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• Ethical Considerations in Research | Types & Examples

Ethical Considerations in Research | Types & Examples

Published on October 18, 2021 by Pritha Bhandari . Revised on May 9, 2024.

Ethical considerations in research are a set of principles that guide your research designs and practices. Scientists and researchers must always adhere to a certain code of conduct when collecting data from people.

The goals of human research often include understanding real-life phenomena, studying effective treatments, investigating behaviors, and improving lives in other ways. What you decide to research and how you conduct that research involve key ethical considerations.

These considerations work to

• protect the rights of research participants
• enhance research validity
• maintain scientific or academic integrity

Table of contents

Why do research ethics matter, getting ethical approval for your study, types of ethical issues, voluntary participation, informed consent, confidentiality, potential for harm, results communication, examples of ethical failures, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about research ethics.

Research ethics matter for scientific integrity, human rights and dignity, and collaboration between science and society. These principles make sure that participation in studies is voluntary, informed, and safe for research subjects.

You’ll balance pursuing important research objectives with using ethical research methods and procedures. It’s always necessary to prevent permanent or excessive harm to participants, whether inadvertent or not.

Defying research ethics will also lower the credibility of your research because it’s hard for others to trust your data if your methods are morally questionable.

Even if a research idea is valuable to society, it doesn’t justify violating the human rights or dignity of your study participants.

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Before you start any study involving data collection with people, you’ll submit your research proposal to an institutional review board (IRB) .

An IRB is a committee that checks whether your research aims and research design are ethically acceptable and follow your institution’s code of conduct. They check that your research materials and procedures are up to code.

If successful, you’ll receive IRB approval, and you can begin collecting data according to the approved procedures. If you want to make any changes to your procedures or materials, you’ll need to submit a modification application to the IRB for approval.

If unsuccessful, you may be asked to re-submit with modifications or your research proposal may receive a rejection. To get IRB approval, it’s important to explicitly note how you’ll tackle each of the ethical issues that may arise in your study.

There are several ethical issues you should always pay attention to in your research design, and these issues can overlap with each other.

You’ll usually outline ways you’ll deal with each issue in your research proposal if you plan to collect data from participants.

Voluntary participation means that all research subjects are free to choose to participate without any pressure or coercion.

All participants are able to withdraw from, or leave, the study at any point without feeling an obligation to continue. Your participants don’t need to provide a reason for leaving the study.

It’s important to make it clear to participants that there are no negative consequences or repercussions to their refusal to participate. After all, they’re taking the time to help you in the research process , so you should respect their decisions without trying to change their minds.

Voluntary participation is an ethical principle protected by international law and many scientific codes of conduct.

Take special care to ensure there’s no pressure on participants when you’re working with vulnerable groups of people who may find it hard to stop the study even when they want to.

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Informed consent refers to a situation in which all potential participants receive and understand all the information they need to decide whether they want to participate. This includes information about the study’s benefits, risks, funding, and institutional approval.

You make sure to provide all potential participants with all the relevant information about

• what the study is about
• the risks and benefits of taking part
• how long the study will take
• your supervisor’s contact information and the institution’s approval number

Usually, you’ll provide participants with a text for them to read and ask them if they have any questions. If they agree to participate, they can sign or initial the consent form. Note that this may not be sufficient for informed consent when you work with particularly vulnerable groups of people.

If you’re collecting data from people with low literacy, make sure to verbally explain the consent form to them before they agree to participate.

For participants with very limited English proficiency, you should always translate the study materials or work with an interpreter so they have all the information in their first language.

In research with children, you’ll often need informed permission for their participation from their parents or guardians. Although children cannot give informed consent, it’s best to also ask for their assent (agreement) to participate, depending on their age and maturity level.

Anonymity means that you don’t know who the participants are and you can’t link any individual participant to their data.

You can only guarantee anonymity by not collecting any personally identifying information—for example, names, phone numbers, email addresses, IP addresses, physical characteristics, photos, and videos.

In many cases, it may be impossible to truly anonymize data collection . For example, data collected in person or by phone cannot be considered fully anonymous because some personal identifiers (demographic information or phone numbers) are impossible to hide.

You’ll also need to collect some identifying information if you give your participants the option to withdraw their data at a later stage.

Data pseudonymization is an alternative method where you replace identifying information about participants with pseudonymous, or fake, identifiers. The data can still be linked to participants but it’s harder to do so because you separate personal information from the study data.

Confidentiality means that you know who the participants are, but you remove all identifying information from your report.

All participants have a right to privacy, so you should protect their personal data for as long as you store or use it. Even when you can’t collect data anonymously, you should secure confidentiality whenever you can.

Some research designs aren’t conducive to confidentiality, but it’s important to make all attempts and inform participants of the risks involved.

As a researcher, you have to consider all possible sources of harm to participants. Harm can come in many different forms.

• Psychological harm: Sensitive questions or tasks may trigger negative emotions such as shame or anxiety.
• Social harm: Participation can involve social risks, public embarrassment, or stigma.
• Physical harm: Pain or injury can result from the study procedures.
• Legal harm: Reporting sensitive data could lead to legal risks or a breach of privacy.

It’s best to consider every possible source of harm in your study as well as concrete ways to mitigate them. Involve your supervisor to discuss steps for harm reduction.

Make sure to disclose all possible risks of harm to participants before the study to get informed consent. If there is a risk of harm, prepare to provide participants with resources or counseling or medical services if needed.

Some of these questions may bring up negative emotions, so you inform participants about the sensitive nature of the survey and assure them that their responses will be confidential.

The way you communicate your research results can sometimes involve ethical issues. Good science communication is honest, reliable, and credible. It’s best to make your results as transparent as possible.

Take steps to actively avoid plagiarism and research misconduct wherever possible.

Plagiarism means submitting others’ works as your own. Although it can be unintentional, copying someone else’s work without proper credit amounts to stealing. It’s an ethical problem in research communication because you may benefit by harming other researchers.

Self-plagiarism is when you republish or re-submit parts of your own papers or reports without properly citing your original work.

This is problematic because you may benefit from presenting your ideas as new and original even though they’ve already been published elsewhere in the past. You may also be infringing on your previous publisher’s copyright, violating an ethical code, or wasting time and resources by doing so.

In extreme cases of self-plagiarism, entire datasets or papers are sometimes duplicated. These are major ethical violations because they can skew research findings if taken as original data.

You notice that two published studies have similar characteristics even though they are from different years. Their sample sizes, locations, treatments, and results are highly similar, and the studies share one author in common.

Research misconduct

Research misconduct means making up or falsifying data, manipulating data analyses, or misrepresenting results in research reports. It’s a form of academic fraud.

These actions are committed intentionally and can have serious consequences; research misconduct is not a simple mistake or a point of disagreement about data analyses.

Research misconduct is a serious ethical issue because it can undermine academic integrity and institutional credibility. It leads to a waste of funding and resources that could have been used for alternative research.

Later investigations revealed that they fabricated and manipulated their data to show a nonexistent link between vaccines and autism. Wakefield also neglected to disclose important conflicts of interest, and his medical license was taken away.

This fraudulent work sparked vaccine hesitancy among parents and caregivers. The rate of MMR vaccinations in children fell sharply, and measles outbreaks became more common due to a lack of herd immunity.

Research scandals with ethical failures are littered throughout history, but some took place not that long ago.

Some scientists in positions of power have historically mistreated or even abused research participants to investigate research problems at any cost. These participants were prisoners, under their care, or otherwise trusted them to treat them with dignity.

To demonstrate the importance of research ethics, we’ll briefly review two research studies that violated human rights in modern history.

These experiments were inhumane and resulted in trauma, permanent disabilities, or death in many cases.

After some Nazi doctors were put on trial for their crimes, the Nuremberg Code of research ethics for human experimentation was developed in 1947 to establish a new standard for human experimentation in medical research.

In reality, the actual goal was to study the effects of the disease when left untreated, and the researchers never informed participants about their diagnoses or the research aims.

Although participants experienced severe health problems, including blindness and other complications, the researchers only pretended to provide medical care.

When treatment became possible in 1943, 11 years after the study began, none of the participants were offered it, despite their health conditions and high risk of death.

Ethical failures like these resulted in severe harm to participants, wasted resources, and lower trust in science and scientists. This is why all research institutions have strict ethical guidelines for performing research.

If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• Normal distribution
• Measures of central tendency
• Chi square tests
• Confidence interval
• Quartiles & Quantiles
• Cluster sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Thematic analysis
• Cohort study
• Peer review
• Ethnography

Research bias

• Implicit bias
• Cognitive bias
• Conformity bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Availability heuristic
• Attrition bias
• Social desirability bias

Ethical considerations in research are a set of principles that guide your research designs and practices. These principles include voluntary participation, informed consent, anonymity, confidentiality, potential for harm, and results communication.

Scientists and researchers must always adhere to a certain code of conduct when collecting data from others .

These considerations protect the rights of research participants, enhance research validity , and maintain scientific integrity.

Research ethics matter for scientific integrity, human rights and dignity, and collaboration between science and society. These principles make sure that participation in studies is voluntary, informed, and safe.

Anonymity means you don’t know who the participants are, while confidentiality means you know who they are but remove identifying information from your research report. Both are important ethical considerations .

You can only guarantee anonymity by not collecting any personally identifying information—for example, names, phone numbers, email addresses, IP addresses, physical characteristics, photos, or videos.

You can keep data confidential by using aggregate information in your research report, so that you only refer to groups of participants rather than individuals.

These actions are committed intentionally and can have serious consequences; research misconduct is not a simple mistake or a point of disagreement but a serious ethical failure.

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Ethical Issues in Research

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• Published: 17 June 2020

Ethical principles in machine learning and artificial intelligence: cases from the field and possible ways forward

• Samuele Lo Piano   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2625-483X 1 , 2  

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications volume  7 , Article number:  9 ( 2020 ) Cite this article

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Decision-making on numerous aspects of our daily lives is being outsourced to machine-learning (ML) algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI), motivated by speed and efficiency in the decision process. ML approaches—one of the typologies of algorithms underpinning artificial intelligence—are typically developed as black boxes. The implication is that ML code scripts are rarely scrutinised; interpretability is usually sacrificed in favour of usability and effectiveness. Room for improvement in practices associated with programme development have also been flagged along other dimensions, including inter alia fairness, accuracy, accountability, and transparency. In this contribution, the production of guidelines and dedicated documents around these themes is discussed. The following applications of AI-driven decision-making are outlined: (a) risk assessment in the criminal justice system, and (b) autonomous vehicles, highlighting points of friction across ethical principles. Possible ways forward towards the implementation of governance on AI are finally examined.

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Principles alone cannot guarantee ethical AI

The global landscape of AI ethics guidelines

How ai can learn from the law: putting humans in the loop only on appeal, introduction.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the branch of computer science that deals with the simulation of intelligent behaviour in computers as regards their capacity to mimic, and ideally improve , human behaviour. To achieve this, the simulation of human cognition and functions, including learning and problem-solving, is required (Russell, 2010 ). This simulation may limit itself to some simple predictable features, thus limiting human complexity (Cowls, 2019 ).

AI became a self-standing discipline in the year 1955 (McCarthy et al., 2006 ) with significant development over the last decades. AI resorts to ML to implement a predictive functioning based on data acquired from a given context. The strength of ML resides in its capacity to learn from data without need to be explicitly programmed (Samuel, 1959 ); ML algorithms are autonomous and self-sufficient when performing their learning function. This is the reason why they are ubiquitous in AI developments. Further to this, ML implementations in data science and other applied fields are conceptualised in the context of a final decision-making application, hence their prominence.

Applications in our daily lives encompass fields, such as (precision) agriculture (Sennaar, 2019 ), air combat and military training (Gallagher, 2016 ; Wong, 2020 ), education (Sears, 2018 ), finance (Bahrammirzaee, 2010 ), health care (Beam and Kohane, 2018 ), human resources and recruiting (Hmoud and Laszlo, 2019 ), music composition (Cheng, 2009/09 ), customer service (Kongthon et al., 2009 ), reliable engineering and maintenance (Dragicevic et al., 2019 ), autonomous vehicles and traffic management (Ye, 2018 ), social-media news-feed (Rader et al., 2018 ), work scheduling and optimisation (O’Neil, 2016 ), and several others.

In all these fields, an increasing amount of functions are being ceded to algorithms to the detriment of human control, raising concern for loss of fairness and equitability (Sareen et al., 2020 ). Furthermore, issues of garbage-in-garbage-out (Saltelli and Funtowicz, 2014 ) may be prone to emerge in contexts when external control is entirely removed. This issue may be further exacerbated by the offer of new services of auto-ML (Chin, 2019 ), where the entire algorithm development workflow is automatised and the residual human control practically removed.

In the following sections, we will (i) detail a series of research questions around the ethical principles in AI; (ii) take stock of the production of guidelines elaborated in the field; (iii) showcase their prominence in practical examples; and (iv) discuss actions towards the inclusion of these dimensions in the future of AI ethics.

Research questions on the ethical dimensions of artificial intelligence

Critical aspects in AI deployment have already gained traction in mainstreaming literature and media. For instance, according to O’Neil ( 2016 ), a main shortcoming of ML approaches is the fact these resort to proxies for driving trends, such as person’s ZIP code or language in relation with the capacity of an individual to pay back a loan or handle a job, respectively. However, these correlations may be discriminatory, if not illegal.

Potential black swans (Taleb, 2007 ) in the code should also be considered. These have been documented, for instance, in the case of the Amazon website, for which errors, such as the quotation of plain items (often books) up to 10,000 dollars (Smith, 2018 ) have been reported. While mistakes about monetary values may be easy to spot, the situation may become more complex and less intelligible when incommensurable dimensions come to play. That is the reason why a number of guidelines on the topic of ethics in AI have been proliferating over the last few years.

While reflections around the ethical implications of machines and automation deployment were already put forth in the ’50s and ’60s (Samuel, 1959 ; Wiener, 1988 ), the increasing use of AI in many fields raises new important questions about its suitability (Yu et al., 2018 ). This stems from the complexity of the aspects undertaken and the plurality of views, stakes, and values at play. A fundamental aspect is how and to what extent the values and the perspectives of the involved stakeholders have been taken care of in the design of the decision-making algorithm (Saltelli, 2020 ). In addition to this ex-ante evaluation, an ex-post evaluation would need to be put in place so as to monitor the consequences of AI-driven decisions in making winners and losers.

To wrap up, it is fundamental to assess how and if ethical aspects have been included in the AI-driven decision-making implemented by asking questions such as:

What are the most prominent ethical concerns raised by large-scale deployment of AI applications?

How are these multiple dimensions interwoven?

What are the actions the involved stakeholders are carrying out to address these concerns?

What are possible ways forward to improve ML and AI development and use over their full life-cycle?

We will firstly examine the production of relevant guidelines in the fields along with academic secondary literature. These aspects will then be discussed in the context of two applied cases: (i) recidivism-risk assessment in the criminal justice system, and (ii) autonomous vehicles.

Guidelines and secondary literature on AI ethics, its dimensions and stakes

The production of dedicated documents has been skyrocketing from 2016 (Jobin et al., 2019 ). We here report on the most prominent international initiatives. A suggested reading on national and international AI strategies providing a comprehensive list of documents (Future of Earth Institute, 2020 ).

The France’s Digital Republic Act gives the right to an explanation as regards decisions on an individual made through the use of administrative algorithms (Edwards and Veale, 2018 ). This law touches upon several aspects including:

how and to what extent the algorithmic processing contributed to the decision-making;

which data was processed and its source;

how parameters were treated and weighted;

which operations were carried out in the treatment.

Sensitive governmental areas, such as national security and defence, and the private sector (the largest user and producer of ML algorithms by far) are excluded from this document.

An international European initiative is the multi-stakeholder European Union High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence , which is composed by 52 experts from academia, civil society, and industry. The group produced a deliverable on the required criteria for AI trustworthiness (Daly, 2019 ). Even articles 21 and 22 of the recent European Union General Data Protection Regulation include passages functional to AI governance, although further action has been recently demanded from the European Parliament (De Sutter, 2019 ). In this context, China has also been allocating efforts on privacy and data protection (Roberts, 2019 ).

As regards secondary literature, Floridi and Cowls ( 2019 ) examined a list of statements/declarations elaborated since 2016 from multi-stakeholder organisations. A set of 47 principles has been identified, which mapped onto five overarching dimensions (Floridi and Cowls, 2019 ): beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, justice and, explicability . The latter is a new dimension specifically acknowledged in the case of AI, while the others were already identified in the controversial domain of bioethics .

Jobin et al. ( 2019 ) reviewed 84 documents, which were produced by several actors of the field, almost half of which from private companies or governmental agencies. The classification proposed by Jobin et al. ( 2019 ) is around a slightly different set of values: transparency, justice and fairness, non-maleficience, responsibility and privacy . Other potentially relevant dimensions, such as accountability and responsibility, were rarely defined in the studies reviewed by these authors.

Seven of the most prominent value statements from the AI/ML fields were examined in Greene et al. ( 2019 ): The Partnership on AI to Benefit People and Society ; The Montreal Declaration for a Responsible Development of Artificial Intelligence ; The Toronto Declaration Protecting the rights to equality and non-discrimination in machine-learning systems ; OpenAI ; The Centre for Humane Technology ; Fairness, Accountability and Transparency in Machine Learning ; Axon’s AI Ethics Board for Public Safety . Greene et al. ( 2019 ) found seven common core elements across these documents: (i) design’s moral background (universal concerns, objectively measured); (ii) expert oversight; (iii) values-driven determinism; (iv) design as locus of ethical scrutiny; (v) better building; (vi) stakeholder-driven legitimacy; and, (vii) machine translation.

Mittelstadt ( 2019 ) critically analysed the current debate and actions in the field of AI ethics and noted that the dimensions addressed in AI ethics are converging towards those of medical ethics. However, this process appears problematic due to four main differences between medicine and the medical professionals on one side, and AI and its developers on the other. Firstly, the medical professional rests on common aims and fiduciary duties, which AI developers lack. Secondly, a formal profession with a set of clearly defined and governed good-behaviour practices exists in medicine. This is not the case for AI, which also lacks a full understanding of the consequences of the actions enacted by algorithms (Wallach and Allen, 2008 ). Thirdly, AI faces the difficulty of translating overarching principle into practices. Even its current setting of seeking maximum speed, efficiency and profit clashes with the resource and time requirements of an ethical assessment and/or counselling. Finally, the accountability of professionals or institutions is at this stage mainly theoretical, having the vast majority of these guidelines been defined on a merely voluntary basis and hence with the total lack of a sanctionary scheme for non-compliance.

Points of friction between ethical dimensions

Higher transparency is a common refrain when discussing ethics of algorithms, in relation to dimensions such as how an algorithmic decision is arrived at, based on what assumptions, and how this could be corrected to incorporate feedback from the involved parties. Rudin ( 2019 ) argued that the community of algorithm developers should go beyond explaining black-box models by developing interpretable models in the first place.

On a larger scale, the use of open-source software in the context of ML applications has already been advocated for over a decade (Thimbleby, 2003 ) with an indirect call for tools to execute more interpretable and reproducible programming such as Jupyter Notebooks , available from 2015 onwards. However, publishing scripts expose their developers to the public scrutiny of professional programmers, who may find shortcomings in the development of the code (Sonnenburg, 2007 ).

Ananny and Crawford ( 2018 ) comment that resorting to full algorithmic transparency may not be an adequate means to address their ethical dimensions; opening up the black-box would not suffice to disclose their modus operandi . Moreover, developers of algorithm may not be capable of explaining in plain language how a given tool works and what functional elements it is based on. A more social relevant understanding would encompass the human/non-human interface (i.e., looking across the system rather than merely inside ). Algorithmic complexity and all its implications unravel at this level, in terms of relationships rather than as mere self-standing properties.

Other authors pointed to possible points of friction between transparency and other relevant ethical dimensions. de Laat ( 2018 ) argues that transparency and accountability may even be at odds in the case of algorithms. Hence, he argues against full transparency along four main lines of reasoning: (i) leaking of privacy sensitive data into the open; (ii) backfiring into an implicit invitation to game the system; (iii) harming of the company property rights with negative consequences on their competitiveness (and on the developers reputation as discussed above); (iv) inherent opacity of algorithms, whose interpretability may be even hard for experts (see the example below about the code adopted in some models of autonomous vehicles). All these arguments suggest limitations to full disclosure of algorithms, be it that the normative implications behind these objections should be carefully scrutinised.

Raji et al. ( 2020 ) suggest that a process of algorithmic auditing within the software-development company could help in tackling some of the ethical issues raised. Larger interpretability could be in principle achieved by using simpler algorithms, although this may come at the expenses of accuracy. To this end, Watson and Floridi ( 2019 ) defined a formal framework for interpretable ML, where explanatory accuracy can be assessed against algorithmic simplicity and relevance.

Loss in accuracy may be produced by the exclusion of politically critical features (such as gender, race, age, etc.) from the pool of training predictive variables. For instance, Amazon scrapped a gender-biased recruitment algorithm once it realised that despite excluding gender, the algorithm was resorting to surrogate gender variables to implement its decisions (Dastin, 2018 ). This aspect points again to possible political issues of a trade-off between fairness, demanded by society, and algorithmic accuracy, demanded by, e.g., a private actor.

Fairness may be further hampered by reinforcement effects. This is the case of algorithms attributing credit scores, that have a reinforcement effect proportional to people wealth that de facto rules out credit access for people in a more socially difficult condition (O’Neil, 2016 ).

According to Floridi and Cowls ( 2019 ) a prominent role is also played by the autonomy dimension; the possibility of refraining from ceding decision power to AI for overriding reasons (e.g., the gain of efficacy is not deemed fit to justify the loss of control over decision-making). In other words, machines autonomy could be reduced in favour of human autonomy according to this meta-autonomy dimension.

Contrasting dimensions in terms of the theoretical framing of the issue also emerged from the review of Jobin et al. ( 2019 ), as regards interpretation of ethical principles, reasons for their importance, ownership and responsibility of their implementation. This also applies to different ethical principles, resulting in the trade-offs previously discussed, difficulties in setting prioritisation strategies, operationalisation and actual compliance with the guidelines. For instance, while private actors demand and try to cultivate trust from their users, this runs counter to the need for society to scrutinise the operation of algorithms in order to maintain developer accountability (Cowls, 2019 ). Attributing responsibilities in complicated projects where many parties and developers may be involved, an issue known as the problem of many hands (Nissenbaum, 1996 ), may indeed be very difficult.

Conflicts may also emerge between the requirements to overcome potential algorithm deficits in accuracy associated with large data bases and the individual rights to privacy and autonomy of decision. Such conflicts may exacerbate tensions, further complicating agreeing on standards and practices.

In the following two sections, the issues and points of friction raised are examined in two practical case studies, criminal justice and autonomous vehicles. These examples have been selected due to their prominence in the public debate on the ethical aspects of AI and ML algorithms.

Machine-learning algorithms in the field of criminal justice

ML algorithms have been largely used to assist juridical deliberation in many states of the USA (Angwin and Larson, 2016 ). This country faces the issue of the world’s highest incarcerated population, both in absolute and per-capita terms (Brief, 2020 ). The COMPAS algorithm, developed by the private company Northpointe , attributes a 2-year recidivism-risk score to arrested people. It also evaluates the risk of violent recidivism as a score.

The fairness of the algorithm has been questioned in an investigative report, that examined a pool of cases where a recidivism score was attributed to >18,000 criminal defendants in Broward County, Florida and flagged up a potential racial bias in the application of the algorithm (Angwin and Larson, 2016 ). According to the authors of the report, the recidivism-risk was systematically overestimated for black people: the decile distribution of white defendants was skewed towards the lower end. Conversely, the decile distribution of black defendants was only slightly decreasing towards the higher end. The risk of violent recidivism within 2 years followed a similar trend. This analysis was debunked by the company, which, however, refused to disclose the full details of its proprietary code. While the total number of variables amounts to about 140, only the core variables were disclosed (Northpointe, 2012 ). The race of the subject was not one of those.

Here, a crucial point is how this fairness is to be attained: whether it is more important a fair treatment across groups of individuals or within the same group. For instance, let us take the case of gender, where men are overrepresented in prison in comparison with women. As to account for this aspect, the algorithm may discount violent priors for men in order to reduce their recidivism-risk score. However, attaining this sort of algorithmic fairness would imply inequality of treatment across genders (Berk et al., 2018 ).

Fairness could be further hampered by the combined use of this algorithm with others driving decisions on neighbourhood police patrolling. The fact these algorithms may be prone to drive further patrolling in poor neighbourhoods may result from a training bias as crimes occurring in public tend to be more frequently reported (Karppi, 2018 ). One can easily understand how these algorithms may jointly produce a vicious cycle—more patrolling would lead to more arrests that would worsen the neighbourhood average recidivism-risk score , which would in turn trigger more patrolling. All this would result in exacerbated inequalities, likewise the case of credit scores previously discussed (O’Neil, 2016 ).

A potential point of friction may also emerge between the algorithm dimensions of fairness and accuracy. The latter may be theoretically defined as the classification error in terms of rate of false positive (individuals labelled at risk of recidivism, that did not re-offend within 2 years) and false negative (individuals labelled at low risk of recidivism, that did re-offend within the same timeframe) (Loi and Christen, 2019 ). Different classification accuracy (the fraction of observed outcomes in disagreement with the predictions) and forecasting accuracy (the fraction of predictions in disagreement with the observed outcomes) may exist across different classes of individuals (e.g., black or white defendants). Seeking equal rates of false positive and false negative across these two pools would imply a different forecasting error (and accuracy) given the different characteristics of the two different training pools available for the algorithm. Conversely, having the same forecasting accuracy would come at the expense of different classification errors between these two pools (Corbett-Davies et al., 2016 ). Hence, a trade-off exists between these two different shades of fairness, which derives from the very statistical properties of the data population distributions the algorithm has been trained on. However, the decision-making rests again on the assumptions the algorithm developers have adopted, e.g., on the relative importance of false positive and false negative (i.e., the weights attributed to the different typologies of errors, and the accuracy sought (Berk, 2019 )). When it comes to this point, an algorithm developer may decide (or be instructed) to train his/her algorithm to attribute, e.g., a five/ten/twenty times higher weight for a false negative (re-offender, low recidivism-risk score) in comparison with a false positive (non re-offender, high recidivism-risk score).

