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Nursing Research Chapter 5

Ethic and Research

Ethical concepts are especially prominent in nursing research because the line of
demarcation between what constitutes the expected practice of nursing and the
collection of research data can sometimes get blurred. Furthermore, ethics can
create particular challenges because ethical requirements sometimes conflict with
the need to produce high-quality evidence for practice.
 Because research has not always been conducted ethically, and because of
genuine ethical dilemmas that researcher s often face in designing studies that
are both ethical and methodologically rigorous, codes of ethics have been
developed to guide researchers.

 Three mayor ethical principles from the Belmont report are incorporated into
most guidelines: beneficence, respect for human dignity, and justice.

 Beneficence involves the performance of some good and the protection of

participants from physical and psychological harm and exploitation
(nonmaleficence).

 Respect for human dignity involves the participant right to self determination,
which means participants have the freedom to control their own activities,
including their voluntary participation in the study.

 Full disclosure means that researchers have fully described to prospective

participants their right and the cost and benefits of study. When full disclosure
poses the risk of biased results, researchers sometimes use covert data
collection and concealment (the collection of information without the
participant knowledge or consent) or deception (either withholding information
from participants or providing false information).

 Justice includes the right to fair equitable treatment and the right to privacy. In
the United States, privacy has become a major issue because of the Privacy
Rule regulations that resulted from the Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act (HIPAA).
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 Various procedures have been developed to safeguard study participants rights,

including the performance of a risk benefit assessment, the implementation of
informed consent procedures, and taking steps to safeguard participants’
confidentiality.

 In a risk benefit assessment, the potential benefits of the study to individual

participants and to society are weighed against the cost to individuals.

 Informed consent procedures, which provide prospective participants with

information needed to make a reasoned decision about participation, normally
involve signing a consent form to document voluntary and informed
participation.

 Privacy can be maintained through anonymity (wherein not even researchers

know participants identities) or through formal confidentially procedures that
safeguard the information participants provide.

 In some studies, it may be advantageous for U.S. researchers to obtain a

certificate of confidentiality that protects them against, the forced disclosure of
confidential information through a court order or other administrative process.

 Researchers sometimes offer debriefing sessions after data collection to provide

participants with more information or an opportunity to air complaints.

 Vulnerable subjects require traditional protection. These people may be

vulnerable because they are not able to make a truly informed decision about
study participation (e.g. children), because of diminished autonomy (e.g.
prisoners), or because their circumstances heighten the risk of physical or
psychological harm (e.g. pregnant women, the terminally ill).

 External review of the ethical aspect of a study by a human subjects committee,

Research Ethics Board (REB), or Institutional Review Board (IRB) is highly
desirable and is often required by universities and organizations from which
participants are recruited.

 Ethical conduct in research involves not only protecting the rights of human and
animal subjects, but also efforts to maintain high standards of integrity and
avoid such forms of research misconduct as plagiarism, fabrication of results, or
falsification of data.
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 Reference: Denise F. Polit., et.al. (2010). Essentials of Nursing

Research, seventh edition, Wolters Kluwer, Lippincott Williams &
Wilkins.