Question 1

A researcher is applying for Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval, and the form specifies that the researcher indicate the probable level of risk. The research creates situations in which the participants, registered nurses, are placed in unusual code-like situations in which they do not know what action to take, and actors play the parts of other healthcare providers. The participants are then asked to describe their feelings in the scenarios, and their levels of confidence as they go through 15 scenarios. What level of risk does this study pose?

Accepted Answer

The study involves placing participants in stressful, simulated scenarios and asking them to describe their feelings, which may cause temporary discomfort but is not expected to cause unusual discomfort or permanent harm.

Question 2

A researcher is applying for a grant renewal, on the topic of a promising new treatment for liver cancer. The researcher's group has used the treatment for 13 participants. The results, 9 responded and 4 did not, are not statistically significant. However, if the researcher entered each patient as three different people and reported the results as 27 responded and 12 did not, the results would be statistically significant. If the researcher chose to do this, what would it represent?

Accepted Answer

Fabrication is the act of creating false data or results. In this case, the researcher would be fabricating data by entering each patient as three different people and reporting the results as 27 responded and 12 did not.

Question 3

An Institutional Review Board (IRB) assures that (1) the rights and welfare of the individuals involved are protected, (2) appropriate methods are used to secure informed consent, and (3) potential benefits of the investigation are greater than the risks. Which is an example of how the IRB determines the level of potential risk?

Accepted Answer

The IRB reviews the researcher's description of the study's potential risks and compares them to everyday risks to determine the level of potential risk. This process helps ensure that the risks are not disproportionately high compared to the potential benefits of the research.

Question 4

A researcher receives permission to use the information in a hospital data set, without patient identifiers. What level of participant consent is required?

Accepted Answer

When a researcher uses de-identified data from a dataset, where patient identifiers are removed, generally no participant consent is required. This is because the data cannot be linked back to individual participants, thus maintaining their privacy and confidentiality.

Question 5

A researcher is applying for renewal of a large federal grant, without which his very promising research on panic disorder cannot continue. He is completing renewal forms, which include a synopsis of his results, to date. If he excludes two of the participants with very severe panic disorder and three with mental health disorders of another kind, the results are statistically significant. He writes the report and does not mention the five participants he excluded. What word best describes this researcher's actions?

Accepted Answer

Falsification involves manipulating research materials, equipment, or processes, or changing or omitting data or results such that the research is not accurately represented in the research record. By excluding certain participants to achieve statistically significant results and not reporting this exclusion, the researcher is misrepresenting the research data, which constitutes falsification.

Question 6

A researcher who is also a university professor is performing a multi-site study, in which on-site interviews are conducted with nurses in five hospitals in a major city. Each hospital has an Institutional Review Board (IRB). From how many institutional review boards or committees must the researcher obtain permission to conduct the study?

Accepted Answer

The researcher must obtain permission from the IRBs of all five hospitals where the research is being conducted, as well as from the university where the researcher is a professor, making it a total of six IRBs. Each institution involved in research, especially when it involves human subjects, typically requires its own review to ensure ethical standards are met.

Question 7

A graduate student receives a mailed survey packet asking the student to participate in research about unpleasant experiences in graduate school. The student is asked to return the survey, with the statement, "Return of this instrument implies consent." Why does this constitute consent?

Accepted Answer

Not returning the survey constitutes refusal, which implies that returning the completed survey is a form of consent. This method allows participants to express their willingness to participate in the research by actively choosing to return the survey.

Question 8

The right an individual has to receive treatment even if that individual decides not to participate in the research best defines which human right?

Accepted Answer

The answer of The right an individual has to receive...

Question 9

In what way could the researchers in the Willowbrook study have designed their research on the hepatitis virus so that it was ethically acceptable?

Accepted Answer

The researchers could have ethically conducted their study by observing and collecting data from individuals who were already infected with hepatitis, rather than deliberately infecting new participants.

Question 10

Both the participant in the experimental group who receives an experimental treatment and the participant in the control group who receives the control treatment are considered to be participants in therapeutic research. Why is this?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Both the participant in the experimental group...

