| Popis: |
Informed consent is the most essential part of research ethics. The requirement to explain an experiment to the participants who provide tissues/information in order to obtain their voluntary consent is absolutely necessary in any research project. It is an expression of respect regarding the autonomy of the person who participates in the experiment. Why and how is informed consent required and what if some information is intentionally withheld to facilitate the participation? This paper will briefly review the history of informed consent, discuss the components of an ethically valid informed consent and examine deception in research. Sometimes, deception is used in Social, Behavioral and Educational Research (SBER) in order to obtain accuracy information. Can this be justified? There is no doubt that, for some psychological and sociological experiments, the less the subjects know the better. The Bystander Apathy Experiment and the Milgram Experiment will be used here as examples that are discussed and analyzed. In general, deception is not acceptable in human studies. Occasionally, it is necessary to mislead the participants who are subjects of a study in order to obtain unbiased information. The Institute Review Board (IRB) must review very carefully the proposals that use deception or misrepresentation. The reasons that deception is necessary for the study purpose need to be justified in depth and there must be provision in the procedures to protect the participants. When the study is completed, it is essential that a debriefing by the investigator is provided that explains any deception or incomplete disclosure involved; this should also help the subjects to deal with any distress or discomfort experienced in the research. |
