Ethical Issues in Research Involving Human Subjects

1. Second Language
Research
Chapter 2
By Abolfazl Ghanbari

2. Aim
Ethical Issues in Research Involving Human Subjects

3. Ethical Issues in Research Involving Human Subjects
Informed consent requires that human subjects, to the degree
that they are capable, be provided with the opportunity to choose
what shall or shall not happen to them (Belmont, 1979).
Consent implies voluntary agreement to participate in a study
where potential participant has enough information and
understands enough to make an informed decision.

4. Obtaining Informed Consent from SLLs
 Sufficient information
 Is Withholding Information Ever Necessary?
 Participant Comprehension in Informed Consent
 Voluntary Participation and Informed Consent

5. Sufficient information
Participants should receive information that describes the:
 procedures and purposes of the research
 as well as the potential risks
 and benefits such as the method by which participants
will be assigned to any groups in the study (e.g. treatment
group or control group).

6. Is withholding information ever necessary?
 In general, researchers are advised to provide as much
information as possible to participants because failure to
disclose information may constitute deception.
 If the researcher is studying a teacher’s use of questions in the
L2 classroom, informing the teacher about the goals of the
research may bias his or her use of questions and thus lead to
an unrepresentative sample of data. In this case, withholding
information may be acceptable.

7. Is withholding information ever necessary?
But, three conditions need to be met:
 Incomplete disclosure is essential to the aims of the research
 No risks are undisclosed
 All participants will be given an opportunity to be debriefed
after the study.

8. Participants comprehension in informed consent
Researchers are responsible for ensuring participants’ understanding
The way in which information is conveyed might be as important as the
information itself . This implies:
1. That the potential participants have the opportunity to discuss concerns
and get any questions answered
2. The informed consent document is given to them in a language that is
understandable for them, respecting factors such as learners’ ages and
reading levels, educational background, mental capacity, and language
proficiency (Belmont report, 1979).

9. Voluntary participation and informed consent
Invitation to participate in research must involve neither threats
of harm nor offers of inappropriate rewards. Undue influence
may be exercised, even unwittingly, where persons of authority
urge or suggest a particular course of action.