Research involving human subjects requires that both participants and researchers understand the expectations and limits of any research project. If you are conducting research, you have a moral obligation to make sure that participants understand their involvement is voluntary and to get their informed consent to be part of the project.
The ethics of human subjects research is complex, in part because moral values vary in different cultural contexts or even among different groups within a society. How a researcher gets informed consent or approaches potential participants depends on may things, including:
- The society/culture in which one is doing research
- The discipline that shapes one’s approach to research, such as anthropology, sociology, psychology, etc.
- The potential risks to individuals and benefits to knowledge/society that are at stake in the research
Research ethics are never simple. Students in HDO 320 and HDO390 are required to complete the standard University of Texas at Austin ethics training provided by the Institutional Review Board. After completion of the online training session, you will receive a certificate of completion that you can upload to your course website in Canvas.
To take the training, click here: Institutional Review Board Ethics Training
You will be asked to log in using your EID and password. After you have logged in, follow the directions to complete the training.