As with all ML, an issue of transparency exists as no one knows what type of inference is drawn on the variables out of which the recidivism-risk score is estimated. Reverse-engineering exercises have been run so as to understand what are the key drivers on the observed scores. Rudin ( 2019 ) found that the algorithm seemed to behave differently from the intentions of their creators (Northpointe, 2012 ) with a non-linear dependence on age and a weak correlation with one’s criminal history. These exercises (Rudin, 2019 ; Angelino et al., 2018 ) showed that it is possible to implement interpretable classification algorithms that lead to a similar accuracy as COMPAS. Dressel and Farid ( 2018 ) achieved this result by using a linear predictor-logistic regressor that made use of only two variables (age and total number of previous convictions of the subject).

Machine-learning algorithms in the field of autonomous vehicles

The case of autonomous vehicles, also known as self-driving vehicles, poses different challenges as a continuity of decisions is to be enacted while the vehicle is moving. It is not a one-off decision as in the case of the assessment of recidivism risk.

An exercise to appreciate the value-ladenness of these decisions is the moral-machine experiment (Massachussets Institute of Technology 2019 )—a serious game where users are requested to fulfil the function of an autonomous-vehicle decision-making algorithm in a situation of danger. This experiment entails performing choices that would prioritise the safety of some categories of users over others. For instance, choosing over the death of car occupants, pedestrians, or occupants of other vehicles, et cetera. While such extreme situations may be a simplification of reality, one cannot exclude that the algorithms driving an autonomous-vehicle may find themselves in circumstances where their decisions may result in harming some of the involved parties (Bonnefon et al., 2019 ).

In practice, the issue would be framed by the algorithm in terms of a statistical trolley dilemma in the words of Bonnefon et al. ( 2019 ), whereby the risk of harm for some road users will be increased. This corresponds to a risk management situation by all means, with a number of nuances and inherent complexity (Goodall, 2016 ).

Hence, autonomous vehicles are not bound to play the role of silver bullets, solving once and forever the vexing issue of traffic fatalities (Smith, 2018 ). Furthermore, the way decisions enacted could backfire in complex contexts to which the algorithms had no extrapolative power, is an unpredictable issue one has to deal with (Wallach and Allen, 2008 ; Yurtsever et al., 2020 ).

Coding algorithms that assure fairness in autonomous vehicles can be a very challenging issue. Contrasting and incommensurable dimensions are likely to emerge (Goodall, 2014 ) when designing an algorithm to reduce the harm of a given crash. For instance, in terms of material damage against human harm. Odds may emerge between the interest of the vehicle owner and passengers, on one side, and the collective interest of minimising the overall harm, on the other. Minimising the overall physical harm may be achieved by implementing an algorithm that, in the circumstance of an unavoidable collision, would target the vehicles with the highest safety standards. However, one may want to question the fairness of targeting those who have invested more in their own and others’ safety. The algorithm may also face a dilemma between low probability of a serious harm and higher probability of a mild harm. Unavoidable normative rules will need to be included in the decision-making algorithms to tackle these types of situations.

Accuracy in the context of self-autonomous vehicles rests on their capacity to correctly simulate the course of the events. While this is based on physics and can be informed by the numerous sensors these vehicles are equipped with, unforeseen events can still play a prominent role, and profoundly affect the vehicles behaviour and reactions (Yurtsever et al., 2020 ). For instance, fatalities due to autonomous-vehicle malfunctioning were reported as caused by the following failures: (i) the incapability of perceiving a pedestrian as such (National Transport Safety Board 2018 ); (ii) the acceleration of the vehicle in a situation when braking was required due to contrasting instructions from different algorithms the vehicle was hinged upon (Smith, 2018 ). In this latter case, the complexity of autonomous-vehicle algorithms was witnessed by the millions lines of code composing their scripts, a universe no one fully understands in the words of The Guardian (Smith, 2018 ), so that the causality of the decisions made was practically impossible to scrutinise. Hence, no corrective action in the algorithm code may be possible at this stage, with no room for improvement in accuracy.

One should also not forget that these algorithms are learning by direct experience and they may still end up conflicting with the initial set of ethical rules around which they have been conceived. Learning may occur through algorithms interaction taking place at a higher hierarchical level than the one imagined in the first place (Smith, 2018 ). This aspect would represent a further open issue to be taken into account in their development (Markham et al., 2018 ). It also poses further tension between the accuracy a vehicle manufacturer seeks and the capability to keep up the agreed fairness standards upstream from the algorithm development process.

Discussion and conclusions

In this contribution, we have examined the ethical dimensions affected by the application of algorithm-driven decision-making. These are entailed both ex-ante, in terms of the assumptions underpinning the algorithm development, and ex-post as regards the consequences upon society and social actors on whom the elaborated decisions are to be enforced.

Decision-making-based algorithms rest inevitably on assumptions, even silent ones, such as the quality of data the algorithm is trained on (Saltelli and Funtowicz, 2014 ), or the actual modelling relations adopted (Hoerl, 2019 ), with all the implied consequences (Saltelli, 2019 ).

A decision-making algorithm will always be based on a formal system, which is a representation of a real system (Rosen, 2005 ). As such, it will always be based on a restricted set of relevant relations, causes, and effects. It does not matter how complicated the algorithm may be (how many relations may be factored in), it will always represent one-specific vision of the system being modelled (Laplace, 1902 ).

Eventually, the set of decision rules underpinning the AI algorithm derives from human-made assumptions, such as, where to define the boundary between action and no action, between different possible choices. This can only take place at the human/non-human interface: the response of the algorithm is driven by these human-made assumptions and selection rules. Even the data on which an algorithm is trained on are not an objective truth, they are dependent upon the context in which they have been produced (Neff et al., 2017 ).

Tools for technically scrutinising the potential behaviour of an algorithm and its uncertainty already exist and could be included in the workflow of algorithm development. For instance, global sensitivity analysis (Saltelli, 2008 ) may help in exploring how the uncertainty in the input parameters and modelling assumptions would affect the output. Additionally, a modelling of the modelling process would assist in the model transparency and in addressing questions such as: Are the results from a particular model more sensitive to changes in the model and the methods used to estimate its parameters, or to changes in the data? (Majone, 1989 ).

Tools of post-normal-science inspiration for knowledge and modelling quality assessment could be adapted to the analysis of algorithms, such as the NUSAP (Numeral Unit Spread Assessment Pedigree) notation system for the management and communication of uncertainty (Funtowicz and Ravetz, 1990 ; Van Der Sluijs, 2005 ) and sensitivity auditing (Saltelli and Funtowicz, 2014 ), respectively. Ultimately, developers should acknowledge the limits of AI, and what its ultimate function should be in the equivalent of an Hippocratic Oath for ML developers (O’Neil, 2016 ). An example comes from the field of financial modelling, with a manifesto elaborated in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis (Derman and Wilmott, 2009 ).

As to address these dimensions, value statements and guidelines have been elaborated by political and multi-stakeholder organisations. For instance, The Alan Turing Institute released a guide for responsible design and implementation of AI (Leslie, 2019 ) that covers the whole life-cycle of design, use, and monitoring. However, the field of AI ethics is just at its infancy and it is still to be conceptualised how AI developments that encompass ethical dimensions could be attained. Some authors are pessimistic, such as Supiot ( 2017 ) who speaks of governance by numbers , where quantification is replacing the traditional decision-making system and profoundly affecting the pillar of equality of judgement. Trying to revert the current state of affairs may expose the first movers in the AI field to a competitive disadvantage (Morley et al., 2019 ). One should also not forget that points of friction across ethical dimensions may emerge, e.g., between transparency and accountability, or accuracy and fairness as highlighted in the case studies. Hence, the development process of the algorithm cannot be perfect in this setting, one has to be open to negotiation and unavoidably work with imperfections and clumsiness (Ravetz, 1987 ).

The development of decision-making algorithms remains quite obscure in spite of the concerns raised and the intentions manifested to address them. Attempts to expose to public scrutiny the algorithms developed are yet scant. As are the attempt to make the process more inclusive, with a higher participation from all the stakeholders. Identifying a relevant pool of social actors may require an important effort in terms of stakeholders’ mapping so as to assure a complete, but also effective, governance in terms of number of participants and simplicity of working procedures. The post-normal-science concept of extended peer communities could assist also in this endeavour (Funtowicz and Ravetz, 1997 ). Example-based explanations (Molnar, 2020 ) may also contribute to an effective engagement of all the parties by helping in bridging technical divides across developers, experts in other fields, and lay-people.

An overarching meta-framework for the governance of AI in experimental technologies (i.e., robot use) has also been proposed (Rego de Almeida et al., 2020 ). This initiative stems from the attempt to include all the forms of governance put forth and would rest on an integrated set of feedback and interactions across dimensions and actors. An interesting proposal comes from Berk ( 2019 ), who asked for the intervention of super partes authorities to define standards of transparency, accuracy and fairness for algorithm developers in line with the role of the Food and Drug administration in the US and other regulation bodies. A shared regulation could help in tackling the potential competitive disadvantage a first mover may suffer. The development pace of new algorithms would be necessarily reduced so as to comply with the standards defined and the required clearance processes. In this setting, seeking algorithm transparency would not be harmful for their developers as scrutiny would be delegated to entrusted intermediate parties, to take place behind closed doors (de Laat, 2018 ).

As noted by a perceptive reviewer, ML systems that keep learning are dangerous and hard to understand because they can quickly change. Thus, could a ML system with real world consequences be “locked down” to increase transparency? If yes, the algorithm could become defective. If not, transparency today may not be helpful in understanding what the system does tomorrow. This issue could be tackled by hard-coding the set of rules on the behaviour of the algorithm, once these are agreed upon among the involved stakeholders. This would prevent the algorithm-learning process from conflicting with the standards agreed. Making mandatory to deposit these algorithms in a database owned and operated by this entrusted super-partes body could ease the development of this overall process.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Kjetil Rommetveit, Andrea Saltelli and Siddarth Sareen for the organisation of the Workshop Ethics of Quantification , and the Centre for the Study of Sciences and the Humanities of the University of Bergen for the travel grant, at which a previous version of this paper was presented. Thomas Hodgson, Jill Walter Rettberg, Elizabeth Chatterjee, Ragnar Fjelland and Marta Kuc-Czarnecka for their useful comments in this venue. Finally, Stefn Thor Smith and Andrea Saltelli for their suggestions and constructive criticism on a draft version of the present manuscript.

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Lo Piano, S. Ethical principles in machine learning and artificial intelligence: cases from the field and possible ways forward. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 7 , 9 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-020-0501-9

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Addressing ethical issues in your research proposal

This article explores the ethical issues that may arise in your proposed study during your doctoral research degree.

What ethical principles apply when planning and conducting research?

Research ethics are the moral principles that govern how researchers conduct their studies (Wellcome Trust, 2014). As there are elements of uncertainty and risk involved in any study, every researcher has to consider how they can uphold these ethical principles and conduct the research in a way that protects the interests and welfare of participants and other stakeholders (such as organisations).  

You will need to consider the ethical issues that might arise in your proposed study. Consideration of the fundamental ethical principles that underpin all research will help you to identify the key issues and how these could be addressed. As you are probably a practitioner who wants to undertake research within your workplace, consider how your role as an ‘insider’ influences how you will conduct your study. Think about the ethical issues that might arise when you become an insider researcher (for example, relating to trust, confidentiality and anonymity).  

What key ethical principles do you think will be important when planning or conducting your research, particularly as an insider? Principles that come to mind might include autonomy, respect, dignity, privacy, informed consent and confidentiality. You may also have identified principles such as competence, integrity, wellbeing, justice and non-discrimination.  

Key ethical issues that you will address as an insider researcher include:

• Gaining trust
• Avoiding coercion when recruiting colleagues or other participants (such as students or service users)
• Practical challenges relating to ensuring the confidentiality and anonymity of organisations and staff or other participants.

(Heslop et al, 2018)

A fuller discussion of ethical principles is available from the British Psychological Society’s Code of Human Research Ethics (BPS, 2021).

You can also refer to guidance from the British Educational Research Association and the British Association for Applied Linguistics .

Ethical principles are essential for protecting the interests of research participants, including maximising the benefits and minimising any risks associated with taking part in a study. These principles describe ethical conduct which reflects the integrity of the researcher, promotes the wellbeing of participants and ensures high-quality research is conducted (Health Research Authority, 2022).  

Research ethics is therefore not simply about gaining ethical approval for your study to be conducted. Research ethics relates to your moral conduct as a doctoral researcher and will apply throughout your study from design to dissemination (British Psychological Society, 2021). When you apply to undertake a doctorate, you will need to clearly indicate in your proposal that you understand these ethical principles and are committed to upholding them.  

Where can I find ethical guidance and resources? 

Professional bodies, learned societies, health and social care authorities, academic publications, Research Ethics Committees and research organisations provide a range of ethical guidance and resources. International codes such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights underpin ethical frameworks (United Nations, 1948).  

You may be aware of key legislation in your own country or the country where you plan to undertake the research, including laws relating to consent, data protection and decision-making capacity, for example, the Data Protection Act, 2018 (UK).  If you want to find out more about becoming an ethical researcher, check out this Open University short course: Becoming an ethical researcher: Introduction and guidance: What is a badged course? - OpenLearn - Open University  

You should be able to justify the research decisions you make. Utilising these resources will guide your ethical judgements when writing your proposal and ultimately when designing and conducting your research study. The Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research (British Educational Research Association, 2018) identifies the key responsibilities you will have when you conduct your research, including the range of stakeholders that you will have responsibilities to, as follows:   

• to your participants (e.g. to appropriately inform them, facilitate their participation and support them)
• clients, stakeholders and sponsors
• the community of educational or health and social care researchers
• for publication and dissemination
• your wellbeing and development

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (no date) has emphasised the need to promote equality, diversity and inclusion when undertaking research, particularly to address long-standing social and health inequalities. Research should be informed by the diversity of people’s experiences and insights, so that it will lead to the development of practice that addresses genuine need. A commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion aims to eradicate prejudice and discrimination on the basis of an individual or group of individuals' protected characteristics such as sex (gender), disability, race, sexual orientation, in line with the Equality Act 2010.  

The NIHR has produced guidance for enhancing the inclusion of ‘under-served groups’ when designing a research study (2020). Although the guidance refers to clinical research it is relevant to research more broadly.  

You should consider how you will promote equality and diversity in your planned study, including through aspects such as your research topic or question, the methodology you will use, the participants you plan to recruit and how you will analyse and interpret your data.    

What ethical issues do I need to consider when writing my research proposal?

You might be planning to undertake research in a health, social care, educational or other setting, including observations and interviews. The following prompts should help you to identify key ethical issues that you need to bear in mind when undertaking research in such settings.  

1.     Imagine you are a potential participant. Think about the questions and concerns that you might have:

• How would you feel if a researcher sat in your space and took notes, completed a checklist, or made an audio or film recording?
• What harm might a researcher cause by observing or interviewing you and others?
• What would you want to know about the researcher and ask them about the study before giving consent?
• When imagining you are the participant, how could the researcher make you feel more comfortable to be observed or interviewed? 

2.     Having considered the perspective of your potential participant, how would you take account of concerns such as privacy, consent, wellbeing and power in your research proposal?  

[Adapted from OpenLearn course: Becoming an ethical researcher, Week 2 Activity 3: Becoming an ethical researcher - OpenLearn - Open University ]  

The ethical issues to be considered will vary depending on your organisational context/role, the types of participants you plan to recruit (for example, children, adults with mental health problems), the research methods you will use, and the types of data you will collect. You will need to decide how to recruit your participants so you do not inappropriately exclude anyone.  Consider what methods may be necessary to facilitate their voice and how you can obtain their consent to taking part or ensure that consent is obtained from someone else as necessary, for example, a parent in the case of a child. 

You should also think about how to avoid imposing an unnecessary burden or costs on your participants. For example, by minimising the length of time they will have to commit to the study and by providing travel or other expenses. Identify the measures that you will take to store your participants’ data safely and maintain their confidentiality and anonymity when you report your findings. You could do this by storing interview and video recordings in a secure server and anonymising their names and those of their organisations using pseudonyms.  

Professional codes such as the Code of Human Research Ethics (BPS, 2021) provide guidance on undertaking research with children. Being an ‘insider’ researching within your own organisation has advantages. However, you should also consider how this might impact on your research, such as power dynamics, consent, potential bias and any conflict of interest between your professional and researcher roles (Sapiro and Matthews, 2020).  

How have other researchers addressed any ethical challenges?

The literature provides researchers’ accounts explaining how they addressed ethical challenges when undertaking studies. For example, Turcotte-Tremblay and McSween-Cadieux (2018) discuss strategies for protecting participants’ confidentiality when disseminating findings locally, such as undertaking fieldwork in multiple sites and providing findings in a generalised form. In addition, professional guidance includes case studies illustrating how ethical issues can be addressed, including when researching online forums (British Sociological Association, no date).

Watch the videos below and consider what insights the postgraduate researcher and supervisor provide  regarding issues such as being an ‘insider researcher’, power relations, avoiding intrusion, maintaining participant anonymity and complying with research ethics and professional standards. How might their experiences inform the design and conduct of your own study?

Postgraduate researcher and supervisor talk about ethical considerations

Your thoughtful consideration of the ethical issues that might arise and how you would address these should enable you to propose an ethically informed study and conduct it in a responsible, fair and sensitive manner. 

British Educational Research Association (2018)  Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research.  Available at:  https://www.bera.ac.uk/publication/ethical-guidelines-for-educational-research-2018  (Accessed: 9 June 2023).

British Psychological Society (2021)  Code of Human Research Ethics . Available at:  https://cms.bps.org.uk/sites/default/files/2022-06/BPS%20Code%20of%20Human%20Research%20Ethics%20%281%29.pdf  (Accessed: 9 June 2023).

British Sociological Association (2016)  Researching online forums . Available at:  https://www.britsoc.co.uk/media/24834/j000208_researching_online_forums_-cs1-_v3.pdf  (Accessed: 9 June 2023).

Health Research Authority (2022)  UK Policy Framework for Health and Social Care Research . Available at:  https://www.hra.nhs.uk/planning-and-improving-research/policies-standards-legislation/uk-policy-framework-health-social-care-research/uk-policy-framework-health-and-social-care-research/#chiefinvestigators  (Accessed: 9 June 2023).

Heslop, C., Burns, S., Lobo, R. (2018) ‘Managing qualitative research as insider-research in small rural communities’,  Rural and Remote Health , 18: pp. 4576.

Equality Act 2010, c. 15.  Available at:   https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/introduction   (Accessed: 9 June 2023).

National Institute for Health and Care Research (no date)  Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) . Available at:  https://arc-kss.nihr.ac.uk/public-and-community-involvement/pcie-guide/how-to-do-pcie/equality-diversity-and-inclusion-edi  (Accessed: 9 June 2023).

National Institute for Health and Care Research (2020)  Improving inclusion of under-served groups in clinical research: Guidance from INCLUDE project.  Available at:   https://www.nihr.ac.uk/documents/improving-inclusion-of-under-served-groups-in-clinical-research-guidance-from-include-project/25435  (Accessed: 9 June 2023).

Sapiro, B. and Matthews, E. (2020) ‘Both Insider and Outsider. On Conducting Social Work Research in Mental Health Settings’,  Advances in Social Work , 20(3). Available at:  https://doi.org/10.18060/23926

Turcotte-Tremblay, A. and McSween-Cadieux, E. (2018) ‘A reflection on the challenge of protecting confidentiality of participants when disseminating research results locally’,  BMC Medical Ethics,  19(supplement 1), no. 45. Available at:   https://bmcmedethics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12910-018-0279-0

United Nations General Assembly (1948)  The Universal Declaration of Human Rights . Resolution A/RES/217/A. Available at:  https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights#:~:text=Drafted%20by%20representatives%20with%20different,all%20peoples%20and%20all%20nations . (Accessed: 9 June 2023).

Wellcome Trust (2014)  Ensuring your research is ethical: A guide for Extended Project Qualification students . Available at:  https://wellcome.org/sites/default/files/wtp057673_0.pdf  (Accessed: 9 June 2023).

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Ethical Issues in Research: Perceptions of Researchers, Research Ethics Board Members and Research Ethics Experts

• Published: 12 August 2022
• Volume 21 , pages 269–292, ( 2023 )

Cite this article

• Marie-Josée Drolet   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8384-4193 1 ,
• Eugénie Rose-Derouin 2 ,
• Julie-Claude Leblanc 2 ,
• Mélanie Ruest 2 &
• Bryn Williams-Jones 3  

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In the context of academic research, a diversity of ethical issues, conditioned by the different roles of members within these institutions, arise. Previous studies on this topic addressed mainly the perceptions of researchers. However, to our knowledge, no studies have explored the transversal ethical issues from a wider spectrum, including other members of academic institutions as the research ethics board (REB) members, and the research ethics experts. The present study used a descriptive phenomenological approach to document the ethical issues experienced by a heterogeneous group of Canadian researchers, REB members, and research ethics experts. Data collection involved socio-demographic questionnaires and individual semi-structured interviews. Following the triangulation of different perspectives (researchers, REB members and ethics experts), emerging ethical issues were synthesized in ten units of meaning: (1) research integrity, (2) conflicts of interest, (3) respect for research participants, (4) lack of supervision and power imbalances, (5) individualism and performance, (6) inadequate ethical guidance, (7) social injustices, (8) distributive injustices, (9) epistemic injustices, and (10) ethical distress. This study highlighted several problematic elements that can support the identification of future solutions to resolve transversal ethical issues in research that affect the heterogeneous members of the academic community.

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Introduction

Research includes a set of activities in which researchers use various structured methods to contribute to the development of knowledge, whether this knowledge is theoretical, fundamental, or applied (Drolet & Ruest, accepted ). University research is carried out in a highly competitive environment that is characterized by ever-increasing demands (i.e., on time, productivity), insufficient access to research funds, and within a market economy that values productivity and speed often to the detriment of quality or rigour – this research context creates a perfect recipe for breaches in research ethics, like research misbehaviour or misconduct (i.e., conduct that is ethically questionable or unacceptable because it contravenes the accepted norms of responsible conduct of research or compromises the respect of core ethical values that are widely held by the research community) (Drolet & Girard, 2020 ; Sieber, 2004 ). Problematic ethics and integrity issues – e.g., conflicts of interest, falsification of data, non-respect of participants’ rights, and plagiarism, to name but a few – have the potential to both undermine the credibility of research and lead to negative consequences for many stakeholders, including researchers, research assistants and personnel, research participants, academic institutions, and society as a whole (Drolet & Girard, 2020 ). It is thus evident that the academic community should be able to identify these different ethical issues in order to evaluate the nature of the risks that they pose (and for whom), and then work towards their prevention or management (i.e., education, enhanced policies and procedures, risk mitigation strategies).

In this article, we define an “ethical issue” as any situation that may compromise, in whole or in part, the respect of at least one moral value (Swisher et al., 2005 ) that is considered socially legitimate and should thus be respected. In general, ethical issues occur at three key moments or stages of the research process: (1) research design (i.e., conception, project planning), (2) research conduct (i.e., data collection, data analysis) and (3) knowledge translation or communication (e.g., publications of results, conferences, press releases) (Drolet & Ruest, accepted ). According to Sieber ( 2004 ), ethical issues in research can be classified into five categories, related to: (a) communication with participants and the community, (b) acquisition and use of research data, (c) external influence on research, (d) risks and benefits of the research, and (e) selection and use of research theories and methods. Many of these issues are related to breaches of research ethics norms, misbehaviour or research misconduct. Bruhn et al., ( 2002 ) developed a typology of misbehaviour and misconduct in academia that can be used to judge the seriousness of different cases. This typology takes into consideration two axes of reflection: (a) the origin of the situation (i.e., is it the researcher’s own fault or due to the organizational context?), and (b) the scope and severity (i.e., is this the first instance or a recurrent behaviour? What is the nature of the situation? What are the consequences, for whom, for how many people, and for which organizations?).

A previous detailed review of the international literature on ethical issues in research revealed several interesting findings (Beauchemin et al., 2021 ). Indeed, the current literature is dominated by descriptive ethics, i.e., the sharing by researchers from various disciplines of the ethical issues they have personally experienced. While such anecdotal documentation is relevant, it is insufficient because it does not provide a global view of the situation. Among the reviewed literature, empirical studies were in the minority (Table  1 ) – only about one fifth of the sample (n = 19) presented empirical research findings on ethical issues in research. The first of these studies was conducted almost 50 years ago (Hunt et al., 1984 ), with the remainder conducted in the 1990s. Eight studies were conducted in the United States (n = 8), five in Canada (n = 5), three in England (n = 3), two in Sweden (n = 2) and one in Ghana (n = 1).

Further, the majority of studies in our sample (n = 12) collected the perceptions of a homogeneous group of participants, usually researchers (n = 14) and sometimes health professionals (n = 6). A minority of studies (n = 7) triangulated the perceptions of diverse research stakeholders (i.e., researchers and research participants, or students). To our knowledge, only one study has examined perceptions of ethical issues in research by research ethics board members (REB; Institutional Review Boards [IRB] in the USA), and none to date have documented the perceptions of research ethics experts. Finally, nine studies (n = 9) adopted a qualitative design, seven studies (n = 7) a quantitative design, and three (n = 3) a mixed-methods design.

