beneficence ethical principle definition

Protecting the anonymity and confidentiality of research participants is another practical component of research ethics. We discuss these in more detail under the section: Avoiding deceptive practices.

These include certain educational, organisational and naturalistic research settings. You should also be aware that there are instances informed consent is not necessarily needed or needs to be relaxed. Where informed consent cannot be obtained from participants, you must explain why this is the case. Whilst is it not possible to know exactly what information a potential participant would (or would not) want to know, you should aim not to leave out any material information that is, information that you feel would influence whether consent would (or would not) be granted.Īnother component of informed consent is the principle that participants should be volunteers, taking part without having been coerced and deceived. Such information may include the purpose of the research, the methods being used, the possible outcomes of the research, as well as associated demands, discomforts, inconveniences and risks that the participants may face. Simply put, informed consent means that participants should understand that (a) they are taking part in research and (b) what the research requires of them. One of the foundations of research ethics is the idea of informed consent. We discuss each of these ethical principles in the sections that follow, explaining (a) what they mean and (b) instances where they should (and should not) be followed. Providing participants with the right to withdraw from your research at any time. Protecting the anonymity and confidentiality of participants.Īvoiding deceptive practices when designing your research. Obtaining informed consent from participants. In order to minimising the risk of harm you should think about: Rather, it is the risk of harm that you should try to minimise. Typically, it is not harm that we need to think about since a researcher does not intentionally go out to cause harm. These include:Īn invasion of participants? privacy and anonymity. There are a number of types of harm that participants can be subjected to. Such scenarios will also require (a) additional planning to illustrate how participant harm (or discomfort) will be reduced, (b) informed consent, and (c) detailed debriefing. Where there is the possibility that participants could be harmed or put in a position of discomfort, there must be strong justifications for this. Each of these basic principles of research ethics is discussed in turn:ĭissertation research should not harm participants. In the sections that follow, we discuss the five of the main practical ethical principles that stem from these basic principles. This is important not only for ethical reasons, but also practical ones, since a failure to meet such basic principles may lead to your research being (a) criticised, potentially leading to a lower mark, and/or (b) rejected by your supervisor or Ethics Committee, costing you valuable time. Whilst ethical requirements in research can vary across countries, these are the basic principles of research ethics. More often than not, such choices should reflect the research strategy that you adopt to guide your dissertation.īroadly speaking, your dissertation research should not only aim to do good (i.e., beneficence), but also avoid doing any harm (i.e., non-malfeasance). Similarly, there may be instances where you seek permission from participants not to protect their anonymity. However, there are many instances where it is not possible or desirable to obtain informed consent from research participants. When you look at these five basic ethical principles, it may appear obvious that your dissertation should include these. This article discusses these five ethical principles and their practical implications when carrying out dissertation research. In practice, these ethical principles mean that as a researcher, you need to: (a) obtain informed consent from potential research participants (b) minimise the risk of harm to participants (c) protect their anonymity and confidentiality (d) avoid using deceptive practices and (e) give participants the right to withdraw from your research. At the core, these ethical principles stress the need to (a) do good (known as beneficence) and (b) do no harm (known as non-malfeasance). There are a number of ethical principles that should be taken into account when performing undergraduate and master's level dissertation research.

Beneficence ethical principle definition