url":null,"abstract":"Research ethics committees (RECs) have a crucial role in protecting children in research. However, studies on REC members’ perspectives on paediatric research are scarce. We conducted a qualitative study to explore Swedish scientific REC members’ perspectives on ethical aspects in applications involving children with severe health conditions. The REC members considered promoting participation, protecting children and regulatory adherence to be central aspects. The results underscored the importance of not neglecting ill children’s rights to adapted information and participation. REC members supported a contextual and holistic approach to vulnerability and risk, which considers the child’s and parents’ psychological wellbeing and the child’s integrity, both short and long term. The ethical complexity of paediatric research requires continuous ethical competence development within RECs.","PeriodicalId":38096,"journal":{"name":"Research Ethics","volume":"156 1","pages":"494 - 518"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2023-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79891442","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research EthicsPub Date : 2023-06-10DOI: 10.1177/17470161231178450
Nicolas E. Gold, Ian Lawson, N. Oxtoby
{"title":"Afterlife: the post-research affect and effect of software","authors":"Nicolas E. Gold, Ian Lawson, N. Oxtoby","doi":"10.1177/17470161231178450","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/17470161231178450","url":null,"abstract":"Software plays an important role in contemporary research. Aside from its use for administering traditional instruments like surveys and in data analysis, the widespread use of mobile and web apps for social, medical and lifestyle engagement has led to software becoming a research intervention in its own right. For example, it is not unusual to find apps being studied for their utility as interventions in health and social life. Since the software may persist in use beyond the life of an investigation, this raises questions as to the extent of ethical duties for researchers involved in its production and/or study towards the participants involved. Key factors identified include the extent of affect created by the software, the effect it has on a participant’s life, the length of investigation, cost of maintenance and participant agency. In this article we discuss the issues raised in such situations, considering them in the context of post-research duties of care and suggesting strategies to balance the burden on researchers with the need for ongoing participant support.","PeriodicalId":38096,"journal":{"name":"Research Ethics","volume":"17 1","pages":"433 - 448"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2023-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78222218","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research EthicsPub Date : 2023-05-22DOI: 10.1177/17470161231174734
B. Daniels, J. Boffa, A. Kwan, S. Moyo
{"title":"Deception and informed consent in studies with incognito simulated standardized patients: empirical experiences and a case study from South Africa","authors":"B. Daniels, J. Boffa, A. Kwan, S. Moyo","doi":"10.1177/17470161231174734","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/17470161231174734","url":null,"abstract":"Simulated standardized patients (SPs) are trained individuals who pose incognito as people seeking treatment in a health care setting. With the method’s increasing use and popularity, we propose some standards to adapt the method to contextual considerations of feasibility, and we discuss current issues with the SP method and the experience of consent and ethical research in international SP studies. Since a foundational discussion of the research ethics of the method was published in 2012, a growing number of studies have implemented this method to collect data on the quality of care in a variety of settings around the world. We draw from that experience to provide empirical foundations for a popular approach to ethical approval of such studies in the United States and Canada, which has been to obtain a waiver of informed consent from the health care providers who are the subjects of the research. However, the majority of studies to date have evaluated quality of care outside the U.S., requiring additional ethical consideration when partnering with international institutions. We discuss these considerations in the context of a case study from a completed SP study in South Africa, where informed consent is constitutionally protected.","PeriodicalId":38096,"journal":{"name":"Research Ethics","volume":"177 1","pages":"341 - 359"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2023-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74943045","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research EthicsPub Date : 2023-04-20DOI: 10.1177/17470161231169205
C. Fournier, S. Stewart, Joshua Adams, Clayton Shirt, Esha Mahabir
{"title":"Systemic disruptions: decolonizing indigenous research ethics using indigenous knowledges","authors":"C. Fournier, S. Stewart, Joshua Adams, Clayton Shirt, Esha Mahabir","doi":"10.1177/17470161231169205","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/17470161231169205","url":null,"abstract":"Research involving and impacting Indigenous Peoples is often of little or no benefit to the communities involved and, in many cases, causes harm. Ensuring that Indigenous research is not only ethical but also of benefit to the communities involved is a long-standing problem that requires fundamental changes in higher education. To address this necessity for change, the authors of this paper, with the help of graduate and Indigenous community research assistants, undertook community consultation across their university to identify the local and national ethical needs of Indigenous researchers, communities, and Elders. This paper provides an overview of the consultation process, the themes that emerged from the consultations, and a model of the Wholistic Indigenous Research Framework that emerged.","PeriodicalId":38096,"journal":{"name":"Research Ethics","volume":"17 1","pages":"325 - 340"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2023-04-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88027013","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research EthicsPub Date : 2023-04-14DOI: 10.1177/17470161231169484
Mtisunge Isabel Kamlongera, Mkotama W Katenga-Kaunda