More studies using empirical research methods are needed to better identify broader trends, to enrich discussions on the values that should govern responsible conduct of research in the academic community, and to evaluate the means by which these values can be supported in practice (Bahn, 2012 ; Beauchemin et al., 2021 ; Bruhn et al., 2002 ; Henderson et al., 2013 ; Resnik & Elliot, 2016; Sieber 2004 ). To this end, we conducted an empirical qualitative study to document the perceptions and experiences of a heterogeneous group of Canadian researchers, REB members, and research ethics experts, to answer the following broad question: What are the ethical issues in research?

Research Methods

Research design.

A qualitative research approach involving individual semi-structured interviews was used to systematically document ethical issues (De Poy & Gitlin, 2010 ; Hammell et al., 2000 ). Specifically, a descriptive phenomenological approach inspired by the philosophy of Husserl was used (Husserl, 1970 , 1999 ), as it is recommended for documenting the perceptions of ethical issues raised by various practices (Hunt & Carnavale, 2011 ).

Ethical considerations

The principal investigator obtained ethics approval for this project from the Research Ethics Board of the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR). All members of the research team signed a confidentiality agreement, and research participants signed the consent form after reading an information letter explaining the nature of the research project.

Sampling and recruitment

As indicated above, three types of participants were sought: (1) researchers from different academic disciplines conducting research (i.e., theoretical, fundamental or empirical) in Canadian universities; (2) REB members working in Canadian organizations responsible for the ethical review, oversight or regulation of research; and (3) research ethics experts, i.e., academics or ethicists who teach research ethics, conduct research in research ethics, or are scholars who have acquired a specialization in research ethics. To be included in the study, participants had to work in Canada, speak and understand English or French, and be willing to participate in the study. Following Thomas and Polio’s (2002) recommendation to recruit between six and twelve participants (for a homogeneous sample) to ensure data saturation, for our heterogeneous sample, we aimed to recruit approximately twelve participants in order to obtain data saturation. Having used this method several times in related projects in professional ethics, data saturation is usually achieved with 10 to 15 participants (Drolet & Goulet, 2018 ; Drolet & Girard, 2020 ; Drolet et al., 2020 ). From experience, larger samples only serve to increase the degree of data saturation, especially in heterogeneous samples (Drolet et al., 2017 , 2019 ; Drolet & Maclure, 2016 ).

Purposive sampling facilitated the identification of participants relevant to documenting the phenomenon in question (Fortin, 2010 ). To ensure a rich and most complete representation of perceptions, we sought participants with varied and complementary characteristics with regards to the social roles they occupy in research practice (Drolet & Girard, 2020 ). A triangulation of sources was used for the recruitment (Bogdan & Biklen, 2006 ). The websites of Canadian universities and Canadian health institution REBs, as well as those of major Canadian granting agencies (i.e., the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Fonds de recherche du Quebec), were searched to identify individuals who might be interested in participating in the study. Further, people known by the research team for their knowledge and sensitivity to ethical issues in research were asked to participate. Research participants were also asked to suggest other individuals who met the study criteria.

Data Collection

Two tools were used for data collecton: (a) a socio-demographic questionnaire, and (b) a semi-structured individual interview guide. English and French versions of these two documents were used and made available, depending on participant preferences. In addition, although the interview guide contained the same questions, they were adapted to participants’ specific roles (i.e., researcher, REB member, research ethics expert). When contacted by email by the research assistant, participants were asked to confirm under which role they wished to participate (because some participants might have multiple, overlapping responsibilities) and they were sent the appropriate interview guide.

The interview guides each had two parts: an introduction and a section on ethical issues. The introduction consisted of general questions to put the participant at ease (i.e., “Tell me what a typical day at work is like for you”). The section on ethical issues was designed to capture the participant’s perceptions through questions such as: “Tell me three stories you have experienced at work that involve an ethical issue?” and “Do you feel that your organization is doing enough to address, manage, and resolve ethical issues in your work?”. Although some interviews were conducted in person, the majority were conducted by videoconference to promote accessibility and because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Interviews were digitally recorded so that the verbatim could be transcribed in full, and varied between 40 and 120 min in duration, with an average of 90 min. Research assistants conducted the interviews and transcribed the verbatim.

Data Analysis

The socio-demographic questionnaires were subjected to simple descriptive statistical analyses (i.e., means and totals), and the semi-structured interviews were subjected to qualitative analysis. The steps proposed by Giorgi ( 1997 ) for a Husserlian phenomenological reduction of the data were used. After collecting, recording, and transcribing the interviews, all verbatim were analyzed by at least two analysts: a research assistant (2nd author of this article) and the principal investigator (1st author) or a postdoctoral fellow (3rd author). The repeated reading of the verbatim allowed the first analyst to write a synopsis, i.e., an initial extraction of units of meaning. The second analyst then read the synopses, which were commented and improved if necessary. Agreement between analysts allowed the final drafting of the interview synopses, which were then analyzed by three analysts to generate and organize the units of meaning that emerged from the qualitative data.

Participants

Sixteen individuals (n = 16) participated in the study, of whom nine (9) identified as female and seven (7) as male (Table  2 ). Participants ranged in age from 22 to 72 years, with a mean age of 47.5 years. Participants had between one (1) and 26 years of experience in the research setting, with an average of 14.3 years of experience. Participants held a variety of roles, including: REB members (n = 11), researchers (n = 10), research ethics experts (n = 4), and research assistant (n = 1). As mentioned previously, seven (7) participants held more than one role, i.e., REB member, research ethics expert, and researcher. The majority (87.5%) of participants were working in Quebec, with the remaining working in other Canadian provinces. Although all participants considered themselves to be francophone, one quarter (n = 4) identified themselves as belonging to a cultural minority group.

With respect to their academic background, most participants (n = 9) had a PhD, three (3) had a post-doctorate, two (2) had a master’s degree, and two (2) had a bachelor’s degree. Participants came from a variety of disciplines: nine (9) had a specialty in the humanities or social sciences, four (4) in the health sciences and three (3) in the natural sciences. In terms of their knowledge of ethics, five (5) participants reported having taken one university course entirely dedicated to ethics, four (4) reported having taken several university courses entirely dedicated to ethics, three (3) had a university degree dedicated to ethics, while two (2) only had a few hours or days of training in ethics and two (2) reported having no knowledge of ethics.

• Ethical issues

As Fig.  1 illustrates, ten units of meaning emerge from the data analysis, namely: (1) research integrity, (2) conflicts of interest, (3) respect for research participants, (4) lack of supervision and power imbalances, (5) individualism and performance, (6) inadequate ethical guidance, (7) social injustices, (8) distributive injustices, (9) epistemic injustices, and (10) ethical distress. To illustrate the results, excerpts from verbatim interviews are presented in the following sub-sections. Most of the excerpts have been translated into English as the majority of interviews were conducted with French-speaking participants.

Ethical issues in research according to the participants

Research Integrity

The research environment is highly competitive and performance-based. Several participants, in particular researchers and research ethics experts, felt that this environment can lead both researchers and research teams to engage in unethical behaviour that reflects a lack of research integrity. For example, as some participants indicated, competition for grants and scientific publications is sometimes so intense that researchers falsify research results or plagiarize from colleagues to achieve their goals.

Some people will lie or exaggerate their research findings in order to get funding. Then, you see it afterwards, you realize: “ah well, it didn’t work, but they exaggerated what they found and what they did” (participant 14). Another problem in research is the identification of authors when there is a publication. Very often, there are authors who don’t even know what the publication is about and that their name is on it. (…) The time that it surprised me the most was just a few months ago when I saw someone I knew who applied for a teaching position. He got it I was super happy for him. Then I looked at his publications and … there was one that caught my attention much more than the others, because I was in it and I didn’t know what that publication was. I was the second author of a publication that I had never read (participant 14). I saw a colleague who had plagiarized another colleague. [When the colleague] found out about it, he complained. So, plagiarism is a serious [ethical breach]. I would also say that there is a certain amount of competition in the university faculties, especially for grants (…). There are people who want to win at all costs or get as much as possible. They are not necessarily going to consider their colleagues. They don’t have much of a collegial spirit (participant 10).

These examples of research misbehaviour or misconduct are sometimes due to or associated with situations of conflicts of interest, which may be poorly managed by certain researchers or research teams, as noted by many participants.

Conflict of interest

The actors and institutions involved in research have diverse interests, like all humans and institutions. As noted in Chap. 7 of the Canadian Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS2, 2018),

“researchers and research students hold trust relationships, either directly or indirectly, with participants, research sponsors, institutions, their professional bodies and society. These trust relationships can be put at risk by conflicts of interest that may compromise independence, objectivity or ethical duties of loyalty. Although the potential for such conflicts has always existed, pressures on researchers (i.e., to delay or withhold dissemination of research outcomes or to use inappropriate recruitment strategies) heighten concerns that conflicts of interest may affect ethical behaviour” (p. 92).

The sources of these conflicts are varied and can include interpersonal conflicts, financial partnerships, third-party pressures, academic or economic interests, a researcher holding multiple roles within an institution, or any other incentive that may compromise a researcher’s independence, integrity, and neutrality (TCPS2, 2018). While it is not possible to eliminate all conflicts of interest, it is important to manage them properly and to avoid temptations to behave unethically.

Ethical temptations correspond to situations in which people are tempted to prioritize their own interests to the detriment of the ethical goods that should, in their own context, govern their actions (Swisher et al., 2005 ). In the case of researchers, this refers to situations that undermine independence, integrity, neutrality, or even the set of principles that govern research ethics (TCPS2, 2018) or the responsible conduct of research. According to study participants, these types of ethical issues frequently occur in research. Many participants, especially researchers and REB members, reported that conflicts of interest can arise when members of an organization make decisions to obtain large financial rewards or to increase their academic profile, often at the expense of the interests of members of their research team, research participants, or even the populations affected by their research.

A company that puts money into making its drug work wants its drug to work. So, homeopathy is a good example, because there are not really any consequences of homeopathy, there are not very many side effects, because there are no effects at all. So, it’s not dangerous, but it’s not a good treatment either. But some people will want to make it work. And that’s a big issue when you’re sitting at a table and there are eight researchers, and there are two or three who are like that, and then there are four others who are neutral, and I say to myself, this is not science. I think that this is a very big ethical issue (participant 14). There are also times in some research where there will be more links with pharmaceutical companies. Obviously, there are then large amounts of money that will be very interesting for the health-care institutions because they still receive money for clinical trials. They’re still getting some compensation because its time consuming for the people involved and all that. The pharmaceutical companies have money, so they will compensate, and that is sometimes interesting for the institutions, and since we are a bit caught up in this, in the sense that we have no choice but to accept it. (…) It may not be the best research in the world, there may be a lot of side effects due to the drugs, but it’s good to accept it, we’re going to be part of the clinical trial (participant 3). It is integrity, what we believe should be done or said. Often by the pressure of the environment, integrity is in tension with the pressures of the environment, so it takes resistance, it takes courage in research. (…) There were all the debates there about the problems of research that was funded and then the companies kept control over what was written. That was really troubling for a lot of researchers (participant 5).

Further, these situations sometimes have negative consequences for research participants as reported by some participants.

Respect for research participants

Many research projects, whether they are psychosocial or biomedical in nature, involve human participants. Relationships between the members of research teams and their research participants raise ethical issues that can be complex. Research projects must always be designed to respect the rights and interests of research participants, and not just those of researchers. However, participants in our study – i.e., REB members, researchers, and research ethics experts – noted that some research teams seem to put their own interests ahead of those of research participants. They also emphasized the importance of ensuring the respect, well-being, and safety of research participants. The ethical issues related to this unit of meaning are: respect for free, informed and ongoing consent of research participants; respect for and the well-being of participants; data protection and confidentiality; over-solicitation of participants; ownership of the data collected on participants; the sometimes high cost of scientific innovations and their accessibility; balance between the social benefits of research and the risks to participants (particularly in terms of safety); balance between collective well-being (development of knowledge) and the individual rights of participants; exploitation of participants; paternalism when working with populations in vulnerable situations; and the social acceptability of certain types of research. The following excerpts present some of these issues.

Where it disturbs me ethically is in the medical field – because it’s more in the medical field that we’re going to see this – when consent forms are presented to patients to solicit them as participants, and then [these forms] have an average of 40 pages. That annoys me. When they say that it has to be easy to understand and all that, adapted to the language, and then the hyper-technical language plus there are 40 pages to read, I don’t understand how you’re going to get informed consent after reading 40 pages. (…) For me, it doesn’t work. I read them to evaluate them and I have a certain level of education and experience in ethics, and there are times when I don’t understand anything (participant 2). There is a lot of pressure from researchers who want to recruit research participants (…). The idea that when you enter a health care institution, you become a potential research participant, when you say “yes to a research, you check yes to all research”, then everyone can ask you. I think that researchers really have this fantasy of saying to themselves: “as soon as people walk through the door of our institution, they become potential participants with whom we can communicate and get them involved in all projects”. There’s a kind of idea that, yes, it can be done, but it has to be somewhat supervised to avoid over-solicitation (…). Researchers are very interested in facilitating recruitment and making it more fluid, but perhaps to the detriment of confidentiality, privacy, and respect; sometimes that’s what it is, to think about what type of data you’re going to have in your bank of potential participants? Is it just name and phone number or are you getting into more sensitive information? (participant 9).

In addition, one participant reported that their university does not provide the resources required to respect the confidentiality of research participants.

The issue is as follows: researchers, of course, commit to protecting data with passwords and all that, but we realize that in practice, it is more difficult. It is not always as protected as one might think, because professor-researchers will run out of space. Will the universities make rooms available to researchers, places where they can store these things, especially when they have paper documentation, and is there indeed a guarantee of confidentiality? Some researchers have told me: “Listen; there are even filing cabinets in the corridors”. So, that certainly poses a concrete challenge. How do we go about challenging the administrative authorities? Tell them it’s all very well to have an ethics committee, but you have to help us, you also have to make sure that the necessary infrastructures are in place so that what we are proposing is really put into practice (participant 4).

If the relationships with research participants are likely to raise ethical issues, so too are the relationships with students, notably research assistants. On this topic, several participants discussed the lack of supervision or recognition offered to research assistants by researchers as well as the power imbalances between members of the research team.

Lack of Supervision and Power Imbalances

Many research teams are composed not only of researchers, but also of students who work as research assistants. The relationship between research assistants and other members of research teams can sometimes be problematic and raise ethical issues, particularly because of the inevitable power asymmetries. In the context of this study, several participants – including a research assistant, REB members, and researchers – discussed the lack of supervision or recognition of the work carried out by students, psychological pressure, and the more or less well-founded promises that are sometimes made to students. Participants also mentioned the exploitation of students by certain research teams, which manifest when students are inadequately paid, i.e., not reflective of the number of hours actually worked, not a fair wage, or even a wage at all.

[As a research assistant], it was more of a feeling of distress that I felt then because I didn’t know what to do. (…) I was supposed to get coaching or be supported, but I didn’t get anything in the end. It was like, “fix it by yourself”. (…) All research assistants were supposed to be supervised, but in practice they were not (participant 1). Very often, we have a master’s or doctoral student that we put on a subject and we consider that the project will be well done, while the student is learning. So, it happens that the student will do a lot of work and then we realize that the work is poorly done, and it is not necessarily the student’s fault. He wasn’t necessarily well supervised. There are directors who have 25 students, and they just don’t supervise them (participant 14). I think it’s really the power relationship. I thought to myself, how I saw my doctorate, the beginning of my research career, I really wanted to be in that laboratory, but they are the ones who are going to accept me or not, so what do I do to be accepted? I finally accept their conditions [which was to work for free]. If these are the conditions that are required to enter this lab, I want to go there. So, what do I do, well I accepted. It doesn’t make sense, but I tell myself that I’m still privileged, because I don’t have so many financial worries, one more reason to work for free, even though it doesn’t make sense (participant 1). In research, we have research assistants. (…). The fact of using people… so that’s it, you have to take into account where they are, respect them, but at the same time they have to show that they are there for the research. In English, we say “carry” or take care of people. With research assistants, this is often a problem that I have observed: for grant machines, the person is the last to be found there. Researchers, who will take, use student data, without giving them the recognition for it (participant 5). The problem at our university is that they reserve funding for Canadian students. The doctoral clientele in my field is mostly foreign students. So, our students are poorly funded. I saw one student end up in the shelter, in a situation of poverty. It ended very badly for him because he lacked financial resources. Once you get into that dynamic, it’s very hard to get out. I was made aware of it because the director at the time had taken him under her wing and wanted to try to find a way to get him out of it. So, most of my students didn’t get funded (participant 16). There I wrote “manipulation”, but it’s kind of all promises all the time. I, for example, was promised a lot of advancement, like when I got into the lab as a graduate student, it was said that I had an interest in [this particular area of research]. I think there are a lot of graduate students who must have gone through that, but it is like, “Well, your CV has to be really good, if you want to do a lot of things and big things. If you do this, if you do this research contract, the next year you could be the coordinator of this part of the lab and supervise this person, get more contracts, be paid more. Let’s say: you’ll be invited to go to this conference, this big event”. They were always dangling something, but you have to do that first to get there. But now, when you’ve done that, you have to do this business. It’s like a bit of manipulation, I think. That was very hard to know who is telling the truth and who is not (participant 1).

These ethical issues have significant negative consequences for students. Indeed, they sometimes find themselves at the mercy of researchers, for whom they work, struggling to be recognized and included as authors of an article, for example, or to receive the salary that they are due. For their part, researchers also sometimes find themselves trapped in research structures that can negatively affect their well-being. As many participants reported, researchers work in organizations that set very high productivity standards and in highly competitive contexts, all within a general culture characterized by individualism.

Individualism and performance

Participants, especially researchers, discussed the culture of individualism and performance that characterizes the academic environment. In glorifying excellence, some universities value performance and productivity, often at the expense of psychological well-being and work-life balance (i.e., work overload and burnout). Participants noted that there are ethical silences in their organizations on this issue, and that the culture of individualism and performance is not challenged for fear of retribution or simply to survive, i.e., to perform as expected. Participants felt that this culture can have a significant negative impact on the quality of the research conducted, as research teams try to maximize the quantity of their work (instead of quality) in a highly competitive context, which is then exacerbated by a lack of resources and support, and where everything must be done too quickly.

The work-life balance with the professional ethics related to work in a context where you have too much and you have to do a lot, it is difficult to balance all that and there is a lot of pressure to perform. If you don’t produce enough, that’s it; after that, you can’t get any more funds, so that puts pressure on you to do more and more and more (participant 3). There is a culture, I don’t know where it comes from, and that is extremely bureaucratic. If you dare to raise something, you’re going to have many, many problems. They’re going to make you understand it. So, I don’t talk. It is better: your life will be easier. I think there are times when you have to talk (…) because there are going to be irreparable consequences. (…) I’m not talking about a climate of terror, because that’s exaggerated, it’s not true, people are not afraid. But people close their office door and say nothing because it’s going to make their work impossible and they’re not going to lose their job, they’re not going to lose money, but researchers need time to be focused, so they close their office door and say nothing (participant 16).

Researchers must produce more and more, and they feel little support in terms of how to do such production, ethically, and how much exactly they are expected to produce. As this participant reports, the expectation is an unspoken rule: more is always better.

It’s sometimes the lack of a clear line on what the expectations are as a researcher, like, “ah, we don’t have any specific expectations, but produce, produce, produce, produce.” So, in that context, it’s hard to be able to put the line precisely: “have I done enough for my work?” (participant 3).

Inadequate ethical Guidance

While the productivity expectation is not clear, some participants – including researchers, research ethics experts, and REB members – also felt that the ethical expectations of some REBs were unclear. The issue of the inadequate ethical guidance of research includes the administrative mechanisms to ensure that research projects respect the principles of research ethics. According to those participants, the forms required for both researchers and REB members are increasingly long and numerous, and one participant noted that the standards to be met are sometimes outdated and disconnected from the reality of the field. Multicentre ethics review (by several REBs) was also critiqued by a participant as an inefficient method that encumbers the processes for reviewing research projects. Bureaucratization imposes an ever-increasing number of forms and ethics guidelines that actually hinder researchers’ ethical reflection on the issues at stake, leading the ethics review process to be perceived as purely bureaucratic in nature.

The ethical dimension and the ethical review of projects have become increasingly bureaucratized. (…) When I first started working (…) it was less bureaucratic, less strict then. I would say [there are now] tons of forms to fill out. Of course, we can’t do without it, it’s one of the ways of marking out ethics and ensuring that there are ethical considerations in research, but I wonder if it hasn’t become too bureaucratized, so that it’s become a kind of technical reflex to fill out these forms, and I don’t know if people really do ethical reflection as such anymore (participant 10). The fundamental structural issue, I would say, is the mismatch between the normative requirements and the real risks posed by the research, i.e., we have many, many requirements to meet; we have very long forms to fill out but the research projects we evaluate often pose few risks (participant 8). People [in vulnerable situations] were previously unable to participate because of overly strict research ethics rules that were to protect them, but in the end [these rules] did not protect them. There was a perverse effect, because in the end there was very little research done with these people and that’s why we have very few results, very little evidence [to support practices with these populations] so it didn’t improve the quality of services. (…) We all understand that we have to be careful with that, but when the research is not too risky, we say to ourselves that it would be good because for once a researcher who is interested in that population, because it is not a very popular population, it would be interesting to have results, but often we are blocked by the norms, and then we can’t accept [the project] (participant 2).

Moreover, as one participant noted, accessing ethics training can be a challenge.

There is no course on research ethics. […] Then, I find that it’s boring because you go through university and you come to do your research and you know how to do quantitative and qualitative research, but all the research ethics, where do you get this? I don’t really know (participant 13).

Yet, such training could provide relevant tools to resolve, to some extent, the ethical issues that commonly arise in research. That said, and as noted by many participants, many ethical issues in research are related to social injustices over which research actors have little influence.

Social Injustices

For many participants, notably researchers, the issues that concern social injustices are those related to power asymmetries, stigma, or issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion, i.e., social injustices related to people’s identities (Blais & Drolet, 2022 ). Participants reported experiencing or witnessing discrimination from peers, administration, or lab managers. Such oppression is sometimes cross-sectional and related to a person’s age, cultural background, gender or social status.

I have my African colleague who was quite successful when he arrived but had a backlash from colleagues in the department. I think it’s unconscious, nobody is overtly racist. But I have a young person right now who is the same, who has the same success, who got exactly the same early career award and I don’t see the same backlash. He’s just as happy with what he’s doing. It’s normal, they’re young and they have a lot of success starting out. So, I think there is discrimination. Is it because he is African? Is it because he is black? I think it’s on a subconscious level (participant 16).

Social injustices were experienced or reported by many participants, and included issues related to difficulties in obtaining grants or disseminating research results in one’s native language (i.e., even when there is official bilingualism) or being considered credible and fundable in research when one researcher is a woman.

If you do international research, there are things you can’t talk about (…). It is really a barrier to research to not be able to (…) address this question [i.e. the question of inequalities between men and women]. Women’s inequality is going to be addressed [but not within the country where the research takes place as if this inequality exists elsewhere but not here]. There are a lot of women working on inequality issues, doing work and it’s funny because I was talking to a young woman who works at Cairo University and she said to me: “Listen, I saw what you had written, you’re right. I’m willing to work on this but guarantee me a position at your university with a ticket to go”. So yes, there are still many barriers [for women in research] (participant 16).

Because of the varied contextual characteristics that intervene in their occurrence, these social injustices are also related to distributive injustices, as discussed by many participants.

Distributive Injustices

Although there are several views of distributive justice, a classical definition such as that of Aristotle ( 2012 ), describes distributive justice as consisting in distributing honours, wealth, and other social resources or benefits among the members of a community in proportion to their alleged merit. Justice, then, is about determining an equitable distribution of common goods. Contemporary theories of distributive justice are numerous and varied. Indeed, many authors (e.g., Fraser 2011 ; Mills, 2017 ; Sen, 2011 ; Young, 2011 ) have, since Rawls ( 1971 ), proposed different visions of how social burdens and benefits should be shared within a community to ensure equal respect, fairness, and distribution. In our study, what emerges from participants’ narratives is a definite concern for this type of justice. Women researchers, francophone researchers, early career researchers or researchers belonging to racialized groups all discussed inequities in the distribution of research grants and awards, and the extra work they need to do to somehow prove their worth. These inequities are related to how granting agencies determine which projects will be funded.

These situations make me work 2–3 times harder to prove myself and to show people in power that I have a place as a woman in research (participant 12). Number one: it’s conservative thinking. The older ones control what comes in. So, the younger people have to adapt or they don’t get funded (participant 14).

Whether it is discrimination against stigmatized or marginalized populations or interest in certain hot topics, granting agencies judge research projects according to criteria that are sometimes questionable, according to those participants. Faced with difficulties in obtaining funding for their projects, several strategies – some of which are unethical – are used by researchers in order to cope with these situations.

Sometimes there are subjects that everyone goes to, such as nanotechnology (…), artificial intelligence or (…) the therapeutic use of cannabis, which are very fashionable, and this is sometimes to the detriment of other research that is just as relevant, but which is (…), less sexy, less in the spirit of the time. (…) Sometimes this can lead to inequities in the funding of certain research sectors (participant 9). When we use our funds, we get them given to us, we pretty much say what we think we’re going to do with them, but things change… So, when these things change, sometimes it’s an ethical decision, but by force of circumstances I’m obliged to change the project a little bit (…). Is it ethical to make these changes or should I just let the money go because I couldn’t use it the way I said I would? (participant 3).

