COMM 88 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Institutional Review Board
Comm 88 Lecture 18
June 5, 2018
Research Ethics - Treatment of Subjects
ā¢Institutional Review Board
ā¢Must submit research proposal for approval to the universityās IRB
ā¢At UCSB: Human Subjects Committee
ā¢Must complete Human Subjects training
ā¢Guidelines for using human subjects
ā¢Participation must be voluntary
ā¢Must obtain informed consent
ā¢Explain to participants: purposes and procedures, possible risks and discomforts, ability to
withdraw from study
ā¢Should protect subjects from harm - should not diminish self-worth or cause stress, anxiety,
or embarrassment
ā¢Should preserve right to privacy, 2 ways
ā¢Anonymity
ā¢Conļ¬dentiality
ā¢Both types:
ā¢Outright deception - deliberately providing false information
ā¢Concealment - withholding key information
ā¢Any deception must be justiļ¬ed by compelling scientiļ¬c concerns
ā¢Subjects must be adequately debriefed
Research Ethics - Treatment of Data and Research Reporting
ā¢Ethical handling of data
ā¢Do not āfudgeā data!
ā¢Keep all data
ā¢Reporting ļ¬ndings
ā¢Support proper āpeer reviewā
ā¢Avoid conļ¬icts of interest - funding sources that expect certain ļ¬ndings
ā¢So, then can we trust science?!
ā¢Yes!ā¦BUT watch for the bad signs:
ā¢Science/scientists too closely mixing with (or beneļ¬ting from) a political agenda
ā¢Demonizing people with conļ¬icting points of view (science is never settled)
ā¢Andā¦remember your methods training!!
