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Research Ethics Monthly

ISSN 2206-2483

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White Mouse in White maze looking over walls

Animal Ethics: Handling (difficult) enquiries

Dr Gary Allen July 15, 2023 No Comments
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A ceramic pink Piggy bank money concept on dark blue background, stuffed with Australian cash, and female hand take one hundred dollar note.

HREC decision-making about social research with children: the influence of payment, risk and method

April 21, 2022 No Comments

In her latest thought-provoking post Stephanie Taplin reflects on social research with children/young adults and the impact of offering them incentives in the form of payments.

These matters have been controversial for research ethics committee and resulted in a block of items in the review feedback from the reviewing committee/s.

Despite the authority provided by the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (NHMRC, 2007, updated 2018) HRECs can be nervous about approving such research with incentives.

Despite this difficulty for reviewers, incentives in the form of payments definitely increases the chances that a young person will respond to a recruitment strategy.

Stephanie’s work has highlighted the degree to which a review body may be more comfortable with the offer of a chance to win and an incentive in a prize draw, at values over ten times as high as the direct incentive payment.

Another area of tension between the preferences of review body and young people is the difference between face-to-face interviews and anonymous questionnaires.

In this post Stephanie reflects on why researchers should engage with HRECs on these matters, rather than choose a path most likely to be accepted immediately by a committee.

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Scrabble tiles spelling out the word "CONSENT"

Think of, and treat, consent as a powerful and complex verb, not a strictly defined and constrained noun

November 29, 2021 No Comments

The notion of consent and the expectation researchers will seek the prior consent of participants has a long history in human research ethics.

It has been a feature of many of the most infamous ethical Breakers commerce stamps and scandals.

Consequently, it has become a baked in feature of most of the guidelines on human research ethics.

But is that a good thing?

The typical approach to consent in human research doesn’t really work for a number of circumstances, research designs or potential how to participant pools.

Long strict guidelines can compound the error and can risk alienating researchers.

A more nuanced approach that provides guidance on necessary features of consent material can be more helpful than template consent materials.

This is exactly the kind of approach that this called for by the National Statement in Australia

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Error of judgment! Handwritten message on a white background.

Unnatural justice: Public allegations could cause significant harm to vital clinical trial activity

October 25, 2021 No Comments

In this thought-provoking post, Nik Zeps (a consultant with AHRECS and a partner at Chrysalis) discusses the serious harm (in terms of reputation and career, as well as lost useful lines of inquiry) when there are complaints that allege ethical problems with clinical research.

These relate to situations where the clinical research is evaluating different kinds of intervention, where the evidence for the ‘accepted’ treatment might not be clear.

A misunderstanding of such research designs and a visceral reaction to apparent breaches aren’t helpful.

When such allegations are made, the researchers are rarely afforded an opportunity to respond and explain. If they were, one assumes that the manner could be easily cleared up.

We are embarrassed to admit in our own reporting of the cited case we really didn’t grasp the realities of what occurred or called out the very emotive reaction.

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Looking through a wire fence of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp

Why university research ethics committees are vital

March 13, 2021 No Comments

In this post Daniel Sokol writes about a troubling research integrity/human research ethics case that relates to Poland, the UK and Australia.

Daniel Sokol 

When I sat on the Ministry of Defence’s Research Ethics Committee, some research projects were potentially dangerous.  The risks of testing a new piece of military diving equipment, for example, are obvious.  If it malfunctions, the volunteer could drown or suffer brain damage.  The risks of historical research can be more subtle but they are nonetheless real, as shown by a recent case involving the University of Warwick.

Dr Anna Hájková, an associate professor of modern continental European history, researches the queer history of the Holocaust.  She claimed that a Jewish prisoner may have engaged in a lesbian sexual relationship with a Nazi guard in Hamburg in 1944.

After the war, the prisoner worked as an actress and emigrated from…

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Graphic of camera observation of the community

Should we accept funding for facial recognition research, and other dilemmas?

January 26, 2021 No Comments

Gary Allen, Mark Israel and Colin Thomson|
PEER REVIEWED

In the 1980s and 1990s, many research institutions made the principled and commendable decision not to accept funding from the tobacco industry.

This reflected the recognition of the awful health impacts of tobacco use and the degree to which the industry was muddying the waters of public debate with academic and clinical research questioning the veracity of the overwhelming body of evidence that clearly showed the dire dangers of activity such as smoking. While we continue to be shocked by cases such those like the research of Hans J Eysenck (and this), for the main it is accepted that receiving funding from the tobacco industry is not in the public’s best interest.

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A woman completing a form on a laptop

Can I use your answers anyway?

March 30, 2020 No Comments

Dr Gary Allen AHRECS Senior Consultant Many national frameworks for human research ethics, such as the National Statement (2007 updated

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Figure looking at a poster

Plain English communications and the PICF – and beyond

March 6, 2020 No Comments

Bob Milstein See below For many of us, preparing the Participant Information and Consent Form (PICF) for a research project

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Advances in Medicine often require innovation in ethical thinking too

December 22, 2019 No Comments

Nik Zeps and Tanya Symons AHRECS Consultant Breakthroughs in medicine often highlight the existing limitations of the frameworks established to

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Featured posts

Cartoon of the alien hunter from the Predator movies

Pondering on whether to submit your research output to a journal?

October 30, 2019 No Comments

The significance of how we talk and think about the pachyderm elephant mammoth in

Can Your HREC Benefit from Coaching?

May 21, 2018 No Comments

Atul Gawande, an American surgeon and researcher, sparked a debate in the medical community

The word RESEARCH written in large letters written across a multi-coloured jigsaw

A Model for the Participation of Indigenous Children and Young People in Research

October 20, 2017 No Comments

Following my September 2017 piece: Ethics and the Participation of Indigenous Children and Young

The words, "3RD SECTOR" stamped over the words, "RESEARCH ETHICS".

Samaritans UK: Developing ‘fit for purpose’ research ethics processes within a large third sector organisation

March 11, 2022 No Comments

In this post, Simon Anderson (AHRECS Associate) and Liz Scowcroft (Head of Research & Evaluation, Samaritans UK) discuss the history of research ethics policy and research ethics review at Samaritans (UK).

Part of this discussion reflected on moving beyond arrangements that are very similar to those used by higher education institutions toward something better suited to the needs of the 3rd Sector.

This requires a clear understanding that the designs, outputs, objectives and needs of a significant portion of research that is conducted internally to the 3rd sector is different and needs different Solutions.

A proportional approach to research ethics review and related processes have been adopted by Samaritans, as well as widening of the definition of research and a whole of institution commitment to research ethics.

Simon and AHRECS were delighted to work with Samaritans to produce a blueprint for constructive change.

Send an email to enquiry@ahrecs.com if you would like to discuss how we could assist your institution.

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