Moreover, these distributional injustices are not only linked to social injustices, but also epistemic injustices. Indeed, the way in which research honours and grants are distributed within the academic community depends on the epistemic authority of the researchers, which seems to vary notably according to their language of use, their age or their gender, but also to the research design used (inductive versus deductive), their decision to use (or not use) animals in research, or to conduct activist research.

Epistemic injustices

The philosopher Fricker ( 2007 ) conceptualized the notions of epistemic justice and injustice. Epistemic injustice refers to a form of social inequality that manifests itself in the access, recognition, and production of knowledge as well as the various forms of ignorance that arise (Godrie & Dos Santos, 2017 ). Addressing epistemic injustice necessitates acknowledging the iniquitous wrongs suffered by certain groups of socially stigmatized individuals who have been excluded from knowledge, thus limiting their abilities to interpret, understand, or be heard and account for their experiences. In this study, epistemic injustices were experienced or reported by some participants, notably those related to difficulties in obtaining grants or disseminating research results in one’s native language (i.e., even when there is official bilingualism) or being considered credible and fundable in research when a researcher is a woman or an early career researcher.

I have never sent a grant application to the federal government in English. I have always done it in French, even though I know that when you receive the review, you can see that reviewers didn’t understand anything because they are English-speaking. I didn’t want to get in the boat. It’s not my job to translate, because let’s be honest, I’m not as good in English as I am in French. So, I do them in my first language, which is the language I’m most used to. Then, technically at the administrative level, they are supposed to be able to do it, but they are not good in French. (…) Then, it’s a very big Canadian ethical issue, because basically there are technically two official languages, but Canada is not a bilingual country, it’s a country with two languages, either one or the other. (…) So I was not funded (participant 14).

Researchers who use inductive (or qualitative) methods observed that their projects are sometimes less well reviewed or understood, while research that adopts a hypothetical-deductive (or quantitative) or mixed methods design is better perceived, considered more credible and therefore more easily funded. Of course, regardless of whether a research project adopts an inductive, deductive or mixed-methods scientific design, or whether it deals with qualitative or quantitative data, it must respect a set of scientific criteria. A research project should achieve its objectives by using proven methods that, in the case of inductive research, are credible, reliable, and transferable or, in the case of deductive research, generalizable, objective, representative, and valid (Drolet & Ruest, accepted ). Participants discussing these issues noted that researchers who adopt a qualitative design or those who question the relevance of animal experimentation or are not militant have sometimes been unfairly devalued in their epistemic authority.

There is a mini war between quantitative versus qualitative methods, which I think is silly because science is a method. If you apply the method well, it doesn’t matter what the field is, it’s done well and it’s perfect ” (participant 14). There is also the issue of the place of animals in our lives, because for me, ethics is human ethics, but also animal ethics. Then, there is a great evolution in society on the role of the animal… with the new law that came out in Quebec on the fact that animals are sensitive beings. Then, with the rise of the vegan movement, [we must ask ourselves]: “Do animals still have a place in research?” That’s a big question and it also means that there are practices that need to evolve, but sometimes there’s a disconnection between what’s expected by research ethics boards versus what’s expected in the field (participant 15). In research today, we have more and more research that is militant from an ideological point of view. And so, we have researchers, because they defend values that seem important to them, we’ll talk for example about the fight for equality and social justice. They have pressure to defend a form of moral truth and have the impression that everyone thinks like them or should do so, because they are defending a moral truth. This is something that we see more and more, namely the lack of distance between ideology and science (participant 8).

The combination or intersectionality of these inequities, which seems to be characterized by a lack of ethical support and guidance, is experienced in the highly competitive and individualistic context of research; it provides therefore the perfect recipe for researchers to experience ethical distress.

Ethical distress

The concept of “ethical distress” refers to situations in which people know what they should do to act ethically, but encounter barriers, generally of an organizational or systemic nature, limiting their power to act according to their moral or ethical values (Drolet & Ruest, 2021 ; Jameton, 1984 ; Swisher et al., 2005 ). People then run the risk of finding themselves in a situation where they do not act as their ethical conscience dictates, which in the long term has the potential for exhaustion and distress. The examples reported by participants in this study point to the fact that researchers in particular may be experiencing significant ethical distress. This distress takes place in a context of extreme competition, constant injunctions to perform, and where administrative demands are increasingly numerous and complex to complete, while paradoxically, they lack the time to accomplish all their tasks and responsibilities. Added to these demands are a lack of resources (human, ethical, and financial), a lack of support and recognition, and interpersonal conflicts.

We are in an environment, an elite one, you are part of it, you know what it is: “publish or perish” is the motto. Grants, there is a high level of performance required, to do a lot, to publish, to supervise students, to supervise them well, so yes, it is clear that we are in an environment that is conducive to distress. (…). Overwork, definitely, can lead to distress and eventually to exhaustion. When you know that you should take the time to read the projects before sharing them, but you don’t have the time to do that because you have eight that came in the same day, and then you have others waiting… Then someone rings a bell and says: “ah but there, the protocol is a bit incomplete”. Oh yes, look at that, you’re right. You make up for it, but at the same time it’s a bit because we’re in a hurry, we don’t necessarily have the resources or are able to take the time to do things well from the start, we have to make up for it later. So yes, it can cause distress (participant 9). My organization wanted me to apply in English, and I said no, and everyone in the administration wanted me to apply in English, and I always said no. Some people said: “Listen, I give you the choice”, then some people said: “Listen, I agree with you, but if you’re not [submitting] in English, you won’t be funded”. Then the fact that I am young too, because very often they will look at the CV, they will not look at the project: “ah, his CV is not impressive, we will not finance him”. This is complete nonsense. The person is capable of doing the project, the project is fabulous: we fund the project. So, that happened, organizational barriers: that happened a lot. I was not eligible for Quebec research funds (…). I had big organizational barriers unfortunately (participant 14). At the time of my promotion, some colleagues were not happy with the type of research I was conducting. I learned – you learn this over time when you become friends with people after you enter the university – that someone was against me. He had another candidate in mind, and he was angry about the selection. I was under pressure for the first three years until my contract was renewed. I almost quit at one point, but another colleague told me, “No, stay, nothing will happen”. Nothing happened, but these issues kept me awake at night (participant 16).

This difficult context for many researchers affects not only the conduct of their own research, but also their participation in research. We faced this problem in our study, despite the use of multiple recruitment methods, including more than 200 emails – of which 191 were individual solicitations – sent to potential participants by the two research assistants. REB members and organizations overseeing or supporting research (n = 17) were also approached to see if some of their employees would consider participating. While it was relatively easy to recruit REB members and research ethics experts, our team received a high number of non-responses to emails (n = 175) and some refusals (n = 5), especially by researchers. The reasons given by those who replied were threefold: (a) fear of being easily identified should they take part in the research, (b) being overloaded and lacking time, and (c) the intrusive aspect of certain questions (i.e., “Have you experienced a burnout episode? If so, have you been followed up medically or psychologically?”). In light of these difficulties and concerns, some questions in the socio-demographic questionnaire were removed or modified. Talking about burnout in research remains a taboo for many researchers, which paradoxically can only contribute to the unresolved problem of unhealthy research environments.

Returning to the research question and objective

The question that prompted this research was: What are the ethical issues in research? The purpose of the study was to describe these issues from the perspective of researchers (from different disciplines), research ethics board (REB) members, and research ethics experts. The previous section provided a detailed portrait of the ethical issues experienced by different research stakeholders: these issues are numerous, diverse and were recounted by a range of stakeholders.

The results of the study are generally consistent with the literature. For example, as in our study, the literature discusses the lack of research integrity on the part of some researchers (Al-Hidabi et al., 2018 ; Swazey et al., 1993 ), the numerous conflicts of interest experienced in research (Williams-Jones et al., 2013 ), the issues of recruiting and obtaining the free and informed consent of research participants (Provencher et al., 2014 ; Keogh & Daly, 2009 ), the sometimes difficult relations between researchers and REBs (Drolet & Girard, 2020 ), the epistemological issues experienced in research (Drolet & Ruest, accepted; Sieber 2004 ), as well as the harmful academic context in which researchers evolve, insofar as this is linked to a culture of performance, an overload of work in a context of accountability (Berg & Seeber, 2016 ; FQPPU; 2019 ) that is conducive to ethical distress and even burnout.

If the results of the study are generally in line with those of previous publications on the subject, our findings also bring new elements to the discussion while complementing those already documented. In particular, our results highlight the role of systemic injustices – be they social, distributive or epistemic – within the environments in which research is carried out, at least in Canada. To summarize, the results of our study point to the fact that the relationships between researchers and research participants are likely still to raise worrying ethical issues, despite widely accepted research ethics norms and institutionalized review processes. Further, the context in which research is carried out is not only conducive to breaches of ethical norms and instances of misbehaviour or misconduct, but also likely to be significantly detrimental to the health and well-being of researchers, as well as research assistants. Another element that our research also highlighted is the instrumentalization and even exploitation of students and research assistants, which is another important and worrying social injustice given the inevitable power imbalances between students and researchers.

Moreover, in a context in which ethical issues are often discussed from a micro perspective, our study helps shed light on both the micro- and macro-level ethical dimensions of research (Bronfenbrenner, 1979 ; Glaser 1994 ). However, given that ethical issues in research are not only diverse, but also and above all complex, a broader perspective that encompasses the interplay between the micro and macro dimensions can enable a better understanding of these issues and thereby support the identification of the multiple factors that may be at their origin. Triangulating the perspectives of researchers with those of REB members and research ethics experts enabled us to bring these elements to light, and thus to step back from and critique the way that research is currently conducted. To this end, attention to socio-political elements such as the performance culture in academia or how research funds are distributed, and according to what explicit and implicit criteria, can contribute to identifying the sources of the ethical issues described above.

Contemporary culture characterized by the social acceleration

The German sociologist and philosopher Rosa (2010) argues that late modernity – that is, the period between the 1980s and today – is characterized by a phenomenon of social acceleration that causes various forms of alienation in our relationship to time, space, actions, things, others and ourselves. Rosa distinguishes three types of acceleration: technical acceleration , the acceleration of social changes and the acceleration of the rhythm of life . According to Rosa, social acceleration is the main problem of late modernity, in that the invisible social norm of doing more and faster to supposedly save time operates unchallenged at all levels of individual and collective life, as well as organizational and social life. Although we all, researchers and non-researchers alike, perceive this unspoken pressure to be ever more productive, the process of social acceleration as a new invisible social norm is our blind spot, a kind of tyrant over which we have little control. This conceptualization of the contemporary culture can help us to understand the context in which research is conducted (like other professional practices). To this end, Berg & Seeber ( 2016 ) invite faculty researchers to slow down in order to better reflect and, in the process, take care of their health and their relationships with their colleagues and students. Many women professors encourage their fellow researchers, especially young women researchers, to learn to “say No” in order to protect their mental and physical health and to remain in their academic careers (Allaire & Descheneux, 2022 ). These authors also remind us of the relevance of Kahneman’s ( 2012 ) work which demonstrates that it takes time to think analytically, thoroughly, and logically. Conversely, thinking quickly exposes humans to cognitive and implicit biases that then lead to errors in thinking (e.g., in the analysis of one’s own research data or in the evaluation of grant applications or student curriculum vitae). The phenomenon of social acceleration, which pushes the researcher to think faster and faster, is likely to lead to unethical bad science that can potentially harm humankind. In sum, Rosa’s invitation to contemporary critical theorists to seriously consider the problem of social acceleration is particularly insightful to better understand the ethical issues of research. It provides a lens through which to view the toxic context in which research is conducted today, and one that was shared by the participants in our study.

Clark & Sousa ( 2022 ) note, it is important that other criteria than the volume of researchers’ contributions be valued in research, notably quality. Ultimately, it is the value of the knowledge produced and its influence on the concrete lives of humans and other living beings that matters, not the quantity of publications. An interesting articulation of this view in research governance is seen in a change in practice by Australia’s national health research funder: they now restrict researchers to listing on their curriculum vitae only the top ten publications from the past ten years (rather than all of their publications), in order to evaluate the quality of contributions rather than their quantity. To create environments conducive to the development of quality research, it is important to challenge the phenomenon of social acceleration, which insidiously imposes a quantitative normativity that is both alienating and detrimental to the quality and ethical conduct of research. Based on our experience, we observe that the social norm of acceleration actively disfavours the conduct of empirical research on ethics in research. The fact is that researchers are so busy that it is almost impossible for them to find time to participate in such studies. Further, operating in highly competitive environments, while trying to respect the values and ethical principles of research, creates ethical paradoxes for members of the research community. According to Malherbe ( 1999 ), an ethical paradox is a situation where an individual is confronted by contradictory injunctions (i.e., do more, faster, and better). And eventually, ethical paradoxes lead individuals to situations of distress and burnout, or even to ethical failures (i.e., misbehaviour or misconduct) in the face of the impossibility of responding to contradictory injunctions.

Strengths and Limitations of the study

The triangulation of perceptions and experiences of different actors involved in research is a strength of our study. While there are many studies on the experiences of researchers, rarely are members of REBs and experts in research ethics given the space to discuss their views of what are ethical issues. Giving each of these stakeholders a voice and comparing their different points of view helped shed a different and complementary light on the ethical issues that occur in research. That said, it would have been helpful to also give more space to issues experienced by students or research assistants, as the relationships between researchers and research assistants are at times very worrying, as noted by a participant, and much work still needs to be done to eliminate the exploitative situations that seem to prevail in certain research settings. In addition, no Indigenous or gender diverse researchers participated in the study. Given the ethical issues and systemic injustices that many people from these groups face in Canada (Drolet & Goulet, 2018 ; Nicole & Drolet, in press ), research that gives voice to these researchers would be relevant and contribute to knowledge development, and hopefully also to change in research culture.

Further, although most of the ethical issues discussed in this article may be transferable to the realities experienced by researchers in other countries, the epistemic injustice reported by Francophone researchers who persist in doing research in French in Canada – which is an officially bilingual country but in practice is predominantly English – is likely specific to the Canadian reality. In addition, and as mentioned above, recruitment proved exceedingly difficult, particularly amongst researchers. Despite this difficulty, we obtained data saturation for all but two themes – i.e., exploitation of students and ethical issues of research that uses animals. It follows that further empirical research is needed to improve our understanding of these specific issues, as they may diverge to some extent from those documented here and will likely vary across countries and academic research contexts.

Conclusions

This study, which gave voice to researchers, REB members, and ethics experts, reveals that the ethical issues in research are related to several problematic elements as power imbalances and authority relations. Researchers and research assistants are subject to external pressures that give rise to integrity issues, among others ethical issues. Moreover, the current context of social acceleration influences the definition of the performance indicators valued in academic institutions and has led their members to face several ethical issues, including social, distributive, and epistemic injustices, at different steps of the research process. In this study, ten categories of ethical issues were identified, described and illustrated: (1) research integrity, (2) conflicts of interest, (3) respect for research participants, (4) lack of supervision and power imbalances, (5) individualism and performance, (6) inadequate ethical guidance, (7) social injustices, (8) distributive injustices, (9) epistemic injustices, and (10) ethical distress. The triangulation of the perspectives of different members (i.e., researchers from different disciplines, REB members, research ethics experts, and one research assistant) involved in the research process made it possible to lift the veil on some of these ethical issues. Further, it enabled the identification of additional ethical issues, especially systemic injustices experienced in research. To our knowledge, this is the first time that these injustices (social, distributive, and epistemic injustices) have been clearly identified.

Finally, this study brought to the fore several problematic elements that are important to address if the research community is to develop and implement the solutions needed to resolve the diverse and transversal ethical issues that arise in research institutions. A good starting point is the rejection of the corollary norms of “publish or perish” and “do more, faster, and better” and their replacement with “publish quality instead of quantity”, which necessarily entails “do less, slower, and better”. It is also important to pay more attention to the systemic injustices within which researchers work, because these have the potential to significantly harm the academic careers of many researchers, including women researchers, early career researchers, and those belonging to racialized groups as well as the health, well-being, and respect of students and research participants.

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Acknowledgements

The team warmly thanks the participants who took part in the research and who made this study possible. Marie-Josée Drolet thanks the five research assistants who participated in the data collection and analysis: Julie-Claude Leblanc, Élie Beauchemin, Pénéloppe Bernier, Louis-Pierre Côté, and Eugénie Rose-Derouin, all students at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR), two of whom were active in the writing of this article. MJ Drolet and Bryn Williams-Jones also acknowledge the financial contribution of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), which supported this research through a grant. We would also like to thank the reviewers of this article who helped us improve it, especially by clarifying and refining our ideas.

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Drolet, MJ., Rose-Derouin, E., Leblanc, JC. et al. Ethical Issues in Research: Perceptions of Researchers, Research Ethics Board Members and Research Ethics Experts. J Acad Ethics 21 , 269–292 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10805-022-09455-3

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177 Interesting Ethics Paper Topics For Your Thesis

Ethics is a branch of study in philosophy that studies the concept of morality—what is good or bad, what is acceptable or unacceptable. It’s a philosophical theory that looks into moral rules and codes, principles, value systems, and other related concepts.

In academia, an ethical theory is used as one of the analytical tools in drawing analysis on several socio-cultural topics. Ethics can be applied to any particular subject matter in human society. And, on this, so many compelling, controversial or interesting ethical topics for academic essays and research papers have continued to spring up.

For students writing either an essay or a research paper on ethics, there are some relevant things to note about a good essay/research topic and writing a dissertation. They include:

Brainstorm on different topics Always go for a topic you are familiar with Choose a topic that has enough “flesh”. This is important as interesting topics will help you develop your essay/research Define your subject of interest. It makes the writing easier Properly researching for topics that serve contemporary social relevance Outlining is important for your research topic

What following some of these processes does for your essay/research/thesis is that it enriches your work and affords you the ability to communicate ideas clearly to readers. Here are some topics in ethics you can use for your essay/research.

Interesting Top Level Ethics Paper Topics for All Students

Writing a paper on ethics makes for an interesting writing experience because they usually require that the writer make a case for a particular subject based on whether the subject is right or wrong. There are so many ethical topics for papers. As a student, there are several ethical questions to debate, and you can choose to model your topic using some of these samples:

• Discuss what should be done concerning the rise in the ban on safe abortion
• Is the right to safe abortion practice unethical?
• Should abortion practice be promoted or championed for women in society?
• Are humans truly the root source for the issues of climate change and global warming the world is currently experiencing?
• Is it right to discriminate against the sexes?
• Is there a defining difference between sexes and gender?
• Is the practice of gender-based violence ethical?
• Should safe sexual practices be promoted?
• Sex: A Study of the growing practice of sexual relationships outside marriage
• Domestic Violence and how it can be combated
• Marijuana: The distinction to its health roles and health challenges it poses on individuals
• Is it unethical to promote capitalism and capitalist concepts?
• A Study of Racism and measures to ensure its decline
• Is it ethical to be a millionaire while there are so many less privileged people?
• A study of the ethical challenges that come with being in the academia
• Is war an ethical practice?
• Why LGBTQ+ people should not be discriminated against
• What are the ways workplace ethics can address issues of homophobia and internalized sexism?
• Is sexism in the workplace an ethical practice?
• The issue of microaggression and how it can be addressed
• A study of why workplaces need ethical conduct that monitors issues of workplace harassment
• Should salaries be uneven?
• How unethical are uneven salary payment structures?
• Should start-up tech companies hire more men for starters?
• How people can prioritize online privacy
• Is bridging online privacy unethical?
• Is the right to privacy unethical?

Engaging Ethical Dilemma Topics

As ethics deals with the debate on morals, one of the ways topics on ethics manifests is in the subject of dilemma. Topics like this focus on trying to find a suitable justification for one idea over another. There are several ethics topics to write about on this subject. Some of them include:

• Should students be allowed to bring their phones to school?
• Should parents police every social activity of their children?
• Should teachers use the cane on students as a disciplinary measure?
• Is flogging a good correctional practice?
• Should you leave your partner if they are of opposing political views?
• Should opposing religious beliefs be a deal-breaker in relationships?
• Should capitalism be abolished completely?
• Should a teacher maintain some level of friendship with their students?
• Is there any lingering importance of capitalism to society?
• Is revenge a viable option in a relationship if your partner cheats on you?
• Is sharing your experiences online the same as showing off a lifestyle?
• Should people from different religious beliefs and backgrounds partner?
• Is checking the DNA of your children important or necessary?
• Should parents enforce their children on behaviors to take up?
• Can discipline properly correct the attitudes of a child?
• Should eating junk foods be avoided completely?
• Should Halloween Trick or Treat and Costume be prioritized over Thanksgiving Dinners?
• Should children hold different religious beliefs from their parents while still young?
• Does strict parenting serve as the best way to raise a child?
• Is it important to reveal a secret to a friend or to keep one’s peace?
• Should cooking at home be prioritized over eating out?
• Is socialism a more suitable social practice than capitalism?
• Is accepting financial assistance from your parents acceptable after a certain age?
• Should school authorities seize phones brought to school?
• Is sending a child to a mixed school better than same-sex schools?
• Can afforestation alone save the world from global warming and the general climate change condition?
• Does being educated equate with being intelligent?

Ethical Issues to Write about in Your College Essay

One important thing to note about ethical topics is that they touch across so many different subjects. As a college student preparing to write an essay on ethics, rest assured as there are so many ethics ideas to write about. Here are some ethical topics to write about:

• Does Hiring female employees cover a company’s sexist motives?
• Should Actors be paid more than teachers?
• Taking medical decisions for a patient without their consent
• How ethical is the interference of the judiciary by the legislative arm of government?
• Is it ethical to fire someone due to their dress code?
• Is it unethical to wear colored hair to work?
• Is censorship ethical?
• Where does media censorship draw the line?
• Is it ethical for religious figureheads to meddle in state politics?
• Should gender be the reason why a person is restricted access to certain social privileges?
• Should sexuality be a discriminatory factor in society?
• Should companies and places of work provide counseling and therapy services for their employees?
• Can Children wear makeup on special occasions?
• Is it unethical to make medical decisions for a patient without any recognizable relatives?
• Does dress code need to affect how you are addressed?
• Should implementing ethics in sports be recommended?
• Is police brutality an ethical practice?
• The impacts of the excessive consumption of media content?
• Is the excessive use of social media healthy?
• How can companies ensure paid maternal and paternal leave?
• How can the inclusion of non-binary people in company policies promote growth?
• Is exclusion on the grounds of sexuality ethical?
• Is exclusion due to political beliefs unethical?
• How to promote ethical work culture?
• How can a company ensure that ethical practices are promoted in their companies?

Ethical Argument Topics to Write About

The best part about writing an ethical essay is that it is about anything that is of interest. An important aspect of the ethical argument topic is that it is supported with evidence. There are so many ethical topics to write about that fall within this category, and they include:

• Is the having of ethical codes and conducts important in an organization?
• Should people only implement progressive ideas to meet societal needs?
• Why LGBTQ+ should not be discriminated against
• Is it unethical to come to work late?
• Is government-sanctioned execution an ethical practice?
• Is the American incarceration system an effective corrective system?
• Is corrective rape an ethical practice?
• Should the issue of internalized homophobia be addressed?
• Internalized patriarchy and internalized homophobia, which one births one
• Should smoking weed be made legal?
• Why do the less privileged need free healthcare services
• A study of the effects of colonialism and internalized slavery
• Must aspiring journalists only focus on journalism courses?
• Addressing what it means to be of ethical behavior
• Should students be given a take-home assignment?
• Is there any academic relevance to assignments?
• Is access to free healthcare important?
• Does following the ethics code have abt social relevance?
• What role should developed countries play for developing countries?
• Is analysis writing an important aspect of literature?
• What role does ethics play in schools
• Should the address of global warming be continuous?
• Is there room for possible positive developments in global warming?
• Is the practice of ethics the same as moral teaching
• Should schools create sex education into their education curriculum

Comprehensive Ethics Debate Topics for Anyone

Just like the argumentative ethics topic, a debate topic on ethics centers majorly on choosing a part to argue for or against. This argument also is wrapped with evidence to support it. Your ethic topics can be on any subject. You can choose moral topics or any other topic with relevance. Here are some lists of ethical debate topics anyone can write on:

• Should the use of Contraceptives be promoted?
• Does legalizing weed make it any healthier?
• Should school children bring phones into school settings?
• The health impact of excessive engagement on social media
• Social relevance and importance of having ethical conducts
• Do companies with ethical conduct grow ahead
• Does ethics make a workplace safer?
• Are there importance on why sex education should be added to student’s
• Why safe abortion rights should be legalized
• Why the discrimination based on sexuality is harmful
• Why the practice of hedonism is important
• Sexual pleasure: Is it morally good?
• Is happiness dependent on an external factor?
• Why Institutionalized racism is the root cause of racism and racist beliefs
• Should the use of drugs be legalized?
• Is there any progressive importance to having a conservative view on things?
• Should social media apps allow explicit sexual content?
• Should social app builders have access to individual account
• Can homeschool match formal school training?
• Should the government ensure censorship measures?
• Is voting during elections the only form of patriotism?
• Is voting a patriotic display
• Are families allowed to have contradicting religious beliefs?
• Should state governments have any interference with the federal government?
• Should teenagers have access to contraceptives?

