4.1 Introduction

In the Learning Unit 2, you saw that modern research ethics arose primarily from efforts to protect the rights of research participants. The current concept of research integrity is broader and includes more issues. However, when people are involved, it is still the general rule that the research study should only proceed with participants’ valid informed consent. Do you agree with the previous sentence? Or is it sometimes possible to study people without informing them in advance (covert research)? Must such consent always be in writing? And how to properly conduct research with the participation of children?

After going through this unit, you are able to:

After going through this unit, you will be able to:

• explain the rights of research participants;
• understand when, from whom and how to gather consent when doing research;
• recognize the need for parental permission/consent and assent of minor for research with children and adolescents;
• prepare an informed consent that is appropriate for the master student’s research.