Chapter 3- SOC 315

Ethics

Respect

the principle that people are to be treated as autonomous agents in research studies and that those with diminished autonomy receive protection

Beneficence

the principle that refers to the responsibility to do good and to protect subjects from harm in a research study

Justice

the principle that research must be conducted in a fair manner with the potential risks and benefits distributed equally among participants

Informed Consent

the freedom to say yes or no to participating in a research study once all the possible risks and benefits have been properly explained

Vulnerable population

a group of people who cannot give informed consent, including those who are underage or have diminished mental capacity

Institutional Review Board

A committee located at an institution where research is done that is responsible for reviewing all research involving human subjects, with the goal of protecting the human subjects and preventing ethical violations in the research

Human Subjects Research

any study of persons that is a systematic investigation designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge

Research Protocol

a description from the researcher of the intended methods and procedures, target population and recruitment methods, possible risks and benefits of the study, and major research questions

Anonymity

when no identifying information can be linked to respondents and even the research cannot identify them

Confidentiality

when participants’ identifying information is only access to the research team

Certificate of Confidentiality

A certificate issued by the National Institutes of Health that allows researchers to protect participants from future requests for data disclosure

Deductive Disclosure

the use of unique combinations of variables to identify specific individuals in data sets

making sure that no one can reconstruct a person’s identity

Suppression

a technique for ensuring confidentiality in which data are simple not shown

Data Swapping

a statistical technique for ensuring confidentiality in which data on households that have been matches on a set of key variables are swapped across block

usually done at the neighborhood level. A sample of households is selected and matched on a set of key variables with nearby households that have similar characteristics (# of adults, # of children). The data on these families are swapped across blocks

Demand Characteristics

the process whereby research subjects, when they become aware of a study’s hypothesis, behave in a way that confirms that hypothesis

Debriefing

the process of interviewing participants after the study and then informing them of the actual purpose of the experiment

in some cases, you do NOT need to debrief

Conflict of Interest

if researchers’ interests or loyalties compromise the way they design, conduct, or report their research

researchers should avoid any financial arrangement that a reasonable observer would see as compromising their research. Researchers and their families should not have financial interests in companies sponsoring their research