Good Ethical Research Papers for your Thesis or Dissertation

Writing either a thesis or a dissertation is a necessary part of academia. As a university student, you can’t graduate from only writing essays withiut writing your graduating thesis. There are so many areas your research paper about ethics can focus on. Here is a list of ethical topics:

• The contemporary relevance of applied ethics
• The psychological impacts of the proliferation of technology
• A Case Study of the legality of weed
• A multi-dimensional approach to the subject of marriage
• An ethical approach to the killing of animals
• A case study of the critical ethical debates on the use of contraception
• An analytical study of the relevance of ethical conduct in the workplace
• An investigation into the social relevance and importance of the beauty pageantry culture
• A critical study of normative ethics
• The role of applied ethics in the building of a healthy work culture
• An overview of the barriers associated with good leadership practice
• A Study of the importance of ethical practice in the healthcare system
• The study of ethics in business social responsibility
• An Overview on how Ethics promotes a saner working culture
• A look into how ethics promotes healthy social relationships
• The ethical relevance for Doctor and Patient Confidentiality
• Malpractice and Negligence an ethically challenging issue within the healthcare system
• The social and health relevance to access to free healthcare insurance
• A Study of the social relevance of ethics
• Violence: violence against animals is still abuse
• A look into strategic approaches to managing cyber crimes
• Ethic reasons for the separation of the church from politics
• Ethical Conduct: How Organizations with practicable ethics produces a toxic work environment
• A look into how Social media negatively impacts the IQ of a student
• The role of self-awareness and professional responsibility impacts social ethics in the workplace

Good Ethical Questions for Discussion

Primarily, ethics asks and answers the question of wrong or good. There are so many social issues that will make for good ethical questions for discussion. Here is a list of ethical questions for students to form insights from:

• How does ethics help to promote healthy workplace awareness?
• Does the practice of abortion negate morality?
• Is it right for a rape victim to be denied access to safe and free abortion?
• How do homophobia, racism, misogyny, and ableist practices hinder social growth?
• Should there be free access to condoms and contraceptive pills?
• Is free access to contraceptives better than the provision of menstrual materials
• How can racism be dismantled in an organization without consideration to institutionalized racism?
• How does the continuous promotion of capitalist concepts hinder societal progress?
• Does capitalism truly hinder social growth?
• Why should there be free access to contraceptive materials especially for women?
• What are the possible feasible solutions to the issue of climate change?
• Is it unethical not to share the wealth?
• Is engaging in warfare the right way to bring solutions?
• Does the use of makeup contradict the concept of beauty?
• Why are LGBTQ+ rights human rights?
• Is the legalization of cannabis ethical?
• Does the way you dress need to be the reason you are addressed a certain way?
• Are there moral problems that come with job automation?
• What can be done to combat the use of harmful substances
• Why should companies stop discriminating based on sex?
• What is the social relevance of providing workplace access?
• Why should parents and teachers stop flogging students?
• What is the distinction between discipline and strictness?
• Should religious beliefs be a dealbreaker in any relationship?

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• Open access
• Published: 07 August 2024

Ethical considerations in public engagement: developing tools for assessing the boundaries of research and involvement

• Jaime Garcia-Iglesias 1 ,
• Iona Beange 2 ,
• Donald Davidson 2 ,
• Suzanne Goopy 3 ,
• Huayi Huang 3 ,
• Fiona Murray 4 ,
• Carol Porteous 5 ,
• Elizabeth Stevenson 6 ,
• Sinead Rhodes 7 ,
• Faye Watson 8 &
• Sue Fletcher-Watson 7  

Research Involvement and Engagement volume  10 , Article number:  83 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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Public engagement with research (PEwR) has become increasingly integral to research practices. This paper explores the process and outcomes of a collaborative effort to address the ethical implications of PEwR activities and develop tools to navigate them within the context of a University Medical School. The activities this paper reflects on aimed to establish boundaries between research data collection and PEwR activities, support colleagues in identifying the ethical considerations relevant to their planned activities, and build confidence and capacity among staff to conduct PEwR projects. The development process involved the creation of a taxonomy outlining key terms used in PEwR work, a self-assessment tool to evaluate the need for formal ethical review, and a code of conduct for ethical PEwR. These tools were refined through iterative discussions and feedback from stakeholders, resulting in practical guidance for researchers navigating the ethical complexities of PEwR. Additionally, reflective prompts were developed to guide researchers in planning and conducting engagement activities, addressing a crucial aspect often overlooked in formal ethical review processes. The paper reflects on the broader regulatory landscape and the limitations of existing approval and governance processes, and prompts critical reflection on the compatibility of formal approval processes with the ethos of PEwR. Overall, the paper offers insights and practical guidance for researchers and institutions grappling with ethical considerations in PEwR, contributing to the ongoing conversation surrounding responsible research practices.

Plain English summary

This paper talks about making research fairer for everyone involved. Sometimes, researchers ask members of the public for advice, guidance or insight, or for help to design or do research, this is sometimes known as ‘public engagement with research’. But figuring out how to do this in a fair and respectful way can be tricky. In this paper, we discuss how we tried to make some helpful tools. These tools help researchers decide if they need to get formal permission, known as ethical approval, for their work when they are engaging with members of the public or communities. They also give tips on how to do the work in a good and fair way. We produced three main tools. One helps people understand the important words used in this kind of work (known as a taxonomy). Another tool helps researchers decide if they need to ask for special permission (a self-assessment tool). And the last tool gives guidelines on how to do the work in a respectful way (a code of conduct). These tools are meant to help researchers do their work better and treat everyone involved fairly. The paper also talks about how more work is needed in the area, but these tools are a good start to making research fairer and more respectful for everyone.

Peer Review reports

Introduction

In recent decades, “public involvement in research” has experienced significant development, becoming an essential element of the research landscape. In fact, it has been argued, public involvement may make research better and more relevant [ 7 , p. 1]. Patients’ roles, traditionally study participants, have transformed to become “active partners and co-designers” [ 17 , p. 1]. This evolution has led to the appearance of a multitude of definitions and terms to refer to these activities. In the UK, the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement, defines public engagement as the “many ways organisations seek to involve the public in their work” [ 9 ]. In this paper, we also refer to “public involvement,” which is defined as “research being carried out ‘with’ or ‘by’ members of the public rather than ‘to’, ‘about’ or ‘for’ them” (UK Standards for Public Involvement). Further to this, the Health Research Authority (also in the UK), defines public engagement with research as “all the ways in which the research community works together with people including patients, carers, advocates, service users and members of the community” [ 6 ]; [ 9 ]. These terms encompass a wide variety of theorizations, levels of engagement, and terminology, such as ‘patient-oriented research’, ‘participatory’ research or services or ‘patient engagement’ [ 17 , p. 2]. For this paper, we use the term ‘public engagement with research’ or PEwR in this way.

Institutions have been set up to support PEwR activities. In the UK these include the UK Standards for Public Involvement in Research (supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research), INVOLVE, and the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE). Most recently, in 2023, the UK’s largest funders and healthcare bodies signed a joint statement “to improve the extent and quality of public involvement across the sector so that it is consistently excellent” [ 6 ]. In turn, this has often translated to public engagement becoming a requisite for securing research funding or institutional ethical permissions [ 3 , p. 2], as well as reporting and publishing research [ 15 ]. Despite this welcomed infrastructure to support PEwR, there remain gaps in knowledge and standards in the delivery of PEwR. One such gap concerns the extent to which PEwR should be subject to formal ethical review in the same way as data collection for research.

In 2016, the UK Health Research Authority and INVOLVE published a joint statement suggesting that “involving the public in the design and development of research does not generally raise any ethical concerns” [ 7 , p. 2]. We presume that this statement is using the phrase ‘ethical concerns’ to narrowly refer to the kinds of concerns addressed by a formal research ethics review process, such as safeguarding, withdrawal from research, etc. Footnote 1 . To such an extent, we agree that public involvement with research is not inherently ‘riskier’ than other research activities.

Furthermore, a blanket need for formal ethical review risks demoting or disempowering non-academic contributors from the roles of consultants, co-researchers, or advisors to a more passive status as participants. Attending a meeting as an expert, discussing new project ideas, setting priorities, designing studies and, or interpreting findings does not require that we sign a consent form. Indeed, to do so clearly removes the locus of power away from the person signing and into the hands of the person who wrote the consent form. This particular risk is exacerbated when institutional, formal ethical review processes operate in complex, convoluted and obscure ways that often baffle researchers let alone members of the public.

However, we also recognize that PEwR is not without potential to do harm – something which formal research ethics review aims to anticipate and minimise. For example, a public lecture or a workshop could cause distress to audience members or participants if they learn for the first time that aspects of their lifestyle or personal history put them at higher risk of dementia. When patients are invited to join advisory panels, they may feel pressure to reveal personal details about their medical history to reinforce their expertise or legitimise their presence – especially in a room where most other people have potentially intimidating professional qualifications. Some patient groups may be exploited, if research involvement roles are positioned as an opportunity, or even a duty, and not properly reimbursed. When patients are more deeply involved in research roles, such as collecting or analysing data, they might experience distress, particularly if interacting with participants triggers their own painful or emotional memories [ 14 , p. 98]. Thus, at all levels of PEwR from science communication to embedded co-production, there is a danger of harm to patients or members of the public, and a duty of care on the part of the research team and broader institution who invited them in.

These concerns are not accessory to PEwR activities but rather exist at their heart. Following a review on the impacts of public engagement, Brett et al. conclude that “developing a wide view which considers the impact of PPI [public and patient involvement] on the people involved in the process can be critical to our understanding of why some studies that involve patients and the public thrive, while others fail” [ 1 , p. 388]. Despite the importance of these considerations, there is a stark absence of consistent guidance as to whether different forms of PEwR require formal ethical review. Nor is there, to our knowledge, any sustained attempt to provide a framework for ethical conduct of PEwR in the absence of formal review (see Pandya-Wood et al. [ 11 ]; Greenhalgh et al. [ 5 ]). This is, in part, due to there being a wide heterogeneity of practices, communities, and levels of engagement [ 8 , p. 6] that resists generalizable principles or frameworks.

The lack of frameworks about whether or how PEwR requires formal ethical review can, ironically, be a key barrier to PEwR happening. In our work as members of a university ethics review committee, we have found this lack of guidance to hamper appropriate ethical PEwR in several ways. Researchers may avoid developing PEwR initiatives altogether for fear of having to spend time or resources in securing formal ethical review (especially when this process is lengthy or resource-intensive). Likewise, they may avoid PEwR for fear that its conduction would be unethical. On the other hand, others could assume that the lack of a requirement for formal ethical review means there are no ethical issues or risks involved in PEwR.

Similarly, experts in PEwR who are not experienced with formal research ethics review may face barriers as their PEwR process becomes more elaborate, in-depth, or complex. For example, although a priority-setting exercise with members of an online community of people with depression was assessed as not requiring ethics review, the funding panel requested that formal ethics review be undergone for a follow-up exercised aimed at collecting data answering one of the priority questions identified in the previous priority-setting. It is crucial that innovations in PEwR and findings from this work are shared and yet academic teams may be unable to publish their work in certain journals which require evidence of having undergone formal ethical review. Finally, ethics committees such as ours often must rely on anecdotal knowledge to make judgements about what does or does not require formal ethical review, given the absence of standardized frameworks.

About this paper

In this paper, we report and reflect on the development of specific tools and processes for assessing the ethical needs of PEwR initiatives, as members of an ethics review committee for a large University medical school. These tools aim to delineate boundaries between research data collection and PEwR activities of various kinds, provide a self-assessment framework for ethical practice in PEwR and, overall, give people greater confidence when conducting PEwR work. We describe and critically reflect on the development of the following resources:

a taxonomy to define key terms relating to PEwR with associated resource recommendations.

a self-assessment tool to support people understanding where their planned activities fall in relation to research or PEwR.

a code of conduct for ethical conduct of PEwR (appended to the self-assessment tool).

We will, first, describe our work as part of an institutional ethics committee, the identification of a need for specific guidance, and our key assumptions; we will then describe the process of developing these tools and processes; provide an overview of the tools themselves; and reflect on early feedback received and future work needed.

Developing specific tools for PEWR in ethics

Identifying needs, goals and outputs.

The Edinburgh Medical School Research Ethics Committee (EMREC) provides ethical opinions to members of staff and postgraduate researchers within the University of Edinburgh Medical School in relation to planned research to be conducted on humans i.e. their data, or tissues. These research activities come from a wide range of disciplines, including public health, epidemiology, social science or psychology. EMREC does not review research that involves recruitment of NHS patients, use of NHS data, or other health service resources: such projects are evaluated by an NHS research ethics committee. EMREC is led by two co-directors and formed of over 38 members, which include experienced academics and academic-clinicians from a variety of disciplines. There are also 2–4 lay members who are not researchers.

EMREC receives regular enquiries about whether a specific piece of PEwR work (such as holding a workshop with people living with endometriosis to identify research priorities or interviewing HIV activists about their work during COVID-19) requires formal ethics review. In addition, often teams contact EMREC following completion of a PEwR activity that they want to publish because the journal in which they wish to publish has requested evidence of the work having undergone formal ethics approval. These enquiries are happening in the context of an institutional investment in staffing, leading to a significant degree of distributed expertise across the Medical School about diverse forms of PEwR.

Responding to this, in the summer of 2022, a Public and Patient Involvement and Engagement working group was formed by EMREC with the aim of developing new tools and processes to navigate the ethical implications of PEWR within the University of Edinburgh Medical School. The group’s original understandings were that:

PEwR is both important and skilled work that presents a unique set of ethical implications,

PEwR is a fragmented landscape where many people have relevant but different expertise and where a wide range of terminology is in use, and.

there is no existing widely-agreed framework for ethical PEwR.

This working group was designed to be temporary, lasting approximately six months. It was composed of eleven members with different degrees of seniority and disciplinary backgrounds - both members of EMREC and those from other parts of the Medical School, and other parts of the University of Edinburgh. Among these, there were both academics and PEwR experts in professional services (i.e. primarily non-academic) roles. The working group met four times (August, September and November 2022; and January 2023).

The group identified three key goals and, in relation to these, key outputs needed. The goals were: (1) help establish boundaries between research data collection (requiring an ethical opinion from EMREC) and PEwR activities of various kinds (requiring ethical reflection/practice but not a formal EMREC ethical opinion), (2) support colleagues to identify where their planned activities fell in the research-PEwR continuum and consequently the relevant ethical framework, and (3) identify ways of building confidence and capacity among staff to conduct PEwR projects. In relation to these goals, the working group initially agreed on producing the following key outputs:

A taxonomy outlining and defining key terms used in the PEwR work, with examples. While not universal or definitive, the taxonomy should help colleagues identify and label their activities and help determine the ethical considerations that would apply to conduct the work with integrity. It would also facilitate conversations between staff with varying levels and types of experience, and ensure that decisions around ethical conduct would be based on more than choice of terminology.

A self-assessment tool to provide a more systematic way to evaluate whether a given academic activity, involving a non-academic partner (organisation or individual) requires formal evaluation by a research ethics committee.

A list of resources collected both from within and beyond our institution that are relevant to the issue of ethics and PEwR and can serve as ‘further reading’ and training.

While we aimed to develop this work with a view to it being useful within the remit of the University of Edinburgh Medical School, we also understood that there was significant potential for these outputs to be of interest and relevance more widely. In this way, we aimed to position them as a pragmatic addition to existing guidance and resources, such as the NIHR Reflective Questions [ 2 ].

Our process

Across the first three meetings, the group worked together on the simultaneous development of the three outputs (taxonomy, self-assessment tool, and resources). The initial taxonomy was informed by the guidance produced by the Public Involvement Resource Hub at Imperial College London [ 10 ]. The taxonomy was developed as a table that included key terms (such as ‘public engagement’, ‘co-production’, or ‘market research’), with their definitions, examples, and synonyms. From early on, it was decided that different key terms would not be defined by the methods used, as there could be significant overlap among these – e.g. something called a focus group might be a part of a consultation, market research or research data collection.

A draft table (with just six categories) was presented in the first meeting and group members were asked to work on the table between meetings, including providing additional examples, amending language, or any other suggestions. This was done on a shared document using ‘comments’ so that contradictory views could be identified and agreements reached. The table was also shared with colleagues from outside the University of Edinburgh Medical School to capture the range of terminologies used across disciplines, recognising the interdisciplinary nature of much research.

Through this process, additional key terms were identified, such as “science communication” and “action research,” definitions were developed more fully, and synonyms were sometimes contextualized (by indicating, for example, shades of difference or usages specific to an area). Upon further work, three additional sections were added to the taxonomy tool: first, an introduction was developed that explained what terminology our specific institution used and noted that the boundaries between different terms were often “fuzzy and flexible.” In addition, the group agreed that it would be useful to provide a narrative example of how different forms of public engagement with research might co-exist and flow from one to another. To this end, a fictional example was developed where a team of clinical researchers interested in diabetes are described engaging in scoping work, research, co-production, science communication and action research at different times of their research programme. Finally, a section was also added that prompted researchers to reflect on the processes of negotiating how partners can be described in research (for example, whether to use terms such as ‘patient’ or ‘lay member’).

For the self-assessment tool, a first iteration was a table with two columns (one for research or work requiring formal ethical review and one for PEwR or work not requiring formal ethical review). The aim was for group members to fill the table with examples of activities that would fall under each category, with a view to identifying generalizable characteristics. However, this task proved complicated given the wide diversity of possible activities, multitude of contexts, and sheer number of exceptions. To address this, group members were asked to complete a case-based exercise. They were presented with the following situation: “I tell you I’m planning a focus group with some autistic folk” and asked how they would determine whether the activity would be a form of data collection for a research project (requiring formal ethical review) or another form of PEwR. Group members were asked, with a view to developing the self-assessment tool, to identify which questions they would ask to assess the activity. The replies of working group members were synthesized by one of the authors (SFW) and presented at the following meeting.

Through discussion as a group, we determined that the questions identified as useful in identifying if an activity required formal ethical review fell, roughly, under four main areas. Under each area, some indicators of activities were provided which were “less likely to need ethics review” and some “more likely to need ethics review”. The four umbrella questions were:

What is the purpose and the planned outcome of the activity? (see Table  1 for an excerpt of the initial draft answer to this question)

What is the status of the people involved in the activity? (indicators of less likely to need ethics review were “participants will be equal partners with academic team” or “participants will be advisors” and indicators more likely to require ethics approval were “participants will undertake tasks determined by academics” or “participants will contribute data or sign consent forms”).

What kind of information is being collected? (indicators of less likely to need ethics review were “asking about expert opinion on a topic” or “sessions will be minuted and notes taken” and indicators more likely to require ethics approval were “sessions will be recorded and transcribed” or “asking about participants’ personal experiences”).

What are the risks inherent in this activity? (indicators of less likely to need ethics review were “participants will be involved in decision-making” or “participants will be credited for their role in a manner of their choosing” and indicators more likely to require ethics approval were “participants’ involvement will and must be anonymized fully” or “participants have a choice between following protocol or withdrawing from the study”).

Upon further work, the group decided to modify this initial iteration in several ways leading to the final version. First, a brief introduction explaining the purpose of the tool was written. This included information about the aims of the tool, and a very brief overview of the process of formal research ethics review. It also emphasised the importance of discussion of the tool within the team, with PEwR experts and sometimes with EMREC members, depending on how clear-cut the outcome was. Second, we included brief information about what are ‘research’ and ‘public engagement with research’ with a view to supporting people who may not be familiar with how these concepts are used by ethics review committees (for example, lay co-applicants or co-researchers). Third, we included key guidance about how to use the tool, including ‘next steps’ if the activity was determined to be research or engagement. Importantly, this emphasised that none of the questions posed and indicators given were definitive of something needing or not needing formal research ethics review, but instead they should be used collectively to signpost a team towards, or away from, formal review.

Finally, while the four umbrella questions remained the same as in the previous iteration, the indicators under each were further refined. In discussing the previous version, the group agreed that, while some indicators could relate to an activity falling into either category (research or engagement) depending on other factors, there were others that were much more likely to fall under one category than the other. In other words, while no single indicator was deterministic of needing or not needing formal review, some indicators were more influential than others on the final self-assessment outcome. Thus, we divided the indicators associated with each umbrella question into two sub-groups. The more influential indicators were labelled as either “probably doesn’t need ethical review” or “almost certainly needs ethical review”. Less influential indicators were labelled as either “less likely to need ethical review” or “more likely to need ethical review.” This is shown in Table  2 .

This new format retains the awareness of the sometimes-blurry lines between research and PEwR for many activities, but also seeks to provide stronger direction through indicative activities that are more clear-cut, with a particular view to supporting early-career researchers and people new to ethics reviews and/or engagement processes.

A key concern of the group was what would happen next if a planned activity, using the self-assessment tool, was deemed as PEwR. The formal review process for research would not be available for a planned activity identified as PEwR i.e. completing a series of documents and a number of protocols to deal with issues such as data protection, safeguarding, etc. This would leave a vacuum in terms of guidance for ethical conduction of PEwR. The group was concerned that some people using the self-assessment tool might arrive at the conclusion that their planned activity was entirely without ethical risks, given that it was not required to undergo formal review. Others might be conscious of the risks but feel adrift as to how to proceed. This was a particular concern with early-career researchers and indeed established academics turning to PEwR for the first time: we wanted to facilitate their involvement with PEwR but we were also aware that many may lack experience and resources. To address this, the group decided to develop an additional output comprising a series of reflective prompts to guide researchers in planning and conducting engagement activities.

The prompts were organized under four headings. First, “Data Minimisation and Security” included information about required compliance with data protection legislation, suggestions about collecting and processing information, and ideas around ensuring confidentiality. Second, “Safeguarding Collaborators and Emotional Labour” prompted researchers to think about the risk of partners becoming distressed and suggested what things should be planned for in this regard. Third, “Professional Conduct and Intellectual Property” included advice on how to clearly manage partners’ expectations around their contributions, impact, and intellectual property. Finally, fourth, under “Power Imbalances”, the guidance discusses how researchers may work to address the inherent imbalances that exist in relationships with partners. It prompts the researcher to think about choice of location, information sharing, and authorship among others. While the Edinburgh Medical School Research Ethics Committee remains available for consultation on all these matters, as well as dedicated and professional PEwR staff, the group developed these guidelines with a view both to emphasizing the fact that an activity not requiring formal ethical review did not mean that the activity was absent of risk or did not require careful ethical planning; and to support those who may be unfamiliar with how to develop engagement activities. It was decided that this guideline should follow the self-assessment tool for clarity.

Finally, in the process of developing these outputs (the planned taxonomy and assessment tool, and the additional reflective prompts appended to the assessment tool), the group collected a large number of resources, including academic papers (e.g. Staniszewska et al. [ 16 ]; Schroeder et al. [ 13 ]; Redman et al. [ 12 ]; Fletcher-Watson et al. [ 4 ]), guidance produced by other institutions, and key online sites with information about national frameworks or policy. Among these, key resources were selected and appended to the taxonomy document. The final version of these documents can be found as appendices (Supplementary Material  1 : Assessment tool and reflective prompts; Supplementary Material  2 : Taxonomy and resources).

Further considerations and early results

The guidance and tools presented here are designed to clarify a boundary between research and engagement that is poorly defined and could cause harm if not well understood. In sharing them, we aim to facilitate researchers’ engagement with PEwR by providing familiarity with the terminology and approaches, examples, and suggesting key considerations. Most importantly, they support researchers to determine whether their planned activity should undergo a formal ethical review process or not – and if not, guides them towards ethical conduct in the absence of formal review. Reflecting on the process much of what we have explained essentially reflects a distinction between PEwR and research data collection that can be encapsulated within the idea of ‘locus of control’: namely that during PEwR the locus of control, as far as possible, sits with the engaged communities or members.

It should be noted, however, that researchers and these guidance and tools exist within a larger landscape, with added regulatory processes. Thus, researchers may need (regardless of whether their planned activity is research or engagement) to navigate additional compliance such as data protection or information security protocols and / or to consider reputational risk associated with certain topics. We are aware that the overlap of complex and sometimes obscure regulatory demands complicates the task of conducting both research and PEwR, as it requires researchers to juggle multiple procedures, documents, and approvals. This publication does not resolve all the questions that exist, but it does attempt to take a bold step towards confronting grey areas and providing systematic processes to navigate them.

The outputs described above were made available on the University of Edinburgh Medical School Research Ethics Committee intranet site under the heading “Public Engagement with Research.” While we do not collect statistics on the number of times the resources have been used, the committee has received positive feedback from people who have engaged with the documents. For example, one researcher commented that, in the process of developing an engagement activity, they had been “grappling with precisely these questions (of whether this qualifies as research, and whether it requires ethical review)” and that the documents were “quite timely and helpful. It allows me to think about these considerations in a systematic manner and it’s handy for me to send on to others as a framework for discussion should we have differing opinions.” It was this mention to the possibility of these documents being used as a framework for discussion that prompted us to write this paper as a way of sharing them beyond the University of Edinburgh College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine (where they are already used for training early-career researchers and in the MSc in Science Communication and Public Engagement). While we think they can be useful, we also encourage potential users to adapt them to their specific contexts, with different institutions potentially establishing differing procedures or requirements. To that end, we have shared in this paper the process of writing these documents so that other people and teams may also think through them productively and creatively.

Final reflections

In developing these documents, we sought to answer a need among members of our immediate community, seeking to better assess whether an activity required formal ethical review and wanting guidance to ethically conduct PEwR work. However, we also came to realize the limitations of existing approval and governance processes. In our case, a key reason why these documents were developed is because existing formal ethical review processes would not be adequate to capture the particularities and complexities of PEwR in our large, diverse Medical School.

Looking back at the tools we developed and the feedback received, we are also satisfied with the pragmatic approach we took. There is a vast amount of resources and literature available about how to conduct PEwR, as well as a multitude of accounts and reflections both of an anecdotal and epistemological nature. Building on this conceptual work and associated principles, we sought to develop pragmatic, clear, applicable tools, without overwhelming users with a multitude of available resources and complex theory. This is, we feel, particularly applicable to contexts like ours: a large, very diverse medical school which encompasses biomedical to social science disciplines where researchers and funders have vastly differing expectations and knowledge of PEwR.

