Protection of Human Subject Participants in Research Article 5: Autonomy and individual responsibility

“The autonomy of persons to make decisions while taking responsibility for those decisions and respecting the autonomy of others is to be respected. For persons who are not capable of exercising autonomy, special measures are to be taken to protect their rights and interests” (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2019).

This principle specifies that human subjects should be given autonomy and a right to make decisions to participate in research. A researcher should not coerce a person to take part in research when the person is unwilling to. The researcher must ensure that the participants are well informed on what the research entails, why they need to participate, and what to expect from the research. It is unethical for a researcher to coerce a person to participate without giving them all the necessary information. If the person faces challenges or is harmed in the research process, the researcher will be liable, and the participant will live with the consequences of the harm.

A researcher can ensure that this principle is upheld by first ensuring that the research is safe for human participants to take part in. The researcher will need to get approval from the ethics board after giving detailed information on the research. After getting the ethics board approval, the researcher will need to reach out to participants and request them to participate in the research. Participation should be voluntary.

The researcher should provide details of the research and how the research results will help build the body of knowledge. The researcher should provide participants with a consent form that will state that the identity of the participant will remain anonymous and that their participation will in no way be used against them. The researcher can also choose to pay a small stipend to the participants for their role, but this should not be used as a bribe to take part in the research.

Reference

Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt (2019) Ethical Principles of the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zLUaZvXUSPTVMwW2FfmqSDgsNja-7rWO/view