Why do we need Ethical Human Research?

Ethical Human Research!!!!

Luckily, Australia has a good record regarding ethical approaches to human research, but if we do not have these guidelines in place, there is no way of stopping potential unethical approaches much later. What is Human Research and who regulates its Ethics? Human Research is defined by the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (2007) as: Research that is conducted with or about humans, or their data or tissue As this research can be potentially quite personal and invasive, the NSECHR (2007) clearly defined who is to regulate the ethical approaches to Human Research. These parties include: establish ethically responsible research The institution conducting the research: It is their role to verify that the researcher is conducting his research ethically

Ultimately, the research being undertaken should have some benefit, whether it is to the advancement of the particular research field, or to the general public.

Benefits

Why?
Beneficence is significant to Ethical Human research, as the potential risks involved in conducting human research have to be weighed against the potential gains for the research field and ultimately the wider community. (NSECHR 2007)

How?
The beneficence of the research is assessed in many ways such as:

Why do we need it?The researcher: it is their role to

Comparing the ethical risks with the potential gains Researchers being sensitive to the wellbeing of the participants involved Reflection on the social and cultural implications of their research (NSECHR;2007)

Justice

Merit and Integrity Why?

Research that has merit and integrity must be justified by its potential benefit to the community which includes its contribution knowledge and understanding, improving social welfare and individual well being. (NSECHR, 2007)

Respect Why?
Respect in Human research is acknowledging their intrinsic value, and this is done by abiding by the beneficence, Justice and Merit and Integrity of the research. Without this respect for the human participants, the research can become unethical. (NSECHR, 2007)

Why?
Justice is important, as if the people in the research are not all treated with a sense of fairness and equality; the research could become compromised and could no longer be seen as ethical. (NSECHR;2007)

How?
Justice in this type of research is obtained through: A fair distribution of the benefits and burdens of research Fair treatment of the participants of the research, as well as the review of the research It must be ensured that the potential benefits of the research are obtained through

How?
Merit and Integrity can be obtained in human research through:

How?
Respect in human research can be shown in many ways, such as: Having regard for the various beliefs, the wellbeing, customs and perceptions of the research participants. The privacy of the participant should be respected The research participants should be allowed to make their own decisions throughout the process Providing protection when the participants ability to make an informed decision is

Being designed or developed using methods appropriate for achieving the proposals aims Being based on current literature as well as current study Being designed so that the integrity of the participants is

Reflection: The peer feedback received in regard to the composition and layout of this assignment was quite helpful in completing this leaflet. One such issue that my peer raised was that there was initially some layout issues regarding the text and its relation to the images. This problem was easily correctible and did not cause a great deal of grief, as I was initially going to alter the layout of the handout, but I felt I should gain a second opinion before doing so, and this aided in my decision making process. Another such comment put forward by me peer regarding my leaflet was the language used in the textual elements. I was advised that as it was a leaflet designed for university students, that I could use a slightly more extensive vocabulary. However, whilst I did change some of the wording of this leaflet, I kept it mostly the same as from personal experience if a leaflet is trying to be too intellectual in its language, it is not accessible. Furthermore keeping it at less sophisticated level in terms of the language further expands the potential audience, and it does not seem inaccessible. Another such suggestion that my peer put forward to improve my leaflet is the addition of visual images, as well as the changing of certain images already in the leaflet. Whilst in the initial leaflet, there were images; my peer suggested to me that there should be a few more images in the leaflet to aid in the visual learning process. My peer also suggested I change a few images that were slightly less relevant with ones that would not only aid with the visual learning process, but would also be slightly more aesthetically appealing to the potential viewers of this leaflet. Finally, the last recommendation that was put forward to me by my peer was that I should use more direct quotes from people and from sources. This was rationalised as people can often absorb information much better if they are seeing a quote from a reputable source or an inspirational figure. However, I ultimately chose against the inclusion of the latter element, as I believed that if I were to inundate the leaflet with quotes from inspirational people, there would have been less room for the relevant information, and this would have taken away from the overall appeal of the handout. In regards to the former, I decided to paraphrase the quotes from the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research, as I believed it was the best option, as it provides the relevant information to the audience of the leaflet, but it uses a language that whilst being somewhat intellectual, is still accessible on all levels.