This process also led us to reflect on the practical functions of formal ethical review. Formal ethics approval provides applicants with structured resources to think and plan about their work, feedback and guidance about their plans, and—most commonly—a code and letter than can be used to easily report to journals that your research has met a specific ethical threshold. With these documents we have sought to provide some similar, pragmatic guidance to support and empower people, through a self-assessment process. This begs the question, what, if any, formal approval processes should be developed for PEwR? Are such formal processes in any way adequate to the ethos of PEwR? Would formal independent review necessarily conflict with the values of PEwR, namely the empowerment of community members as decision-makers and experts? Thus, these documents and this paper contribute to an ongoing conversation as PEwR continues to develop in frequency and sophistication in health and social care research.

Data availability

No datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

The difference between research and public engagement is a complex one. Formal ethics approval, which is often seen as a regulatory or compliance mechanism, may not always be a good marker of this boundary, as it may ignore complex issues such as the distribution of power, the ethos of the activities, or their aims. Furthermore, different institutions use different criteria to determine what activities require ethics approval or are considered research. In this paper we reflect on the process of developing tools which we intended as pragmatic interventions that would support researchers, especially those without previous experience of PEwR to label their planned activities and understand their implications. Thus, we employ—even if not at all times comfortably—the framework that equates research with activities requiring ethics approval and PEwR with activities not requiring ethics approval.

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Acknowledgements

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This research was supported, in part, by the Economic and Social Research Council [ES/X003604/1].

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Jaime Garcia-Iglesias

Centre for Inflammation Research, Institute for Regeneration and Repair, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

Iona Beange & Donald Davidson

Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

Suzanne Goopy & Huayi Huang

School of Health in Social Science, Medical School, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

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Edinburgh Clinical Research Facility, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

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JGI: conceptualisation and writing (original draft); IB, DJD, SG, HH, FM, CP, ES, SR, FW: conceptualisation, writing (editing and reviewing); SFW: conceptualisation and writing (original draft).

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Garcia-Iglesias, J., Beange, I., Davidson, D. et al. Ethical considerations in public engagement: developing tools for assessing the boundaries of research and involvement. Res Involv Engagem 10 , 83 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40900-024-00617-8

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s40900-024-00617-8

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Research Paper Topics on Social Issues and Ethics

So, let’s move forward to the list of great topics for your research paper related to social issues and ethics.

Ethics research paper topics

Ethical problems and issues are the cornerstone of academic discourse. Whether you are conducting research or crafting a research paper, ethical considerations are not just important, they are essential. Ethics research involves a systematic study of moral principles and values that guide our behavior. It is our responsibility to understand what is considered correct or incorrect, fair or unfair in societies, and what factors influence the development of these values.

Moreover, the various ways these concepts are implemented in different contexts should be carefully studied, as it is our duty to ensure our research is conducted with the utmost integrity. 

1. Topic: The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in Decision-Making

• Research Question: What are the ethical implications of using artificial intelligence in decision-making processes across various industries?
• Overview: Explore the ethical challenges posed by AI in decision-making, including issues of bias, transparency, accountability, and the potential for harm. Analyze case studies where AI has been used in fields like healthcare, finance, and criminal justice, and discuss frameworks for ensuring ethical AI use.

2. Topic: The Ethics of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

• Research Question: How do businesses balance profit motives with ethical responsibilities in their CSR initiatives?
• Overview: Investigate the ethical considerations in corporate social responsibility, focusing on how companies address issues like environmental sustainability, social equity, and philanthropy. Analyze how CSR strategies align with ethical business practices and the impact on stakeholders.

3. Topic: Ethical Dilemmas in Medical Decision-Making

• Research Question: How do healthcare professionals navigate ethical dilemmas in medical decision-making, particularly in end-of-life care?
• Overview: Explore the ethical challenges faced by healthcare providers in making decisions about patient care, including issues of autonomy, informed consent, and resource allocation. Use case studies to discuss how ethical frameworks and guidelines can guide these difficult decisions.

4. Topic: The Ethics of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology

• Research Question: What are the ethical implications of genetic engineering and biotechnology in modern science and medicine?
• Overview: Investigate the ethical concerns related to genetic engineering, including the modification of human embryos, GMOs, and gene therapy. Analyze the potential benefits and risks, and discuss the ethical frameworks that can help guide responsible use of these technologies.

5. Topic: The Ethics of Data Privacy in the Digital Age

• Research Question: How can individuals and organizations ethically manage data privacy in an increasingly digital world?
• Overview: Examine the ethical challenges associated with data privacy, focusing on issues like consent, surveillance, and the use of personal data by corporations and governments. Analyze current data protection laws and ethical guidelines, and discuss how they can be strengthened to protect individual privacy rights.

6. Topic: The Ethics of Autonomous Vehicles

• Research Question: What are the ethical challenges and considerations in the development and deployment of autonomous vehicles?
• Overview: Explore the ethical issues surrounding autonomous vehicles, including safety, decision-making algorithms, and liability in the event of accidents. Analyze how ethical principles can be applied to guide the development and regulation of autonomous driving technology.

7. Topic: The Role of Ethics in Environmental Sustainability

• Research Question: How do ethical considerations shape environmental sustainability practices in businesses and governments?
• Overview: Investigate the ethical foundations of environmental sustainability, focusing on issues like resource conservation, climate change, and biodiversity. Analyze how ethical principles can inform policies and practices aimed at promoting sustainability at both the corporate and governmental levels.

8. Topic: The Ethics of Social Media and Online Communication

• Research Question: What are the ethical responsibilities of individuals and organizations in the use of social media and online communication platforms?
• Overview: Examine the ethical challenges of social media use, including issues of misinformation, cyberbullying, and privacy. Analyze the responsibilities of both users and platform providers in fostering a respectful and ethical online environment.

9. Topic: The Ethics of Capital Punishment

• Research Question: Is capital punishment ethically justifiable, and what are the moral arguments for and against it?
• Overview: Explore the ethical arguments surrounding capital punishment, including retribution, deterrence, and the value of human life. Analyze the different ethical frameworks used to justify or oppose the death penalty, and consider the implications for justice and society.

10. Topic: The Ethics of Humanitarian Intervention

• Research Question: What are the ethical considerations involved in humanitarian intervention in conflict zones?
• Overview: Investigate the ethical challenges of humanitarian intervention, focusing on issues like sovereignty, the just war theory, and the protection of human rights. Analyze case studies of past interventions to understand the ethical dilemmas and the criteria for justifying such actions.

11. Topic: The Ethics of Workplace Surveillance

• Research Question: How can businesses balance the need for workplace surveillance with the ethical considerations of employee privacy?
• Overview: Explore the ethical implications of workplace surveillance, focusing on the use of monitoring technologies, data collection, and employee consent. Analyze how businesses can implement surveillance practices that respect employee privacy while ensuring security and productivity.

12. Topic: The Ethics of Cultural Relativism vs. Universal Human Rights

• Research Question: How can the tension between cultural relativism and universal human rights be ethically navigated?
• Overview: Investigate the ethical debate between respecting cultural practices and upholding universal human rights. Analyze case studies where cultural practices conflict with human rights standards, and discuss how ethical frameworks can help reconcile these differences.

Environmental ethics research paper topics

Environmental topics are gaining increasing public attention due to their alarming impact on our quality of life. The rising number of emissions of carbon dioxide and other harmful gasses is a cause for concern. Overpopulation, pollution, deforestation, and desertification are not just issues, they are threats to our very existence. It is our collective responsibility to raise awareness and conduct research on these topics to ensure the implementation of effective measures to combat the further deterioration of environmental problems.

Our discussion of environmental ethics should not just be academic, but a call to action, focusing on questions such as how humans should interact with nature, the undeniable importance of nature in our lives, and the ethical implications of environmental issues. 

13. Topic: The Ethics of Climate Change Responsibility

• Research Question: Who bears the ethical responsibility for addressing climate change, and how should this responsibility be distributed among nations and individuals?
• Overview: Explore the ethical considerations in attributing responsibility for climate change mitigation, focusing on historical emissions, current capabilities, and the impact on vulnerable populations. Analyze different ethical frameworks, such as distributive justice and the polluter pays principle, to assess how responsibility should be allocated.

14. Topic: The Ethical Implications of Deforestation

• Research Question: What are the ethical concerns associated with deforestation, and how should they influence environmental policy?
• Overview: Investigate the ethical issues surrounding deforestation, including its impact on biodiversity, indigenous communities, and global climate systems. Analyze the trade-offs between economic development and environmental preservation, and discuss ethical approaches to creating sustainable forestry practices.

15. Topic: The Ethics of Conservation and Biodiversity Protection

• Research Question: How can ethical principles guide the conservation of biodiversity and the protection of endangered species?
• Overview: Examine the ethical foundations of conservation efforts, focusing on the intrinsic value of biodiversity, the rights of species, and the moral obligations of humans to protect natural ecosystems. Analyze case studies of successful and controversial conservation projects to understand the ethical dilemmas involved.

16. Topic: The Ethics of Animal Rights in Environmental Protection

• Research Question: How do animal rights intersect with environmental ethics, and what are the ethical implications for conservation efforts?
• Overview: Explore the relationship between animal rights and environmental ethics, focusing on issues like habitat destruction, hunting, and wildlife management. Analyze the ethical tensions between protecting individual animals and maintaining ecological balance, and discuss how these conflicts can be ethically resolved.

17. Topic: The Ethics of Renewable Energy Development

• Research Question: What are the ethical considerations in the development and deployment of renewable energy technologies?
• Overview: Investigate the ethical issues associated with renewable energy, including land use, community impact, and the trade-offs between environmental benefits and social costs. Analyze how ethical principles can guide the responsible development of renewable energy projects, ensuring that they are both sustainable and equitable.

18. Topic: The Ethics of Environmental Justice

• Research Question: How does environmental justice address the ethical concerns of marginalized communities affected by environmental degradation?
• Overview: Examine the concept of environmental justice, focusing on the disproportionate impact of environmental hazards on low-income and minority communities. Analyze the ethical principles underlying environmental justice movements, and discuss strategies for achieving fair and equitable environmental policies.

19. Topic: The Ethical Implications of Geoengineering

• Research Question: Is it ethically justifiable to use geoengineering as a solution to climate change, and what are the potential risks and benefits?
• Overview: Explore the ethical debates surrounding geoengineering, focusing on the moral hazards, unintended consequences, and governance challenges associated with large-scale interventions in the Earth’s climate system. Analyze different ethical perspectives on the use of geoengineering as a last resort for climate mitigation.

20. Topic: The Ethics of Water Resource Management

• Research Question: What are the ethical challenges in managing water resources, and how can they be addressed to ensure equitable access?
• Overview: Investigate the ethical issues related to water resource management, including the allocation of water rights, the impact of water scarcity on communities, and the sustainability of water usage. Analyze how ethical principles can inform policies and practices that promote fair and sustainable water management.

21. Topic: The Ethics of Environmental Advocacy and Activism

• Research Question: What are the ethical responsibilities of environmental advocates and activists, and how should they navigate conflicts of interest?
• Overview: Explore the ethical considerations for individuals and organizations engaged in environmental advocacy, focusing on issues like transparency, accountability, and the use of direct action. Analyze case studies of environmental movements to understand the ethical challenges and dilemmas faced by activists.

22. Topic: The Ethics of Population Control and Environmental Sustainability

• Research Question: How can ethical principles guide discussions on population control in the context of environmental sustainability?
• Overview: Examine the ethical implications of population control measures, including the impact on individual rights, reproductive freedom, and global equity. Analyze how population growth intersects with environmental sustainability, and discuss ethical approaches to addressing population pressures without compromising human rights.

23. Topic: The Ethical Dimensions of Urbanization and Environmental Impact

• Research Question: What are the ethical challenges of urbanization in relation to environmental sustainability, and how can they be addressed?
• Overview: Investigate the environmental impact of urbanization, including issues like pollution, habitat loss, and resource consumption. Analyze how ethical principles can inform urban planning and development practices that promote sustainable and livable cities.

24. Topic: The Ethics of Ecotourism: Balancing Conservation and Commercialization

• Research Question: How can ecotourism be ethically managed to balance conservation goals with commercial interests?
• Overview: Explore the ethical challenges of ecotourism, focusing on the potential for exploitation of natural resources and local communities. Analyze strategies for ensuring that ecotourism contributes positively to conservation efforts and benefits local populations without causing environmental or cultural harm.

Animal rights research paper topics

Animal rights have been a debatable topic in recent years. There are ongoing campaigns to encourage people to stop treating animals inhumanely. However, there are still some issues about this topic, such as whether animals should be used for scientific purposes or not, whether all should be vegan/vegetarian, etc. This area also aims to analyze the philosophy, law, and science to address all the issues related to animals’ rights and welfare. 

25. Topic: The Ethical Foundations of Animal Rights: A Historical Perspective

• Research Question: How have the ethical foundations of animal rights evolved over time, and what are the key philosophical arguments that support them?
• Overview: Explore the historical development of animal rights, from early philosophical discussions to modern ethical theories. Analyze key arguments for animal rights, such as utilitarianism, deontology, and the rights-based approach, and discuss how these theories have shaped contemporary animal rights movements.

26. Topic: The Ethics of Animal Testing: Balancing Scientific Progress and Animal Welfare

• Research Question: Is animal testing ethically justifiable in the pursuit of scientific progress, and what alternatives exist?
• Overview: Investigate the ethical implications of using animals in scientific research, focusing on the benefits and harms associated with animal testing. Analyze the arguments for and against animal testing, and explore the development and adoption of alternative methods that could reduce or eliminate the need for animal use in research.

27. Topic: The Role of Animal Rights in Food Production and Consumption

• Research Question: How do ethical considerations of animal rights influence food production practices and consumer choices?
• Overview: Examine the impact of animal rights on agricultural practices, focusing on issues such as factory farming, humane treatment, and the ethics of meat consumption. Analyze how ethical concerns about animal welfare are driving changes in food production and influencing consumer behavior, including the rise of plant-based diets.

28. Topic: The Ethics of Keeping Animals in Captivity: Zoos, Aquariums, and Sanctuaries

• Research Question: What are the ethical considerations of keeping animals in captivity, and how do zoos, aquariums, and sanctuaries address these issues?
• Overview: Explore the ethical debates surrounding the captivity of animals, focusing on the purposes and practices of zoos, aquariums, and sanctuaries. Analyze the arguments for and against keeping animals in captivity, considering factors such as conservation, education, and animal welfare.

29. Topic: The Legal Status of Animals: Should Animals Be Granted Legal Rights?

• Research Question: What are the arguments for and against granting legal rights to animals, and how would such rights impact society?
• Overview: Investigate the legal status of animals and the movement to recognize animals as legal persons with certain rights. Analyze the potential implications of granting legal rights to animals, including how it would affect industries, legal systems, and society’s treatment of animals.

30. Topic: The Ethics of Animal Use in Entertainment: From Circuses to Film

• Research Question: What are the ethical concerns surrounding the use of animals in entertainment, and how should they be addressed?
• Overview: Examine the use of animals in various forms of entertainment, such as circuses, films, and sports. Analyze the ethical implications of using animals for entertainment purposes, focusing on issues of welfare, exploitation, and public perception, and discuss alternatives that respect animal rights.

31. Topic: The Role of Animal Rights in Wildlife Conservation

• Research Question: How do animal rights considerations intersect with wildlife conservation efforts, and what ethical dilemmas arise?
• Overview: Explore the relationship between animal rights and wildlife conservation, focusing on the ethical challenges of protecting species while respecting individual animal rights. Analyze case studies where conservation efforts have conflicted with animal rights principles, and discuss how these dilemmas can be ethically navigated.

32. Topic: The Impact of Cultural Practices on Animal Rights: A Global Perspective

• Research Question: How do cultural practices and beliefs influence the treatment of animals, and what are the ethical implications for animal rights?
• Overview: Investigate the impact of cultural traditions and practices on animal rights, focusing on practices such as animal sacrifice, hunting, and rituals. Analyze the ethical challenges of promoting animal rights in diverse cultural contexts and discuss how global and local perspectives on animal welfare can be reconciled.

33. Topic: The Ethics of Pet Ownership: Rights, Responsibilities, and Welfare

• Research Question: What are the ethical responsibilities of pet owners, and how do these responsibilities align with the rights of animals?
• Overview: Examine the ethical considerations of pet ownership, focusing on issues such as animal welfare, breeding practices, and the responsibilities of pet owners. Analyze how ethical principles can guide responsible pet ownership and the care of companion animals.

34. Topic: The Role of Technology in Advancing Animal Rights

• Research Question: How can technology be used to advance animal rights and improve animal welfare?
• Overview: Explore the role of technology in promoting animal rights, focusing on innovations such as lab-grown meat, animal tracking, and welfare monitoring systems. Analyze how these technologies can reduce animal suffering, promote ethical treatment, and change public attitudes toward animals.

35. Topic: The Ethics of Animal Activism: Strategies, Tactics, and Moral Considerations

• Research Question: What are the ethical considerations of animal activism, and how do different strategies and tactics impact the movement for animal rights?
• Overview: Investigate the ethical challenges faced by animal rights activists, focusing on the use of direct action, legal advocacy, and public campaigns. Analyze the effectiveness and moral implications of various activism strategies, considering the balance between achieving goals and respecting ethical boundaries.

36. Topic: The Intersection of Animal Rights and Human Rights

• Research Question: How do animal rights intersect with human rights, and what are the ethical implications of this relationship?
• Overview: Explore the connections between animal rights and human rights, focusing on issues such as labor rights in animal industries, environmental justice, and the ethical treatment of animals used in human services. Analyze how advocating for animal rights can also support broader human rights goals, and discuss the ethical considerations of balancing these interests.

Social media research paper topics

Since the advent of social media platforms, millions of people have become at least one member. Their influence is increasing year by year and requires particular attention. It has had and continues to impact all aspects of life dramatically. Social media research aims to examine the role of such platforms in shaping individuals’ and groups’ behavior, their impact on economic and political changes, etc. 

37. Topic: The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health

• Research Question: How does social media use influence mental health, particularly among adolescents and young adults?
• Overview: Explore the relationship between social media usage and mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and self-esteem. Analyze studies that highlight both the positive and negative effects of social media on mental health, and discuss strategies for mitigating its harmful impacts.

38. Topic: The Role of Social Media in Shaping Public Opinion

• Research Question: How does social media influence public opinion on political, social, and cultural issues?
• Overview: Investigate the power of social media platforms in shaping public discourse and opinion, focusing on the spread of information, echo chambers, and the impact of influencers. Analyze case studies where social media has significantly influenced public opinion on major issues.

39. Topic: The Ethics of Social Media Algorithms

• Research Question: What are the ethical implications of social media algorithms that determine content visibility and user engagement?
• Overview: Examine how social media algorithms prioritize certain content, and the ethical concerns related to manipulation, bias, and the spread of misinformation. Discuss the responsibility of social media companies in ensuring their algorithms promote ethical and accurate content dissemination.

40. Topic: The Role of Social Media in Activism and Social Movements

• Research Question: How has social media transformed activism and the organization of social movements?
• Overview: Explore the role of social media in modern activism, focusing on how platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram have been used to mobilize support, raise awareness, and organize protests. Analyze the advantages and challenges of digital activism, including its impact on traditional forms of protest and advocacy.

41. Topic: The Influence of Social Media on Consumer Behavior

• Research Question: How does social media impact consumer behavior and purchasing decisions?
• Overview: Investigate how social media influences consumer behavior through targeted advertising, influencer marketing, and peer reviews. Analyze the effectiveness of social media marketing strategies and how they shape consumer preferences and decision-making processes.

42. Topic: The Ethics of Data Privacy on Social Media Platforms

• Research Question: How do social media platforms manage user data, and what are the ethical concerns related to data privacy?
• Overview: Examine the ethical issues surrounding data collection, storage, and usage by social media companies. Discuss the implications of data breaches, targeted advertising, and user consent, and analyze how regulations like GDPR are addressing these concerns.

43. Topic: The Role of Social Media in Fake News and Misinformation

• Research Question: How do social media platforms contribute to the spread of fake news and misinformation, and what measures can be taken to combat this issue?
• Overview: Explore the role of social media in the proliferation of fake news and misinformation, focusing on the mechanisms that enable the rapid spread of false information. Analyze the strategies that platforms and regulators are implementing to combat misinformation and improve information accuracy.

44. Topic: The Impact of Social Media on Personal Relationships

• Research Question: How does social media use affect personal relationships, including friendships, romantic relationships, and family dynamics?
• Overview: Investigate the ways in which social media influences interpersonal relationships, both positively and negatively. Discuss issues such as communication patterns, social comparison, and the potential for social media to strengthen or weaken personal connections.

45. Topic: The Role of Social Media in Shaping Identity and Self-Perception

• Research Question: How does social media influence individual identity and self-perception, particularly among young people?
• Overview: Examine how social media platforms contribute to the formation and expression of identity, focusing on the pressures of online self-presentation and the effects of social comparison. Analyze the impact of social media on self-esteem, body image, and the development of personal identity.

46. Topic: The Use of Social Media in Crisis Communication

• Research Question: How effective is social media as a tool for crisis communication during emergencies and disasters?
• Overview: Explore the role of social media in crisis communication, focusing on how it is used by governments, organizations, and individuals to disseminate information during emergencies. Analyze case studies of successful and unsuccessful social media campaigns in crisis situations.

47. Topic: The Impact of Social Media on Journalism and News Reporting

• Research Question: How has social media transformed the field of journalism and the way news is reported and consumed?
• Overview: Investigate the influence of social media on traditional journalism, including the rise of citizen journalism, the challenges of verifying information, and the shift in news consumption habits. Analyze the benefits and drawbacks of social media as a news source.

48. Topic: The Ethics of Influencer Marketing on Social Media

• Research Question: What are the ethical concerns related to influencer marketing on social media platforms, and how should they be addressed?
• Overview: Examine the rise of influencer marketing and the ethical issues it raises, including transparency, authenticity, and the potential for deceptive practices. Analyze how regulations and industry standards are evolving to address these concerns and protect consumers.

LGBTQ+ research paper topics

LBGTQ+ research explores cultural, political, legal, and social issues related to citizens who claim to be part of that community. Despite the increasing tolerance, there is still a lot of discrimination around such people. This negative attitude affects them psychologically and morally. Such research aims to understand and address all the social issues related to this community. 

49. Topic: The Evolution of LGBTQ+ Rights: A Historical Perspective

• Research Question: How have LGBTQ+ rights evolved over the past century, and what key events have shaped this progress?
• Overview: Explore the history of the LGBTQ+ rights movement, focusing on major milestones such as the Stonewall Riots, the decriminalization of homosexuality, and the legalization of same-sex marriage. Analyze the social, political, and legal changes that have contributed to the advancement of LGBTQ+ rights.

50. Topic: The Representation of LGBTQ+ Individuals in Media and Popular Culture

• Research Question: How has the representation of LGBTQ+ individuals in media and popular culture changed over time, and what impact does this have on societal attitudes?
• Overview: Investigate the portrayal of LGBTQ+ characters in film, television, and literature, focusing on how these representations have evolved from stereotypes to more complex, authentic depictions. Analyze the impact of media representation on public perception and acceptance of LGBTQ+ individuals.

51. Topic: The Intersectionality of LGBTQ+ Identities and Other Social Categories

• Research Question: How do race, gender, and socioeconomic status intersect with LGBTQ+ identities, and what challenges arise from these intersections?
• Overview: Explore the concept of intersectionality within the LGBTQ+ community, focusing on how multiple social identities (e.g., race, gender, class) intersect and influence experiences of discrimination and privilege. Analyze how these intersections impact access to resources, representation, and community support.

52. Topic: The Role of Religion in Shaping Attitudes Toward LGBTQ+ Communities

• Research Question: How do different religious beliefs and institutions influence attitudes toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their rights?
• Overview: Investigate the relationship between religion and LGBTQ+ rights, focusing on how various religious traditions view LGBTQ+ identities and the impact of these beliefs on social and legal acceptance. Analyze case studies of religious organizations that have either opposed or supported LGBTQ+ rights.

53. Topic: The Mental Health Challenges Faced by LGBTQ+ Youth

• Research Question: What mental health challenges do LGBTQ+ youth face, and what factors contribute to these challenges?
• Overview: Explore the mental health issues commonly experienced by LGBTQ+ youth, such as depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. Analyze the role of societal stigma, family rejection, and bullying in contributing to these challenges, and discuss strategies for providing effective mental health support.

54. Topic: The Legal Landscape of LGBTQ+ Rights Around the World

• Research Question: How do legal protections for LGBTQ+ individuals vary across different countries, and what are the implications for human rights?
• Overview: Compare and contrast the legal status of LGBTQ+ rights in various countries, focusing on issues such as marriage equality, anti-discrimination laws, and protection from violence. Analyze the impact of these legal differences on the lives of LGBTQ+ individuals and the broader struggle for human rights.

55. Topic: The Impact of LGBTQ+ Representation in Education

• Research Question: How does the inclusion of LGBTQ+ topics in educational curricula impact students’ understanding and acceptance of diverse identities?
• Overview: Investigate the role of LGBTQ+ representation in education, focusing on the benefits and challenges of incorporating LGBTQ+ topics into school curricula. Analyze the impact of inclusive education on students’ attitudes toward LGBTQ+ peers and the overall school climate.

56. Topic: The Healthcare Needs and Disparities in the LGBTQ+ Community

• Research Question: What are the unique healthcare needs of the LGBTQ+ community, and how do disparities in access to care affect health outcomes?
• Overview: Explore the specific healthcare challenges faced by LGBTQ+ individuals, including access to gender-affirming care, mental health services, and HIV prevention and treatment. Analyze the impact of healthcare disparities on the well-being of LGBTQ+ people and discuss strategies for improving access and quality of care.

