Research Ethics and the Social Scientist There are many angles
on why an understanding of ethics and social science research
must go hand in hand. While ethics is very important, perhaps US
Law and the history of the study of human subjects are more
compelling reasons for ethical examination of your research
plan; researchers who study human subjects must first pass their
research plan by the Institutional Review Board (the IRB) for
approval. Carleton has a very good IRB quiz to help you
determine whether your research will require IRB approval.
Researchers at other institutions will need to pass their own
IRB approval and all Institutional Review Boards have their own
interpretations of the federal guidelines as well as
institutional standards. The principle goals of the IRB are to
ensure that researchers understand and uphold the following two
standards dictated by federal law: - Human subjects should not
be placed at undue risk; - Subjects should give uncoerced,
informed consent to their participation in t