{"title":"Researchers’ reflections on ethics of care as decolonial research practice: understanding Indigenous knowledge communication systems to navigate moments of ethical tension in rural Malawi","authors":"Mtisunge Isabel Kamlongera, Mkotama W Katenga-Kaunda","doi":"10.1177/17470161231169484","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/17470161231169484","url":null,"abstract":"This article is autoethnographic, based upon the authors’ experiences and reflections upon encountered moments of ethical tension whilst conducting research in rural Malawi. Given that knowledge production, as a process, has been marred by colonial forms of power, the project was underpinned by efforts to achieve a decolonial approach to the research, including the research ethics. The authors share of their endeavours to counterbalance the challenges of power asymmetries whilst researching and working with an Indigenous community whose reality can be marginalised by the Western canon. The authors attempted to ensure that the values and customs of the researched community were respected and central to the research approach. When researchers are guided by local culture and customs, the participants are able to drive the research approach, incorporate their voice and share knowledge that is true to their context and reality. In this way, the research study is illustrative of how an ethics of care can help to facilitate decolonial research practice.","PeriodicalId":38096,"journal":{"name":"Research Ethics","volume":"57 1","pages":"312 - 324"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2023-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85964180","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research EthicsPub Date : 2023-04-07DOI: 10.1177/17470161231166600
M. Murdock, Stephanie Erickson
{"title":"Research Responsibility Agreement: a tool to support ethical research","authors":"M. Murdock, Stephanie Erickson","doi":"10.1177/17470161231166600","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/17470161231166600","url":null,"abstract":"When engaging in community-based research, it is important to consider ethical research practices throughout the project. While current research practices require many investigators to obtain approval from an ethics review board before starting a project, more is required to ensure that ethical principles are applied once the investigations begin and after the investigations are complete. In response to this concern, as expressed by workers at a feminist non-profit during a community placement, we developed a tool to foster both greater ethical and feminist research practice in community-based research. Using feminist theories, methodologies, and concepts such as epistemic justice, epistemic trust, and coauthorship, a tool was developed to support researchers and other collaborators in building relationships of reciprocity. This tool, called the Research Responsibility Agreement (RRA) invites all members of a research project to explicitly reflect on their role in the research, their relationships with other collaborators, their responsibility to contributing meaningfully in the project, and their plans to remain accountable to one another. In doing so, the RRA adds to existing tools that support ethical research by sharing explicit reflections from all collaborators on how to prevent harm and by asking them to reflect on ethical practices beyond the initial stages of the project. The RRA also encourages greater engagement from researchers and collaborators toward building meaningful relationships with each other, and with participants, to work together in advancing social change. As a practical tool that promotes reflection, that builds relationships, and that holds all parties accountable to ethical and feminist research practices, the RRA has the potential to generate impactful change in community-based research projects and beyond. While the RRA is tailored to community-based research, it can be applied widely to any research project and has the potential to revolutionize how research relationships are built across disciplines.","PeriodicalId":38096,"journal":{"name":"Research Ethics","volume":"12 1","pages":"288 - 311"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2023-04-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84817675","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research EthicsPub Date : 2023-04-07DOI: 10.1177/17470161231164530
J. Wheeldon, J. Heidt
{"title":"Cannabis, research ethics, and a duty of care","authors":"J. Wheeldon, J. Heidt","doi":"10.1177/17470161231164530","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/17470161231164530","url":null,"abstract":"Despite growing evidence to the contrary, researchers continue to posit causal links between cannabis, crime, psychosis, and violence. These spurious connections are rooted in history and fueled decades of structural limitations that shaped how researchers studied cannabis. Until recently, research in this area was explicitly funded to link cannabis use and harm and ignore any potential benefits. Post-prohibition cannabis research has failed to replicate the dire findings of the past. This article outlines how the history of controlling cannabis research has led to various harms, injustices, and ethical complications. We compare commonly cited research from both the prohibition and post-prohibition eras and argue that many popular claims about the dangers of cannabis are the result of ethical lapses by researchers, journals, and funders. We propose researchers in this area adopt a duty of care in cannabis research going forward. This would oblige individual researchers to establish robust research designs, employ careful analytic strategies, and acknowledge limitations in more detail. This duty involves the institutional recognition by funders, journals, and others that cannabis research has been deliberately misconstrued to criminalize, stigmatize, and pathologize.","PeriodicalId":38096,"journal":{"name":"Research Ethics","volume":"12 1","pages":"250 - 287"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2023-04-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80705854","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research EthicsPub Date : 2023-04-01DOI: 10.1177/17470161221148387
David B Resnik
{"title":"Disclosing and Managing Non-Financial Conflicts of Interest in Scientific Publications.","authors":"David B Resnik","doi":"10.1177/17470161221148387","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/17470161221148387","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In the last decade, there has been increased recognition of the importance of disclosing and managing non-financial conflicts of interests to safeguard the objectivity, integrity, and trustworthiness of scientific research. While funding agencies and academic institutions have had policies for addressing non-financial interests in grant peer review and research oversight since the 1990s, scientific journals have been only recently begun to develop such policies. An impediment to the formulation of effective journal policies is that non-financial interests can be difficult to recognize and define. Journals can overcome this problem by providing guidance concerning the types of non-financial interests that should be disclosed, including direct research interests, direct professional interests, expert testimony, involvement in litigation, holding a leadership position in a non-governmental organization, providing technical or scientific advice to a non-governmental organization, and personal or professional relationships. The guidance should apply to authors, editors, and reviewers.</p>","PeriodicalId":38096,"journal":{"name":"Research Ethics","volume":"19 2","pages":"121-138"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2023-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10448996/pdf/nihms-1868994.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10106435","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}