Operationalization of ethical principles in practice

Ethical Principles Operationalized

The ethical principles that universities are obliged to follow when it comes to research are spelled out in each university's Institutional Review Board (IRB). The IRB is essentially a guide for employees at the university in terms of the protection of human subjects in biomedical and other forms of research. In this paper the IRB published by the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater will be critiqued and reviewed vis-a-vis the ethical principles contained therein.

In the Overview of the UWW IRB (p. 2) the "Common Rule" offers discretion as to whether the proposal needs to be submitted to the "full" committee or just to the chair of the committee. The full committee will hear proposals for research when there is a "potential risk of harm to subjects" (p. 2). Certainly the UWW supports and encourages "free and responsible investigation by faculty, staff, and students" -- however, all projects require review by the UWW IRB in order to make sure "adequate measures" have been employed to protect participants.

Ethical Issues to be taken into Consideration

Students working on a project that collects data from "human subjects" -- a project that was assigned in class -- may go ahead and collect data "…as long as the informants are not identifiable by name or description." The participants must not be asked to "reveal anything about the sensitive personal experiences, behaviors, and/or identity," hence those participants will not be in any placed "at risk" by participating. The class-assigned research project are exempted from oversight by the university if: a) they involve "commonly accepted educational settings"; b) the research involves educational testing through interviews or observations so land is the interviews are not "recorded in such a manner that human subjects can be identified"; c) the research involves the study or collection of "existing data, documents, records…if these sources are publicly available"; d) if a federal department or agency head has approved the study and the research is intended for study of public programs, etc.; and e) if the study involves food that is wholesome with no additives or environmental contaminant below the safe level (pp. 6-7).

If a research project is a collaborative study with faculty from another university, once approval has been received from that other institution, a copy of the approved protocol and all attachments must be presented to the UWW IRB along with the UWW faculty member's proposal. When using the Internet for research purposes, the project coordinator must notify participants that "…there is always the risk of intrusion by outside agents, i.e., hacking, therefore the possibility of being identified" needs to be considered (p. 11).

Protocols for full board review by UWW IRB include projects that: a) involve minors; b) target "special populations" like prisoners, disabled people, pregnant women; c) use audio or video to record participants; d) ask personal questions (sexual in nature, involving drugs or alcohol, medical conditions, etc.); e) exposes participants to violent or pornographic materials; f) inflict physical pain; g) create stress or fear; h) are threatening or violate laws or regulations; i) offer benefits to some that are denied to others; j) cause mental or physical exhaustion; k) expose participants to "extreme conditions"; l) leave participants alone, take hair samples or nail clippings; and m) take human tissue samples or any bodily fluid (p. 14-15).