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10 - Informed Consent to Research

from Part II - The Building Blocks of a Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 May 2023

By
David S. Festinger ,
Karen L. Dugosh ,
Hannah R. Callahan  and
Rachel A. Hough
Edited by
Austin Lee Nichols  and
John Edlund
Austin Lee Nichols
Affiliation:
Central European University, Vienna
John Edlund
Affiliation:
Rochester Institute of Technology, New York
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Summary

This chapter focuses on informed consent, the cornerstone of conducting ethical human subjects research. It presents a brief history of the origins of informed consent to research and reviews codes, guidelines, and regulations that have been established in response to ethical violations carried out in the name of science. The chapter reviews the essential elements of consent (i.e., intelligence, knowingness, and voluntariness) and discusses challenges that researchers may encounter within each of these areas. Importantly, it approaches consent as an ongoing process rather than a one-time-event and presents practical and empirically supported strategies that researchers can apply to assess and enhance individuals’ capacity, understanding, and autonomy as it pertains to research participation. Additional topics discussed include assent to research that involves children, electronic and multimedia consent, and consent to research using biospecimens.

Keywords

Informed ConsentCapacityUnderstandingAutonomy
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Research Methods and Statistics for the Social and Behavioral Sciences
Volume 1: Building a Program of Research
 , pp. 202 - 223
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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