Protection of research participants - Essay Example

Protection of Research Participants It is very important for the researchers to assure the participants of their research study that their personal information, or any experiences they have shared, will be protected, not misused or sold, not altered, and not used without their consent. Protecting the participants’ information is an important ethical consideration that needs to be looked at seriously. First of all, it is important to take approval from the concerned authorities and from the research ethics committee.

Then, important measures should be taken to protect the participants’ sensitive information. Research participants have several rights over the researchers, which include informed consent and voluntary participation. The participants should be informed about “the degree to which the information will be kept confidential”, according to Human Research Participation Program (2009, par.3). Rubin and Babbie (2009, p.263) mention important measures that the researchers should take to protect participants’ information.

They state that sensitive information collected from participants should only be used for professional purposes, and should only be discussed with individuals who are concerned with the study professionally (p.263). They also state that participants should be guaranteed the anonymity and confidentiality of their information, and they should also be informed about the measures that the researchers would be taking to protect the data (p.263). Identifying information should be omitted as soon as possible or used only after participants’ consent.

My research agenda is that I would only use sensitive information after taking participants’ consent, and will take proper measures to protect the data in every possible manner. ReferencesHuman Research Participation Program. (2009). Rights as a Research Participant. Retrieved April 10, 2014, from http://www.yale.edu/hrpp/participants/rights.htmlRubin, A., & Babbie, E. (2009). Essential Research Methods for Social Work. New York, NY: Cengage Learning.