Ethical Principles Operationalized

The ethical principles that universities are obliged to follow when it comes to research are spelled out in each university's Institutional Review Board (IRB). The IRB is essentially a guide for employees at the university in terms of the protection of human subjects in biomedical and other forms of research. In this paper the IRB published by the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater will be critiqued and reviewed vis-a-vis the ethical principles contained therein.

In the Overview of the UWW IRB (p. 2) the "Common Rule" offers discretion as to whether the proposal needs to be submitted to the "full" committee or just to the chair of the committee. The full committee will hear proposals for research when there is a "potential risk of harm to subjects" (p. 2). Certainly the UWW supports and encourages "free and responsible investigation by faculty, staff, and students" -- however, all projects require...
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