Question 11

In a study of outpatients experiencing panic attacks, a researcher was working in a busy clinic waiting room and left his computer unattended while consenting a new study participant. A transcription of a patient interview was displayed, and at the end of the transcription were the patient's medical record number and a list of medications currently taken. The researcher had not closed down the screen and when he returned to the room, he found an adult patient playing a video game on the computer. This best describes an example of a violation of which human right?

Accepted Answer

The answer of In a study of outpatients experiencing panic...

Question 12

A physician is conducting research on a new and promising chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer that improves survival and decreases adverse symptoms. Sixty participants will be recruited; of these, thirty will be assigned to the experimental group, receiving the new treatment, and thirty to the control group, receiving the usual chemotherapy. The physician's wife, newly diagnosed with breast cancer, is randomly assigned to the control group; he removes her from the control group and places her in the experimental group. What ethical violation has occurred?

Accepted Answer

The answer of A physician is conducting research on a...

Question 13

A master's student knows next to nothing about Maslow's theory related to hierarchy of needs but, on an advisor's recommendation, decides to use it as a theoretical framework for the student's thesis. The student goes online and finds a Wikipedia page, copying the description of Maslow's theory verbatim, putting a citation at the end of the paragraph, but not using quotation marks. What word best describes this master's student's actions?

Accepted Answer

The student's action is best described as plagiarism because they copied someone else's work word for word without using quotation marks, even though they cited the source. Plagiarism involves presenting someone else's work or ideas as your own, with or without their consent, by incorporating it into your work without full acknowledgment.

Question 14

A researcher working for Google collects data on fair treatment in the workplace. She attempts to attach one of the raw data forms to an e-mail message to herself, so that she can finish the data analysis at home that evening, but accidentally sends it to another employee who had provided data for the study. The two study participants, coincidentally, have an identical opinion about fair treatment in the workplace. This best describes an example of a violation of which human right?

Accepted Answer

Confidentiality is breached when personal or sensitive information is shared without consent, regardless of the content of the information or the opinions of those involved.

Question 15

What specific area of ethics does the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) address?

Accepted Answer

HIPAA specifically addresses privacy concerns related to the handling of individuals' health information, ensuring that personal health data is protected and confidentiality is maintained.

Question 16

A research study offers elderly men, who have in the past been prison inmates, $1,500 for participation in an all-day workshop at which they agree to be hypnotized and tell stories of incarceration, which later are published. The research participants are allowed to listen to the tapes of what the men said under hypnosis and to withdraw permission to use any part of the information. Why is this scenario a violation of self-determination?

Accepted Answer

Offering a significant sum of money to participate in research can be coercive, especially to individuals who might be in financial need, such as elderly men with past prison experiences. This could pressure them into participating in a study they might otherwise avoid.

Question 17

To take positive action to prevent any harm to the research participants best defines which ethical principle?

Accepted Answer

Beneficence involves taking actions that benefit others, which includes preventing harm. This principle is fundamental in research ethics, emphasizing the need to maximize benefits while minimizing any possible harm to participants.

Question 18

A master's student knows next to nothing about Maslow's theory related to hierarchy of needs but, on an advisor's recommendation, decides to use it as a theoretical framework for the student's thesis. The student goes to the library and accesses an old master's thesis that also uses the theory and copies three pages, word for word. This student uses the other student's reference to Maslow's work. What word best describes this master's student's actions?

Accepted Answer

Copying another student's work word for word without proper citation is considered plagiarism, which is the act of using someone else's work or ideas without giving them appropriate credit.

Question 19

The right an individual has to be told that he is a potential participant in a research study and may decide not to be so best defines which human right?

Accepted Answer

Self-determination refers to the right of individuals to make decisions for themselves, including the decision to participate or not in research, after being fully informed about the study.

Question 20

A patient in a research study will receive either the customary medication to treat the patient's metastatic colon cancer or a new medication that has shown better results in animal studies and in one small study with humans. This is what kind of research?

Accepted Answer

This is an example of therapeutic research, which involves studying the effects of new treatments or medications on a disease to determine their efficacy and safety in comparison to standard treatments. In this case, the research is comparing a new medication against the customary medication for metastatic colon cancer.

Quiz 9: Ethics in Research