Ethical research in social science

Doing research in an ethical manner becomes extremely important when dealing with human subjects.

Research is the systematic process of collecting and analyzing information (data) in order to increase our understanding of the phenomenon about which we are concerned or interested and communicating what we discovered to the larger scientific community. The goal is to study ethics and what should occur in regard to human subject research treatment.

"HSR experiments were recorded during vaccination trials in the 1700s. In these early trials, physicians used themselves or their slaves as test subjects. Experiments on others were often conducted without informing the subjects of dangers associated with such experiments". Before the Pure Food and Drug Act was passed in 1906 there were no regulations or concerns with regard to research ethics on humans. The Nuremberg Code, in 1946, was the first law which stated that researchers must have consent from their human subjects. This was due in whole to the killings of numerous individuals within Nazi concentration camps. Research has been conducted on human subjects dating back to WWII when the Nazis experimented (unethically) on the Jews. "The Nazi physicians performed brutal medical experiments upon helpless concentration camp inmates. These acts of torture were characterized by several shocking features:

The basis of the Nuremberg Code is that the benefits of the research must outweigh the risks.

Research has been conducted unethically in other experiments, not in regard to torture but in cases of consent, deception, privacy, and confidentiality. Such experiments include: the Milgram Experiment of 1961 (electric shock treatment), Humphrey's Tearoom Trade of 1970 (male on male sexual encounters), and the Zimbardo Guard Study of 1971 (college student simulated prison experiment) just to name a few. In these experiments the subjects did not always know what they were getting into or were not all voluntarily participating.

It was not until the Institutional Review Board (IRB) was established in 1974 by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare that these unlawful experiments against humans came to a halt.

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Wikipedia