57. Topic: The Role of LGBTQ+ Activism in Shaping Public Policy

• Research Question: How has LGBTQ+ activism influenced public policy and legal reforms related to LGBTQ+ rights?
• Overview: Examine the role of LGBTQ+ activism in advancing legal protections and rights, focusing on key movements, organizations, and figures that have driven change. Analyze the strategies used by activists to shape public opinion and influence policymakers, and discuss the ongoing challenges in the fight for equality.

58. Topic: The Impact of Family Acceptance on LGBTQ+ Well-being

• Research Question: How does family acceptance or rejection affect the mental and emotional well-being of LGBTQ+ individuals?
• Overview: Investigate the importance of family acceptance for LGBTQ+ individuals, particularly during adolescence. Analyze how supportive family environments contribute to positive mental health outcomes, while rejection can lead to increased risks of mental health issues, homelessness, and substance abuse.

59. Topic: The Influence of Social Media on LGBTQ+ Identity Formation and Community Building

• Research Question: How does social media impact the formation of LGBTQ+ identities and the development of supportive communities?
• Overview: Explore the role of social media platforms in shaping LGBTQ+ identities, providing a space for self-expression, and connecting individuals with supportive communities. Analyze the benefits and challenges of social media for LGBTQ+ people, including issues of privacy, online harassment, and community solidarity.

60. Topic: The Challenges of Aging in the LGBTQ+ Community

• Research Question: What unique challenges do LGBTQ+ individuals face as they age, and how can society better support this population?
• Overview: Examine the issues faced by older LGBTQ+ individuals, including access to healthcare, social isolation, and discrimination in senior living facilities. Analyze the needs of aging LGBTQ+ people and discuss strategies for creating inclusive, supportive environments for older adults within this community.

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Women’s rights research paper topics

Feminism has become a common phenomenon around the globe, and many women are trying to protect their rights and achieve equality in the disciplines that used to be considered only masculine. Unfair treatment of women and their rights is a common practice, especially in non-developed countries.

In some countries, women are not even considered humans and are treated as “home animals .”Considering this and many other issues, women’s rights research aims to raise awareness and educate people to learn to protect their rights. 

61. Topic: The Historical Evolution of Women’s Rights

• Research Question: How have women’s rights evolved over the past two centuries, and what key events have driven this progress?
• Overview: Explore the major milestones in the women’s rights movement, such as the suffrage movement, the passage of the Equal Pay Act, and the fight for reproductive rights. Analyze the social, political, and legal changes that have contributed to the advancement of women’s rights globally.

62. Topic: The Gender Pay Gap: Causes and Solutions

• Research Question: What are the underlying causes of the gender pay gap, and what strategies can be implemented to achieve pay equity?
• Overview: Investigate the persistent issue of the gender pay gap, focusing on factors such as occupational segregation, discrimination, and the motherhood penalty. Analyze various strategies, including policy interventions, corporate practices, and advocacy efforts, to close the pay gap.

63. Topic: Women’s Rights and Reproductive Justice

• Research Question: How does access to reproductive healthcare impact women’s rights and gender equality?
• Overview: Examine the relationship between reproductive rights and women’s rights, focusing on issues such as access to contraception, abortion, and maternal healthcare. Analyze the impact of restrictive reproductive laws on women’s autonomy, health, and economic opportunities, and discuss the role of reproductive justice in achieving gender equality.

64. Topic: The Role of Education in Advancing Women’s Rights

• Research Question: How does access to education influence the advancement of women’s rights and gender equality?
• Overview: Explore the critical role that education plays in empowering women and promoting gender equality. Analyze the barriers that girls and women face in accessing education in different regions, and discuss how educational initiatives can help break the cycle of poverty and inequality.

65. Topic: The Impact of Domestic Violence on Women’s Rights

• Research Question: How does domestic violence affect women’s rights and what measures can be taken to address this issue?
• Overview: Investigate the impact of domestic violence on women’s physical and mental health, economic security, and overall well-being. Analyze the effectiveness of legal protections, support services, and public awareness campaigns in combating domestic violence and supporting survivors.

66. Topic: Women in Leadership: Barriers and Opportunities

• Research Question: What are the barriers to women’s participation in leadership roles, and how can these barriers be overcome?
• Overview: Examine the challenges women face in attaining leadership positions in politics, business, and other sectors. Analyze the structural, cultural, and individual factors that contribute to the underrepresentation of women in leadership and discuss strategies for promoting women’s leadership and empowerment.

67. Topic: The Intersectionality of Women’s Rights and Race

• Research Question: How do race and ethnicity intersect with gender in the fight for women’s rights, and what challenges arise from this intersectionality?
• Overview: Explore the concept of intersectionality in the context of women’s rights, focusing on how race, ethnicity, and other social identities intersect with gender to shape women’s experiences of discrimination and inequality. Analyze the challenges and opportunities of addressing these intersecting forms of oppression within the women’s rights movement.

68. Topic: Women’s Rights in the Workplace: Legal Protections and Challenges

• Research Question: How effective are legal protections in promoting women’s rights in the workplace, and what challenges remain?
• Overview: Investigate the legal frameworks that protect women’s rights in the workplace, such as anti-discrimination laws, maternity leave policies, and sexual harassment regulations. Analyze the effectiveness of these protections and discuss ongoing challenges, such as workplace harassment and the glass ceiling.

69. Topic: The Global Fight Against Human Trafficking: Women’s Rights Perspective

• Research Question: How does human trafficking violate women’s rights, and what strategies are most effective in combating this global issue?
• Overview: Explore the issue of human trafficking, focusing on its impact on women and girls. Analyze the factors that contribute to trafficking, such as poverty and gender inequality, and discuss the legal and policy measures needed to protect women’s rights and prevent trafficking.

70. Topic: Women’s Rights in Conflict Zones: Challenges and Advocacy

• Research Question: How do armed conflicts impact women’s rights, and what role do women’s rights organizations play in advocating for peace and justice?
• Overview: Investigate the impact of armed conflicts on women’s rights, focusing on issues such as sexual violence, displacement, and access to resources. Analyze the efforts of women’s rights organizations in conflict zones to promote peace, justice, and gender equality, and discuss the challenges they face.

71. Topic: The Role of Men in Advancing Women’s Rights

• Research Question: How can men contribute to the advancement of women’s rights, and what role do they play in achieving gender equality?
• Overview: Explore the role of men as allies in the women’s rights movement, focusing on how they can support gender equality through advocacy, education, and behavioral change. Analyze the challenges and benefits of engaging men in the fight for women’s rights and discuss successful strategies for fostering male allyship.

72. Topic: Women’s Rights and the Digital Divide

• Research Question: How does the digital divide impact women’s rights, and what can be done to ensure equal access to digital resources?
• Overview: Examine the impact of the digital divide on women’s access to information, education, and economic opportunities. Analyze the barriers that prevent women from fully participating in the digital world, such as limited access to technology and digital literacy, and discuss strategies for bridging the gap and promoting digital inclusion.

Racism research paper topics

Racism significantly impacts individuals, communities, and societies, and understanding its origins and manifestations is essential to dealing with this problem. This field is not just one discipline, but a collaboration of features from other science branches like sociology, history, political science, etc.

The aim of assigning such research papers is not just to uncover the underlying roots of racism, but to develop strategies to combat such practices worldwide. This interdisciplinary approach encourages us to be open-minded and collaborative in our research. 

73. Topic: The Historical Roots of Racism in the United States

• Research Question: How have historical events and policies contributed to the systemic racism present in the United States today?
• Overview: Explore the historical development of racism in the U.S., focusing on key events such as slavery, Jim Crow laws, and segregation. Analyze how these historical factors have shaped contemporary issues of racial inequality and systemic racism.

74. Topic: The Impact of Institutional Racism on Education

• Research Question: How does institutional racism affect educational opportunities and outcomes for minority students?
• Overview: Investigate the ways in which institutional racism manifests in the education system, focusing on disparities in school funding, access to resources, and disciplinary practices. Analyze the long-term impact of these inequalities on academic achievement and social mobility.

75. Topic: The Role of Media in Perpetuating Racial Stereotypes

• Research Question: How does media representation contribute to the perpetuation of racial stereotypes, and what are the consequences for society?
• Overview: Examine how racial stereotypes are reinforced through media portrayals in film, television, and news. Analyze the impact of these representations on public perceptions of race and the social and psychological effects on minority communities.

76. Topic: The Effects of Racism on Mental Health

• Research Question: How does racism impact the mental health of individuals and communities, and what strategies can be implemented to address these effects?
• Overview: Explore the relationship between racism and mental health, focusing on issues such as racial trauma, stress, and depression. Analyze the mental health challenges faced by minority communities and discuss interventions and support systems that can help mitigate these effects.

77. Topic: The Intersection of Racism and Economic Inequality

• Research Question: How does racism contribute to economic inequality, and what are the long-term consequences for marginalized communities?
• Overview: Investigate the economic disparities that result from systemic racism, focusing on issues such as wage gaps, employment discrimination, and access to financial resources. Analyze how these economic inequalities perpetuate cycles of poverty and limit opportunities for minority groups.

78. Topic: The Role of Racism in the Criminal Justice System

• Research Question: How does racism influence the criminal justice system, and what reforms are needed to address racial disparities?
• Overview: Examine the impact of racism on the criminal justice system, including racial profiling, sentencing disparities, and mass incarceration. Analyze the effects of these practices on minority communities and discuss potential reforms to promote fairness and equity in the justice system.

79. Topic: The Global Impact of Racism: A Comparative Perspective

• Research Question: How does racism manifest in different countries, and what are the similarities and differences in how it is addressed globally?
• Overview: Compare the manifestations of racism in various countries, focusing on issues such as immigration policies, xenophobia, and racial violence. Analyze how different nations address racism through legal frameworks, social movements, and public policy.

80. Topic: The Role of Anti-Racism Education in Combating Racial Prejudice

• Research Question: How effective is anti-racism education in reducing racial prejudice and promoting social cohesion?
• Overview: Explore the role of anti-racism education in schools, workplaces, and communities, focusing on its impact on attitudes and behaviors. Analyze the effectiveness of different educational approaches and discuss how they can be implemented to foster a more inclusive society.

81. Topic: The Impact of Racism on Healthcare Access and Outcomes

• Research Question: How does racism affect access to healthcare and health outcomes for minority populations?
• Overview: Investigate the disparities in healthcare access and outcomes that result from systemic racism, focusing on issues such as medical bias, discrimination, and healthcare affordability. Analyze the long-term impact of these disparities on the health and well-being of marginalized communities.

82. Topic: The Role of Social Movements in Addressing Racism

• Research Question: How have social movements, such as Black Lives Matter, contributed to raising awareness and combating racism?
• Overview: Examine the role of social movements in addressing and challenging racism, focusing on their strategies, successes, and challenges. Analyze the impact of movements like Black Lives Matter on public policy, social attitudes, and the broader fight for racial justice.

83. Topic: The Influence of Racism on Housing and Urban Development

• Research Question: How has racism shaped housing policies and urban development, and what are the implications for minority communities?
• Overview: Explore the ways in which racism has influenced housing policies, including redlining, segregation, and gentrification. Analyze the impact of these policies on access to housing, community stability, and economic opportunities for minority populations.

84. Topic: The Role of Allyship in Combating Racism

• Research Question: How can individuals and organizations effectively engage in allyship to support the fight against racism?
• Overview: Investigate the concept of allyship in the context of anti-racism, focusing on how non-minority individuals and groups can support efforts to combat racism. Analyze successful examples of allyship in action and discuss the challenges and opportunities for creating meaningful change through allyship.

Bullying research paper topics

Bullying research aims to understand the causes and effects of such phenomena in different contexts and how to prevent those cases. To understand the topic better, one must recall knowledge from other disciplines, such as psychology, sociology, public health, etc. The research explores the possible triggers of bullying behavior and why certain individuals are prone to bullying.  

85. Topic: The Psychological Effects of Bullying on Children and Adolescents

• Research Question: What are the long-term psychological effects of bullying on children and adolescents, and how can these effects be mitigated?
• Overview: Explore the emotional and psychological impact of bullying on young people, focusing on issues such as anxiety, depression, and self-esteem. Analyze how these effects can persist into adulthood and discuss strategies for early intervention and support to help victims recover.

86. Topic: Cyberbullying: The New Face of Bullying in the Digital Age

• Research Question: How does cyberbullying differ from traditional forms of bullying, and what are the unique challenges it presents?
• Overview: Investigate the phenomenon of cyberbullying, focusing on its prevalence, tactics, and impact on victims. Analyze the challenges of addressing cyberbullying, including issues of anonymity, digital permanence, and the role of social media platforms, and discuss effective prevention and intervention strategies.

87. Topic: The Role of Schools in Preventing and Addressing Bullying

• Research Question: How can schools effectively prevent and address bullying, and what role do teachers, administrators, and peers play in these efforts?
• Overview: Examine the strategies that schools can implement to prevent bullying, including anti-bullying programs, policies, and school climate initiatives. Analyze the roles of various stakeholders, such as teachers, administrators, and students, in creating a safe and supportive environment for all students.

88. Topic: The Impact of Bullying on Academic Performance

• Research Question: How does bullying affect the academic performance and school engagement of victims and perpetrators?
• Overview: Explore the relationship between bullying and academic outcomes, focusing on how bullying can lead to decreased academic performance, absenteeism, and disengagement from school. Analyze the ways in which schools can support both victims and perpetrators to improve academic outcomes and overall well-being.

89. Topic: Bullying and Social Media: The Role of Online Platforms in Facilitating or Preventing Bullying

• Research Question: How do social media platforms contribute to the spread of bullying, and what measures can be implemented to prevent it?
• Overview: Investigate the role of social media in facilitating bullying behaviors, such as harassment, exclusion, and public shaming. Analyze the policies and tools that social media companies have implemented to prevent bullying and protect users, and discuss the effectiveness of these measures.

90. Topic: The Long-Term Social Effects of Bullying on Relationships and Trust

• Research Question: What are the long-term social effects of bullying on an individual’s ability to form and maintain relationships and trust others?
• Overview: Explore how experiences of bullying can impact a person’s social development, including their ability to form healthy relationships and trust others. Analyze the potential for long-term social isolation, difficulties in interpersonal relationships, and the role of therapy and support in rebuilding trust and social skills.

91. Topic: The Role of Parental Involvement in Preventing Bullying

• Research Question: How can parental involvement influence the prevention of bullying and the support of victims?
• Overview: Investigate the impact of parental involvement in preventing and addressing bullying, focusing on how parents can recognize signs of bullying, communicate with their children, and collaborate with schools. Analyze strategies for empowering parents to be proactive in bullying prevention and support.

92. Topic: Bullying in the Workplace: Causes, Consequences, and Solutions

• Research Question: What are the causes and consequences of bullying in the workplace, and how can organizations effectively address it?
• Overview: Explore the issue of workplace bullying, focusing on its causes, such as power imbalances, organizational culture, and stress. Analyze the impact of bullying on employee well-being, productivity, and turnover, and discuss strategies for creating a positive workplace culture that discourages bullying.

93. Topic: The Role of Peer Support in Combating Bullying

• Research Question: How can peer support initiatives help prevent and address bullying in schools and communities?
• Overview: Investigate the role of peer support in preventing and mitigating bullying, focusing on programs like peer mentoring, peer mediation, and bystander intervention. Analyze the effectiveness of these initiatives in creating a supportive environment where students feel empowered to stand against bullying.

94. Topic: The Legal and Ethical Implications of Anti-Bullying Policies

• Research Question: What are the legal and ethical considerations involved in implementing and enforcing anti-bullying policies in schools and workplaces?
• Overview: Explore the legal frameworks and ethical considerations that guide anti-bullying policies, focusing on issues such as freedom of speech, privacy, and due process. Analyze how these policies can be designed and implemented to protect individuals’ rights while effectively preventing and addressing bullying.

95. Topic: The Impact of Bullying on LGBTQ+ Youth

• Research Question: How does bullying specifically affect LGBTQ+ youth, and what targeted interventions can help support them?
• Overview: Investigate the unique challenges faced by LGBTQ+ youth in relation to bullying, focusing on the heightened risks of victimization, mental health issues, and social isolation. Analyze the effectiveness of targeted anti-bullying programs and support services designed to protect and empower LGBTQ+ students.

96. Topic: Cultural Differences in Bullying Behaviors and Perceptions

• Research Question: How do cultural differences influence the prevalence, forms, and perceptions of bullying across different societies?
• Overview: Explore how bullying behaviors and societal perceptions of bullying vary across cultures, focusing on factors such as social norms, family structures, and educational systems. Analyze how these differences impact the effectiveness of anti-bullying strategies and the need for culturally sensitive approaches to prevention and intervention.

Drug addiction research paper topics

Different kinds of addiction have increased in recent years because we lead more stressful lifestyles these days than our ancestors used to do. Because of this, drugs and many other addictions have become a widespread problem all over the world.

Globalization has also played a role in this phenomenon, making the world much smaller. Research may help understand what are some underlying reasons for developing drug or other addictions and how to treat those problems more effectively. 

97. Topic: The Neurobiology of Drug Addiction: Understanding the Brain’s Role

• Research Question: How does drug addiction affect the brain’s structure and function, and what does this reveal about the nature of addiction?
• Overview: Explore the neurobiological mechanisms underlying drug addiction, focusing on changes in brain chemistry, neural pathways, and reward systems. Analyze how these changes contribute to the compulsive behaviors associated with addiction and discuss potential implications for treatment.

98. Topic: The Social and Environmental Factors Contributing to Drug Addiction

• Research Question: What social and environmental factors contribute to the development of drug addiction, and how can these be addressed to prevent substance abuse?
• Overview: Investigate the role of social and environmental influences, such as peer pressure, socioeconomic status, and exposure to drug use, in the development of addiction. Analyze how these factors interact with individual vulnerabilities and discuss strategies for prevention and intervention.

99. Topic: The Impact of Drug Addiction on Families and Communities

• Research Question: How does drug addiction affect the well-being of families and communities, and what support systems are necessary to address these impacts?
• Overview: Examine the ripple effects of drug addiction on families and communities, including issues like family dynamics, child neglect, crime rates, and community health. Analyze the role of support systems, such as counseling, rehabilitation programs, and community initiatives, in mitigating these impacts.

100. Topic: The Effectiveness of Harm Reduction Strategies in Addressing Drug Addiction

• Research Question: How effective are harm reduction strategies in reducing the negative consequences of drug addiction, and what are the ethical considerations?
• Overview: Investigate harm reduction approaches, such as needle exchange programs, supervised injection sites, and medication-assisted treatment, in addressing drug addiction. Analyze their effectiveness in reducing harm and promoting recovery, and discuss the ethical challenges associated with these strategies.

101. Topic: The Role of Prescription Drugs in the Opioid Crisis

• Research Question: How have prescription practices contributed to the opioid crisis, and what measures can be taken to prevent prescription drug abuse?
• Overview: Explore the role of prescription opioids in the development of the opioid crisis, focusing on issues such as overprescribing, patient dependence, and pharmaceutical marketing. Analyze the measures needed to prevent prescription drug abuse, including stricter regulations, alternative pain management strategies, and public education.

102. Topic: The Challenges of Treating Co-Occurring Disorders in Drug Addiction

• Research Question: What are the challenges of treating co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders, and how can treatment approaches be improved?
• Overview: Examine the complexities of treating individuals with both mental health disorders and drug addiction, focusing on the interaction between these conditions and the barriers to effective treatment. Analyze integrated treatment approaches that address both issues simultaneously and discuss strategies for improving outcomes.

103. Topic: The Role of Genetics in Predisposing Individuals to Drug Addiction

• Research Question: How do genetic factors influence an individual’s risk of developing drug addiction, and what are the implications for prevention and treatment?
• Overview: Investigate the genetic basis of drug addiction, focusing on how inherited traits can increase susceptibility to substance abuse. Analyze the implications of genetic research for developing personalized prevention and treatment strategies, and discuss the ethical considerations of genetic testing for addiction risk.

104. Topic: The Impact of Drug Addiction on the Criminal Justice System

• Research Question: How does drug addiction affect the criminal justice system, and what alternative approaches can be implemented to address this issue?
• Overview: Explore the relationship between drug addiction and crime, focusing on issues such as incarceration rates, drug-related offenses, and the challenges of rehabilitation within the criminal justice system. Analyze alternative approaches, such as drug courts and diversion programs, that aim to address addiction as a public health issue rather than a criminal offense.

105. Topic: The Effectiveness of Drug Education Programs in Schools

• Research Question: How effective are drug education programs in schools at preventing substance abuse among adolescents?
• Overview: Investigate the design and impact of drug education programs in schools, focusing on their ability to prevent substance abuse among young people. Analyze the factors that contribute to the success or failure of these programs and discuss how they can be improved to better address the needs of students.

106. Topic: The Role of Stigma in Hindering Access to Addiction Treatment

• Research Question: How does stigma affect individuals seeking treatment for drug addiction, and what can be done to reduce this barrier?
• Overview: Examine the impact of stigma on individuals with drug addiction, focusing on how negative perceptions and discrimination can deter people from seeking treatment. Analyze strategies for reducing stigma, such as public awareness campaigns, education, and changes in language and policy, to improve access to care.

107. Topic: The Impact of Drug Legalization and Decriminalization on Addiction Rates

• Research Question: How do drug legalization and decriminalization policies impact rates of addiction and public health outcomes?
• Overview: Explore the effects of drug legalization and decriminalization on addiction rates, crime, and public health, using case studies from countries and states that have implemented these policies. Analyze the benefits and drawbacks of these approaches and discuss the implications for future drug policy.

108. Topic: The Role of Peer Support in Recovery from Drug Addiction

• Research Question: How does peer support contribute to recovery from drug addiction, and what are the key factors that make peer support programs successful?
• Overview: Investigate the effectiveness of peer support programs in aiding recovery from drug addiction, focusing on the role of shared experiences, social support, and accountability. Analyze the components of successful peer support initiatives and discuss how they can be integrated into broader addiction treatment strategies.

Domestic violence research paper topics

Domestic violence research concentrates on finding ways to help the victims of abuse and ways to stop this widespread phenomenon. To understand the topic better, we need help from other disciplines, including public health, psychology, criminal justice, etc. 

109. Topic: The Psychological Impact of Domestic Violence on Survivors

• Research Question: What are the long-term psychological effects of domestic violence on survivors, and how can mental health services support their recovery?
• Overview: Explore the psychological consequences of domestic violence, including PTSD, depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem. Analyze the role of mental health services in helping survivors recover, focusing on therapeutic approaches, counseling, and support groups.

110. Topic: The Role of Law Enforcement in Addressing Domestic Violence

• Research Question: How effective are law enforcement agencies in responding to and preventing domestic violence, and what improvements are needed?
• Overview: Investigate the role of law enforcement in domestic violence cases, focusing on response times, arrest policies, and victim protection. Analyze the challenges law enforcement faces, such as victim reluctance to report and resource limitations, and discuss potential improvements to better support victims and prevent violence.

111. Topic: The Impact of Domestic Violence on Children

• Research Question: How does exposure to domestic violence affect children’s development and well-being, and what interventions can help mitigate these effects?
• Overview: Examine the impact of witnessing or experiencing domestic violence on children, focusing on emotional, behavioral, and cognitive development. Analyze interventions, such as counseling, school-based programs, and family support services, that can help children cope with and recover from these experiences.

112. Topic: The Role of Socioeconomic Factors in Domestic Violence

• Research Question: How do socioeconomic factors, such as poverty and unemployment, contribute to the prevalence of domestic violence?
• Overview: Explore the relationship between socioeconomic factors and domestic violence, focusing on how financial stress, unemployment, and housing instability can exacerbate abusive behaviors. Analyze strategies for addressing these root causes, including economic support programs and job training initiatives.

113. Topic: The Effectiveness of Legal Protections for Domestic Violence Victims

• Research Question: How effective are legal protections, such as restraining orders and protective custody, in safeguarding domestic violence victims?
• Overview: Investigate the effectiveness of legal measures designed to protect victims of domestic violence, focusing on the enforcement of restraining orders, access to legal resources, and the role of family courts. Analyze the strengths and limitations of these protections and discuss how they can be improved to ensure victim safety.

114. Topic: Domestic Violence in LGBTQ+ Relationships: Unique Challenges and Interventions

• Research Question: What unique challenges do LGBTQ+ individuals face in domestic violence situations, and how can interventions be tailored to meet their needs?
• Overview: Explore the specific challenges LGBTQ+ individuals encounter in domestic violence situations, such as discrimination, lack of support services, and legal barriers. Analyze the effectiveness of interventions and support programs designed to address these challenges and promote safety and well-being in LGBTQ+ relationships.

115. Topic: The Role of Cultural Beliefs and Traditions in Domestic Violence

• Research Question: How do cultural beliefs and traditions influence the prevalence and acceptance of domestic violence, and what strategies can be implemented to challenge these norms?
• Overview: Investigate how cultural beliefs and traditions contribute to the normalization and perpetuation of domestic violence in different communities. Analyze strategies for challenging harmful cultural norms, such as community education, advocacy, and collaboration with cultural leaders to promote change.

116. Topic: The Cycle of Abuse: Understanding the Patterns and Breaking the Cycle

• Research Question: What are the common patterns in the cycle of domestic violence, and how can interventions effectively break this cycle?
• Overview: Examine the stages of the domestic violence cycle, including tension-building, acute violence, and reconciliation. Analyze the factors that perpetuate this cycle and discuss intervention strategies, such as counseling, education, and safety planning, that can help survivors break free from abusive relationships.

