Free Essay: Ethical Issues in Research

Research ethics

• Explain ethical issues related to your Final Project research program intervention.

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The main ethical issues related to the study include intellectual property issues, the rights of the original human research subjects as well as copyright laws.

Intellectual property

The study will rely on data from various databases. These research are other people’s original works and intellectual property. The original owners have to get credit for authorship, which requires that, the researcher to seek permission to access and use the publications. All those substantially contributed to the research will be acknowledged in the study by way of referencing to give credit to their works. The researchers will also be listed as the authors or co-author depending on the nature of their contribution. For the sake of the secondary data used in the study, the researcher will ensure that the secondary data meet the following ethical considerations:

1.De-identification of the research data will be conducted before the data is released and used by the researcher. Any research with personally identifiable information that can be used to identify the subject must be de-identified or eliminated from the study (Bankert, Amdur, & Amdur, 2006).

2. The researcher will also reasonably presume the informed consent of the study subjects. The informed consent, in this case, includes taking provision for future use and sharing of the data so collected.

3.Additionally, the researcher will also ensure that the outcomes of the analysis do not allow the audiences to re-identify the original participants in the study.

4. Finally, the researcher will make sure that the secondary data used must not result in harm, damage of distress.

5. Any author who does not want his work to be used in the study will not be used. Only the authors whose works are publicly available will be used and be credited.

Ethics in research

Rights of the respondents- anonymity and confidentiality

The original human subject may be identifiable by way of their personal information contained in the secondary sources (Lee, 1991). The research might involve interviewing the human respondents who live in poverty. These respondents have a right to their privacy, and thus the researcher will ensure that the identities of the interviewees are not exposed. The researcher will make sure that the respondents contribute anonymously and any respondents who will provide identifiable information will be removed from the study.

The respondents will be free to leave the study at any one time that they feel uncomfortable with the study. No respondent will be forced to participate or stay in the study up to the last minutes against their wish. Personal information will be controlled in respect of their autonomy. The researcher will ensure that confidentiality is maximized to help the respondents protect their social vulnerability and identity (Xiuqin, 2011).

The researcher will seek informed consent from the participants or authors whose works shall be used. The participants will be given true and adequate information for them to decide on whether they would wish to participate in the research. The explanation should be simple, unambiguous and in a language the participant understand. The researcher will ensure that he participants have a free and uncoerced choice to allow or withhold their informed consent.

• Explain whether these issues are actual or potential and provide a rationale for your answer.

Intellectual property violation is actual because the researcher will mainly rely on secondary data during the study. The use of secondary data means that the researcher will be using other people's intellectual property that is guided by laws. The researcher, therefore, has to ensure that the intellectual property laws are not violated during the study (Koller, Powell, & Wolfe, 2014).

Anonymity, confidentiality, and informed consent are potential issues because the researcher will be conducting the secondary study from the database. However, because most of the secondary sources were based on primary data from human subjects, the researcher has trod entire that the secondary sources do not have or contain any identifiable information. If the secondary data have identifiable information, the researcher should eliminate the whole source or ignore the personal information therein.

The implication of the data protection act (1998) is very clear as the planned use of the data indicates that they will be used for public domain research. The researcher will, therefore, ensure that he checks the kind of consent that the original researcher secured from the participants as at the time the data was collected. The participants must have agreed to allow their data be archived and or made available for future research. Without which, the researcher will not use the data in the secondary sources.

• Explain the level of privacy that would be required according to an IRB for participants in your Final Project research program intervention, and explain why.

The researcher will have to protect the privacy and confidentiality of the original participants. He will have to protect the private information such as behaviors and medical records. He will also have to protect the sensitive information such as sexual preferences, medical conditions, illegal conducts, use of drugs or treatment for addictive products, information that can reasonably cause stigmatization and discrimination, as well as health information such as the mental health problems. Finally, the researcher will also ensure that the researcher must protect privacies including the Protected Health Information as defined by HIPAA privacy regulations.

References

Bankert, E., Amdur, R., & Amdur, R. (2006). Institutional review board (1st ed.). Sudbury, Mass.: Jones and Bartlett.

Koller, K., Powell, T., & Wolfe, A. (2014). Public health research: Institutional review board review or no institutional review board review?. The Journal Of Pediatrics, 165(2), 420. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2014.04.040

Lee, L. (1991). Ethical Issues Related to Research Involving Children. Journal Of Pediatric Oncology Nursing, 8(1), 24-29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/104345429100800105

Xiuqin, W. (2011). Ethical consideration in several commonly used study design. China Journal Of Chinese Materia Medica. http://dx.doi.org/10.4268/cjcmm20112038