Introduction

Integrity in research guides researchers on principles to follow when conducting research. According to the National institutes of health (2013), integrity in research is defined as using honest and veriable methods in proposing, performing and evaluating research. It is also said when reporting research results you have to do so with particular attention to adherence to rules regulations, guidelines and following commonly accepted professional codes and norms.

Research question: How do we ensure human subjects are protected in research experiements?

Experience

This year we as physiotherapy students are required to make a research proposal which is based on health. Our group proposal will focus on using human subjects in order to get answers of our research question. When we started our proposals, were not made aware of the laws, policies and regulations we have to look at when making the proposal so that we do not violate the rights or the local laws which protect our subjects. The only this we are aware of is an informed consent and confidentiality. Even though we are not going to go to the field and  to conduct the research but I find it necessary that we have to be equiped by the local and international laws we need to follow when we are making the proposal. As a result we found it difficult to decide whether to within hold treatment on our controlled group and give it only to our experiemental group. We did not know whether that will violate laws protecting our subjects or it is excepted in research.

Literature review

According to National institutes of health (2013), scientific research is guided by three values which are honesty- to convey information truthfully and honoring commitments, accuracy- reporting findings precisely and efficiency- using resources wisely and avoiding improper bias. These the things we need to know while making our proposals. The National institutes of health also have training programs for researchers in areas such as policies for handling misconduct, data management and policies regarding the use of human and animal subjects. This shows the importance of knowing policies in research. According to Steneck and Zinn (2007), researchers must comply with all relevant  Federal regulations as well as any applicable state and local laws, regulations and policies related to protection of human subjects. The first law that was introduced in research was the Nuremberg code (1947) after world war 2 and later the Declaration of helsinki (1964), the latest revision and clarification was done in 2002 and provided the first explicit international guidellines for the ethical treatment of human subjects in research. After cold war in 1991 the common rule ( 45 CFR 46) -subpart A-D was introduced providing a comprehensive articulation of the society’s expectations for the responsible use of human subjects in research.

Discussion

If we are not aware of the local laws, policies and regulations in research for the use of human subjects , we might make proposals that may harm people. Even with the only few human rights  that we know in research there are ethical issues that we do not know that might make it difficult to make a  research proposal involving  certain groups of people. According to Steneck and Zinn (2007), it would be impossisble to have an informed consent from children, because they might not understand it or people with impaired decision making capacity or critical ill patients. Human subjects also have the right to withdraw from a research but sometimes the damage from the experiement will already have been done, meaning they put lives at risk without any benefit.

Conclusion

Being aware and adhering to the laws, policies and regulations in research we will be able to protect human subjects. Knowing laws will ensure us that we are making research proposal that will no harm humans but benefit them.

By : Makadunyiswe Mfeketho (3551679)

References

National institutes of health (2013). Research integrity. Retrieved: August 16, 2018, from: https//grants.nih.gov/grants/research_integrity/whatis.htm.

Steneck, N.H. & Zinn, D. (2007). Introduction to the responsible conduct of research. Retrieved: August 16, 2018, from: http//ori.hhs.gov/ori-introduction-responsible-conduct-research.