Читать книгу Social Work Research Methods - Reginald O. York - Страница 104

Human subjects research is “research involving a living individual about whom an investigator (whether professional or student) conducting research obtains data through intervention or interaction with the individual, or identifiable private information” (National Institutes of Health, n.d.). The typical human subjects research that you will undertake (as a social worker or a social work student) will entail a survey of individuals where questions are asked about the variables in the study. The variables may be descriptive (gender, age, etc.) or related to study hypotheses (depression, attitudes about agency service, etc.). This means that you will be collecting data from a living individual; thus, it qualifies as being research with human subjects. If you collect identifiable private information from living persons through records, you will also be conducting research involving human subjects according to this definition from the federal government. If the data are not identifiable (e.g., the names of the persons are not attached to the data), your study does not qualify as the use of human subjects for research. If the names are with the information, however, your study qualifies for this designation, even if you do not plan to report the names of the persons with their information. If it is available to you as a researcher, your study is classified as using human subjects for research.

There are four main themes in this presentation of ethics in human service research: (1) the code of ethics as a guide, (2) the key ethical principles social workers should implement, (3) some special challenges the social worker faces in doing ethical research, and (4) the IRB as a monitor of the use of human subjects in research. You will review each of these themes in this chapter.