As you have seen, neither the existence of codes of ethics nor the goodwill of researchers will guarantee that different people evaluate a research project in the same way. This is a consequence of the fact that in a pluralistic society, people

  • use different ethical frameworks,
  • emphasize different values,
  • hold different political and civic attitudes,
  • may belong to different religious communities, etc. 

In order to take into account more perspectives when deciding on research projects, most universities or research institutes have ethics committees. (They are often called institutional review board - IRB, or ethical review board – ERB.) To get an idea how an ethics committee works, watch the following example from a major research university.