Читать книгу 100 Questions (and Answers) About Research Ethics - Emily E. Anderson - Страница 13

The ethical framework that underpins the federal research regulations as well as most professional codes of research ethics does not privilege any one ethical theory or approach but rather articulates a set of overall principles: respect for persons, beneficence, and justice. These principles are outlined in the Belmont Report (1979), a key U.S. research ethics document. The principle of respect for persons demands that individuals control what happens to them. Beneficent research promotes good and avoids harm. Justice requires fairness in the selection of research participants. It also requires an equitable distribution of the benefits and burdens of research so that no one group disproportionately bears the burden or receives the benefits of research.

These three principles must be balanced in all research with human participants. For example, sometimes risks must be taken in order to attain the potential benefits. However, there is no hard-and-fast rule regarding the appropriate weighting of principles in specific situations. Reasonable people may disagree about how best to weigh the risks and benefits of a particular research study based on whether they prioritize respect for persons or beneficence. This is arguably both a strength and a weakness of the Belmont research ethics framework.

More questions? See #4, #7, and #10.