117. Topic: The Role of Support Services in Empowering Domestic Violence Survivors

• Research Question: How do support services, such as shelters and hotlines, empower domestic violence survivors to regain control of their lives?
• Overview: Explore the role of support services in providing safety, resources, and empowerment to domestic violence survivors. Analyze the effectiveness of these services in helping survivors rebuild their lives, focusing on access to housing, legal assistance, and financial support.

118. Topic: The Influence of Substance Abuse on Domestic Violence

• Research Question: How does substance abuse contribute to the occurrence and severity of domestic violence, and what interventions can address both issues simultaneously?
• Overview: Investigate the relationship between substance abuse and domestic violence, focusing on how drugs and alcohol can exacerbate abusive behaviors. Analyze the effectiveness of integrated treatment programs that address both substance abuse and domestic violence, and discuss the challenges of implementing these interventions.

119. Topic: The Role of Media in Shaping Public Perception of Domestic Violence

• Research Question: How does media coverage of domestic violence influence public perception and awareness, and what role does it play in shaping policy and prevention efforts?
• Overview: Explore the impact of media portrayals of domestic violence on public attitudes, awareness, and policy. Analyze how media can either perpetuate stereotypes and victim-blaming or contribute to greater understanding and support for victims, and discuss strategies for responsible reporting.

120. Topic: The Long-Term Health Consequences of Domestic Violence

• Research Question: What are the long-term physical and mental health consequences of domestic violence for survivors, and how can healthcare providers support their recovery?
• Overview: Examine the long-term health effects of domestic violence, including chronic pain, reproductive health issues, and mental health disorders. Analyze the role of healthcare providers in identifying domestic violence, providing appropriate care, and connecting survivors with necessary resources for their recovery.

Conclusion 

Writing papers on the above topics may be challenging, especially for beginners. Ask a professional for help if you do not know what to start with and how to organize the paper. You will find various useful articles on our blog that will help you excel in your research paper.

We encourage you to explore these resources and apply to us if you need to trust your paper to a professional writer. Even if you are in a rush, our writers at Writing Metier can handle almost any research paper task.

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Laura Orta is an avid author on Writing Metier's blog. Before embarking on her writing career, she practiced media law in one of the local media. Aside from writing, she works as a private tutor to help students with their academic needs. Laura and her husband share their home near the ocean in northern Portugal with two extraordinary boys and a lifetime collection of books.

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How to cite ChatGPT

Use discount code STYLEBLOG15 for 15% off APA Style print products with free shipping in the United States.

We, the APA Style team, are not robots. We can all pass a CAPTCHA test , and we know our roles in a Turing test . And, like so many nonrobot human beings this year, we’ve spent a fair amount of time reading, learning, and thinking about issues related to large language models, artificial intelligence (AI), AI-generated text, and specifically ChatGPT . We’ve also been gathering opinions and feedback about the use and citation of ChatGPT. Thank you to everyone who has contributed and shared ideas, opinions, research, and feedback.

In this post, I discuss situations where students and researchers use ChatGPT to create text and to facilitate their research, not to write the full text of their paper or manuscript. We know instructors have differing opinions about how or even whether students should use ChatGPT, and we’ll be continuing to collect feedback about instructor and student questions. As always, defer to instructor guidelines when writing student papers. For more about guidelines and policies about student and author use of ChatGPT, see the last section of this post.

Quoting or reproducing the text created by ChatGPT in your paper

If you’ve used ChatGPT or other AI tools in your research, describe how you used the tool in your Method section or in a comparable section of your paper. For literature reviews or other types of essays or response or reaction papers, you might describe how you used the tool in your introduction. In your text, provide the prompt you used and then any portion of the relevant text that was generated in response.

Unfortunately, the results of a ChatGPT “chat” are not retrievable by other readers, and although nonretrievable data or quotations in APA Style papers are usually cited as personal communications , with ChatGPT-generated text there is no person communicating. Quoting ChatGPT’s text from a chat session is therefore more like sharing an algorithm’s output; thus, credit the author of the algorithm with a reference list entry and the corresponding in-text citation.

When prompted with “Is the left brain right brain divide real or a metaphor?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that although the two brain hemispheres are somewhat specialized, “the notation that people can be characterized as ‘left-brained’ or ‘right-brained’ is considered to be an oversimplification and a popular myth” (OpenAI, 2023).

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

You may also put the full text of long responses from ChatGPT in an appendix of your paper or in online supplemental materials, so readers have access to the exact text that was generated. It is particularly important to document the exact text created because ChatGPT will generate a unique response in each chat session, even if given the same prompt. If you create appendices or supplemental materials, remember that each should be called out at least once in the body of your APA Style paper.

When given a follow-up prompt of “What is a more accurate representation?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that “different brain regions work together to support various cognitive processes” and “the functional specialization of different regions can change in response to experience and environmental factors” (OpenAI, 2023; see Appendix A for the full transcript).

Creating a reference to ChatGPT or other AI models and software

The in-text citations and references above are adapted from the reference template for software in Section 10.10 of the Publication Manual (American Psychological Association, 2020, Chapter 10). Although here we focus on ChatGPT, because these guidelines are based on the software template, they can be adapted to note the use of other large language models (e.g., Bard), algorithms, and similar software.

The reference and in-text citations for ChatGPT are formatted as follows:

• Parenthetical citation: (OpenAI, 2023)
• Narrative citation: OpenAI (2023)

Let’s break that reference down and look at the four elements (author, date, title, and source):

Author: The author of the model is OpenAI.

Date: The date is the year of the version you used. Following the template in Section 10.10, you need to include only the year, not the exact date. The version number provides the specific date information a reader might need.

Title: The name of the model is “ChatGPT,” so that serves as the title and is italicized in your reference, as shown in the template. Although OpenAI labels unique iterations (i.e., ChatGPT-3, ChatGPT-4), they are using “ChatGPT” as the general name of the model, with updates identified with version numbers.

The version number is included after the title in parentheses. The format for the version number in ChatGPT references includes the date because that is how OpenAI is labeling the versions. Different large language models or software might use different version numbering; use the version number in the format the author or publisher provides, which may be a numbering system (e.g., Version 2.0) or other methods.

Bracketed text is used in references for additional descriptions when they are needed to help a reader understand what’s being cited. References for a number of common sources, such as journal articles and books, do not include bracketed descriptions, but things outside of the typical peer-reviewed system often do. In the case of a reference for ChatGPT, provide the descriptor “Large language model” in square brackets. OpenAI describes ChatGPT-4 as a “large multimodal model,” so that description may be provided instead if you are using ChatGPT-4. Later versions and software or models from other companies may need different descriptions, based on how the publishers describe the model. The goal of the bracketed text is to briefly describe the kind of model to your reader.

Source: When the publisher name and the author name are the same, do not repeat the publisher name in the source element of the reference, and move directly to the URL. This is the case for ChatGPT. The URL for ChatGPT is https://chat.openai.com/chat . For other models or products for which you may create a reference, use the URL that links as directly as possible to the source (i.e., the page where you can access the model, not the publisher’s homepage).

Other questions about citing ChatGPT

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• Rom J Morphol Embryol
• v.61(1); Jan-Mar 2020

A research on abortion: ethics, legislation and socio-medical outcomes. Case study: Romania

Andreea mihaela niţă.

1 Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Craiova, Romania

Cristina Ilie Goga

This article presents a research study on abortion from a theoretical and empirical point of view. The theoretical part is based on the method of social documents analysis, and presents a complex perspective on abortion, highlighting items of medical, ethical, moral, religious, social, economic and legal elements. The empirical part presents the results of a sociological survey, based on the opinion survey method through the application of the enquiry technique, conducted in Romania, on a sample of 1260 women. The purpose of the survey is to identify Romanians perception on the decision to voluntary interrupt pregnancy, and to determine the core reasons in carrying out an abortion.

The analysis of abortion by means of medical and social documents

Abortion means a pregnancy interruption “before the fetus is viable” [ 1 ] or “before the fetus is able to live independently in the extrauterine environment, usually before the 20 th week of pregnancy” [ 2 ]. “Clinical miscarriage is both a common and distressing complication of early pregnancy with many etiological factors like genetic factors, immune factors, infection factors but also psychological factors” [ 3 ]. Induced abortion is a practice found in all countries, but the decision to interrupt the pregnancy involves a multitude of aspects of medical, ethical, moral, religious, social, economic, and legal order.

In a more simplistic manner, Winston Nagan has classified opinions which have as central element “abortion”, in two major categories: the opinion that the priority element is represented by fetus and his entitlement to life and the second opinion, which focuses around women’s rights [ 4 ].

From the medical point of view, since ancient times there have been four moments, generally accepted, which determine the embryo’s life: ( i ) conception; ( ii ) period of formation; ( iii ) detection moment of fetal movement; ( iv ) time of birth [ 5 ]. Contemporary medicine found the following moments in the evolution of intrauterine fetal: “ 1 . At 18 days of pregnancy, the fetal heartbeat can be perceived and it starts running the circulatory system; 2 . At 5 weeks, they become more clear: the nose, cheeks and fingers of the fetus; 3 . At 6 weeks, they start to function: the nervous system, stomach, kidneys and liver of the fetus, and its skeleton is clearly distinguished; 4 . At 7 weeks (50 days), brain waves are felt. The fetus has all the internal and external organs definitively outlined. 5 . At 10 weeks (70 days), the unborn child has all the features clearly defined as a child after birth (9 months); 6 . At 12 weeks (92 days, 3 months), the fetus has all organs definitely shaped, managing to move, lacking only the breath” [ 6 ]. Even if most of the laws that allow abortion consider the period up to 12 weeks acceptable for such an intervention, according to the above-mentioned steps, there can be defined different moments, which can represent the beginning of life. Nowadays, “abortion is one of the most common gynecological experiences and perhaps the majority of women will undergo an abortion in their lifetimes” [ 7 ]. “Safe abortions carry few health risks, but « every year, close to 20 million women risk their lives and health by undergoing unsafe abortions » and 25% will face a complication with permanent consequences” [ 8 , 9 ].

From the ethical point of view, most of the times, the interruption of pregnancy is on the border between woman’s right over her own body and the child’s (fetus) entitlement to life. Judith Jarvis Thomson supported the supremacy of woman’s right over her own body as a premise of freedom, arguing that we cannot force a person to bear in her womb and give birth to an unwanted child, if for different circumstances, she does not want to do this [ 10 ]. To support his position, the author uses an imaginary experiment, that of a violinist to which we are connected for nine months, in order to save his life. However, Thomson debates the problem of the differentiation between the fetus and the human being, by carrying out a debate on the timing which makes this difference (period of conception, 10 weeks of pregnancy, etc.) and highlighting that for people who support abortion, the fetus is not an alive human being [ 10 ].

Carol Gilligan noted that women undergo a true “moral dilemma”, a “moral conflict” with regards to voluntary interruption of pregnancy, such a decision often takes into account the human relationships, the possibility of not hurting the others, the responsibility towards others [ 11 ]. Gilligan applied qualitative interviews to a number of 29 women from different social classes, which were put in a position to decide whether or not to commit abortion. The interview focused on the woman’s choice, on alternative options, on individuals and existing conflicts. The conclusion was that the central moral issue was the conflict between the self (the pregnant woman) and others who may be hurt as a result of the potential pregnancy [ 12 ].

From the religious point of view, abortion is unacceptable for all religions and a small number of abortions can be seen in deeply religious societies and families. Christianity considers the beginning of human life from conception, and abortion is considered to be a form of homicide [ 13 ]. For Christians, “at the same time, abortion is giving up their faith”, riot and murder, which means that by an abortion we attack Jesus Christ himself and God [ 14 ]. Islam does not approve abortion, relying on the sacral life belief as specified in Chapter 6, Verse 151 of the Koran: “Do not kill a soul which Allah has made sacred (inviolable)” [ 15 ]. Buddhism considers abortion as a negative act, but nevertheless supports for medical reasons [ 16 ]. Judaism disapproves abortion, Tanah considering it to be a mortal sin. Hinduism considers abortion as a crime and also the greatest sin [ 17 ].

From the socio-economic point of view, the decision to carry out an abortion is many times determined by the relations within the social, family or financial frame. Moreover, studies have been conducted, which have linked the legalization of abortions and the decrease of the crime rate: “legalized abortion may lead to reduced crime either through reductions in cohort sizes or through lower per capita offending rates for affected cohorts” [ 18 ].

Legal regulation on abortion establishes conditions of the abortion in every state. In Europe and America, only in the XVIIth century abortion was incriminated and was considered an insignificant misdemeanor or a felony, depending on when was happening. Due to the large number of illegal abortions and deaths, two centuries later, many states have changed legislation within the meaning of legalizing voluntary interruption of pregnancy [ 6 ]. In contemporary society, international organizations like the United Nations or the European Union consider sexual and reproductive rights as fundamental rights [ 19 , 20 ], and promotes the acceptance of abortion as part of those rights. However, not all states have developed permissive legislation in the field of voluntary interruption of pregnancy.

Currently, at national level were established four categories of legislation on pregnancy interruption area:

( i )  Prohibitive legislations , ones that do not allow abortion, most often outlining exceptions in abortion in cases where the pregnant woman’s life is endangered. In some countries, there is a prohibition of abortion in all circumstances, however, resorting to an abortion in the case of an imminent threat to the mother’s life. Same regulation is also found in some countries where abortion is allowed in cases like rape, incest, fetal problems, etc. In this category are 66 states, with 25.5% of world population [ 21 ].

( ii )  Restrictive legislation that allow abortion in cases of health preservation . Loosely, the term “health” should be interpreted according to the World Health Organization (WHO) definition as: “health is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” [ 22 ]. This type of legislation is adopted in 59 states populated by 13.8% of the world population [ 21 ].

( iii )  Legislation allowing abortion on a socio-economic motivation . This category includes items such as the woman’s age or ability to care for a child, fetal problems, cases of rape or incest, etc. In this category are 13 countries, where we have 21.3% of the world population [ 21 ].

( iv )  Legislation which do not impose restrictions on abortion . In the case of this legislation, abortion is permitted for any reason up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, with some exceptions (Romania – 14 weeks, Slovenia – 10 weeks, Sweden – 18 weeks), the interruption of pregnancy after this period has some restrictions. This type of legislation is adopted in 61 countries with 39.5% of the world population [21].

The Centre for Reproductive Rights has carried out from 1998 a map of the world’s states, based on the legislation typology of each country (Figure ​ (Figure1 1 ).

The analysis of states according to the legislation regarding abortion. Source: Centre for Reproductive Rights. The World’s Abortion Laws, 2018 [ 23 ]

An unplanned pregnancy, socio-economic context or various medical problems [ 24 ], lead many times to the decision of interrupting pregnancy, regardless the legislative restrictions. In the study “Unsafe abortion: global and regional estimates of the incidence of unsafe abortion and associated mortality in 2008” issued in 2011 by the WHO , it was determined that within the states with restrictive legislation on abortion, we may also encounter a large number of illegal abortions. The illegal abortions may also be resulting in an increased risk of woman’s health and life considering that most of the times inappropriate techniques are being used, the hygienic conditions are precarious and the medical treatments are incorrectly administered [ 25 ]. Although abortions done according to medical guidelines carry very low risk of complications, 1–3 unsafe abortions contribute substantially to maternal morbidity and death worldwide [ 26 ].

WHO has estimated for the year 2008, the fact that worldwide women between the ages of 15 and 44 years carried out 21.6 million “unsafe” abortions, which involved a high degree of risk and were distributed as follows: 0.4 million in the developed regions and a number of 21.2 million in the states in course of development [ 25 ].

Case study: Romania

Legal perspective on abortion

In Romania, abortion was brought under regulation by the first Criminal Code of the United Principalities, from 1864.

The Criminal Code from 1864, provided the abortion infringement in Article 246, on which was regulated as follows: “Any person, who, using means such as food, drinks, pills or any other means, which will consciously help a pregnant woman to commit abortion, will be punished to a minimum reclusion (three years).

The woman who by herself shall use the means of abortion, or would accept to use means of abortion which were shown or given to her for this purpose, will be punished with imprisonment from six months to two years, if the result would be an abortion. In a situation where abortion was carried out on an illegitimate baby by his mother, the punishment will be imprisonment from six months to one year.

Doctors, surgeons, health officers, pharmacists (apothecary) and midwives who will indicate, will give or will facilitate these means, shall be punished with reclusion of at least four years, if the abortion took place. If abortion will cause the death of the mother, the punishment will be much austere of four years” (Art. 246) [ 27 ].

The Criminal Code from 1864, reissued in 1912, amended in part the Article 246 for the purposes of eliminating the abortion of an illegitimate baby case. Furthermore, it was no longer specified the minimum of four years of reclusion, in case of abortion carried out with the help of the medical staff, leaving the punishment to the discretion of the Court (Art. 246) [ 28 ].

The Criminal Code from 1936 regulated abortion in the Articles 482–485. Abortion was defined as an interruption of the normal course of pregnancy, being punished as follows:

“ 1 . When the crime is committed without the consent of the pregnant woman, the punishment was reformatory imprisonment from 2 to 5 years. If it caused the pregnant woman any health injury or a serious infirmity, the punishment was reformatory imprisonment from 3 to 6 years, and if it has caused her death, reformatory imprisonment from 7 to 10 years;

2 . When the crime was committed by the unmarried pregnant woman by herself, or when she agreed that someone else should provoke the abortion, the punishment is reformatory imprisonment from 3 to 6 months, and if the woman is married, the punishment is reformatory imprisonment from 6 months to one year. Same penalty applies also to the person who commits the crime with the woman’s consent. If abortion was committed for the purpose of obtaining a benefit, the punishment increases with another 2 years of reformatory imprisonment.

If it caused the pregnant woman any health injuries or a severe disablement, the punishment will be reformatory imprisonment from one to 3 years, and if it has caused her death, the punishment is reformatory imprisonment from 3 to 5 years” (Art. 482) [ 29 ].

The criminal legislation from 1936 specifies that it is not considered as an abortion the interruption from the normal course of pregnancy, if it was carried out by a doctor “when woman’s life was in imminent danger or when the pregnancy aggravates a woman’s disease, putting her life in danger, which could not be removed by other means and it is obvious that the intervention wasn’t performed with another purpose than that of saving the woman’s life” and “when one of the parents has reached a permanent alienation and it is certain that the child will bear serious mental flaws” (Art. 484, Par. 1 and Par. 2) [ 29 ].

In the event of an imminent danger, the doctor was obliged to notify prosecutor’s office in writing, within 48 hours after the intervention, on the performance of the abortion. “In the other cases, the doctor was able to intervene only with the authorization of the prosecutor’s office, given on the basis of a medical certificate from hospital or a notice given as a result of a consultation between the doctor who will intervene and at least a professor doctor in the disease which caused the intervention. General’s Office Prosecutor, in all cases provided by this Article, shall be obliged to maintain the confidentiality of all communications or authorizations, up to the intercession of any possible complaints” (Art. 484) [ 29 ].

The legislation of 1936 provided a reformatory injunction from one to three years for the abortions committed by doctors, sanitary agents, pharmacists, apothecary or midwives (Art. 485) [ 29 ].

Abortion on demand has been legalized for the first time in Romania in the year 1957 by the Decree No. 463, under the condition that it had to be carried out in a hospital and to be carried out in the first quarter of the pregnancy [ 30 ]. In the year 1966, demographic policy of Romania has dramatically changed by introducing the Decree No. 770 from September 29 th , which prohibited abortion. Thus, the voluntary interruption of pregnancy became a crime, with certain exceptions, namely: endangering the mother’s life, physical or mental serious disability; serious or heritable illness, mother’s age over 45 years, if the pregnancy was a result of rape or incest or if the woman gave birth to at least four children who were still in her care (Art. 2) [ 31 ].

In the Criminal Code from 1968, the abortion crime was governed by Articles 185–188.

The Article 185, “the illegal induced abortion”, stipulated that “the interruption of pregnancy by any means, outside the conditions permitted by law, with the consent of the pregnant woman will be punished with imprisonment from one to 3 years”. The act referred to above, without the prior consent from the pregnant woman, was punished with prison from two to five years. If the abortion carried out with the consent of the pregnant woman caused any serious body injury, the punishment was imprisonment from two to five years, and when it caused the death of the woman, the prison sentence was from five to 10 years. When abortion was carried out without the prior consent of the woman, if it caused her a serious physical injury, the punishment was imprisonment from three to six years, and if it caused the woman’s death, the punishment was imprisonment from seven to 12 years (Art. 185) [ 32 ].

“When abortion was carried out in order to obtain a material benefit, the maximum punishment was increased by two years, and if the abortion was made by a doctor, in addition to the prison punishment could also be applied the prohibition to no longer practice the profession of doctor”.

Article 186, “abortion caused by the woman”, stipulated that “the interruption of the pregnancy course, committed by the pregnant woman, was punished with imprisonment from 6 months to 2 years”, quoting the fact that by the same punishment was also sanctioned “the pregnant woman’s act to consent in interrupting the pregnancy course made out by another person” (Art. 186) [ 26 ].

The Regulations of the Criminal Code in 1968, also provided the crime of “ownership of tools or materials that can cause abortion”, the conditions of this holding being met when these types of instruments were held outside the hospital’s specialized institutions, the infringement shall be punished with imprisonment from three months to one year (Art. 187) [ 32 ].

Furthermore, the doctors who performed an abortion in the event of extreme urgency, without prior legal authorization and if they did not announce the competent authority within the legal deadline, they were punished by imprisonment from one month to three months (Art. 188) [ 32 ].

In the year 1985, it has been issued the Decree No. 411 of December 26 th , by which the conditions imposed by the Decree No. 770 of 1966 have been hardened, meaning that it has increased the number of children, that a woman could have in order to request an abortion, from four to five children [ 33 ].

The Articles 185–188 of the Criminal Code and the Decree No. 770/1966 on the interruption of the pregnancy course have been abrogated by Decree-Law No. 1 from December 26 th , 1989, which was published in the Official Gazette No. 4 of December 27 th , 1989 (Par. 8 and Par. 12) [ 34 ].

The Criminal Code from 1968, reissued in 1997, maintained Article 185 about “the illegal induced abortion”, but drastically modified. Thus, in this case of the Criminal Code, we identify abortion as “the interruption of pregnancy course, by any means, committed in any of the following circumstances: ( a ) outside medical institutions or authorized medical practices for this purpose; ( b ) by a person who does not have the capacity of specialized doctor; ( c ) if age pregnancy has exceeded 14 weeks”, the punishment laid down was the imprisonment from 6 months to 3 years” (Art. 185, Par. 1) [ 35 ]. For the abortion committed without the prior consent of the pregnant woman, the punishment consisted in strict prison conditions from two to seven years and with the prohibition of certain rights (Art. 185, Par. 2) [ 35 ].

For the situation of causing serious physical injury to the pregnant woman, the punishment was strict prison from three to 10 years and the removal of certain rights, and if it had as a result the death of the pregnant woman, the punishment was strict prison from five to 15 years and the prohibition of certain rights (Art. 185, Par. 3) [ 35 ].

The attempt was punished for the crimes specified in the various cases of abortion.

Consideration should also be given in the Criminal Code reissued in 1997 for not punishing the interruption of the pregnancy course carried out by the doctor, if this interruption “was necessary to save the life, health or the physical integrity of the pregnant woman from a grave and imminent danger and that it could not be removed otherwise; in the case of a over fourteen weeks pregnancy, when the interruption of the pregnancy course should take place from therapeutic reasons” and even in a situation of a woman’s lack of consent, when it has not been given the opportunity to express her will, and abortion “was imposed by therapeutic reasons” (Art. 185, Par. 4) [ 35 ].

Criminal Code from 2004 covers abortion in Article 190, defined in the same way as in the prior Criminal Code, with the difference that it affects the limits of the punishment. So, in the event of pregnancy interruption, in accordance with the conditions specified in Paragraph 1, “the penalty provided was prison time from 6 months to one year or days-fine” (Art. 190, Par. 1) [ 36 ].

Nowadays, in Romania, abortion is governed by the criminal law of 2009, which entered into force in 2014, by the section called “aggression against an unborn child”. It should be specified that current criminal law does not punish the woman responsible for carrying out abortion, but only the person who is involved in carrying out the abortion. There is no punishment for the pregnant woman who injures her fetus during pregnancy.

In Article 201, we can find the details on the pregnancy interruption infringement. Thus, the pregnancy interruption can be performed in one of the following circumstances: “outside of medical institutions or medical practices authorized for this purpose; by a person who does not have the capacity of specialist doctor in Obstetrics and Gynecology and the right of free medical practice in this specialty; if gestational age has exceeded 14 weeks”, the punishment is the imprisonment for six months to three years, or fine and the prohibition to exercise certain rights (Art. 201, Par. 1) [ 37 ].

Article 201, Paragraph 2 specifies that “the interruption of the pregnancy committed under any circumstances, without the prior consent of the pregnant woman, can be punished with imprisonment from 2 to 7 years and with the prohibition to exercise some rights” (Art. 201, Par. 1) [ 37 ].

If by facts referred to above (Art. 201, Par. 1 and Par. 2) [ 37 ] “it has caused the pregnant woman’s physical injury, the punishment is the imprisonment from 3 to 10 years and the prohibition to exercise some rights, and if it has had as a result the pregnant woman’s death, the punishment is the imprisonment from 6 to 12 years and the prohibition to exercise some rights” (Art. 201, Par. 3) [ 37 ]. When the facts have been committed by a doctor, “in addition to the imprisonment punishment, it will also be applied the prohibition to exercise the profession of doctor (Art. 201, Par. 4) [ 37 ].

Criminal legislation specifies that “the interruption of pregnancy does not constitute an infringement with the purpose of a treatment carried out by a specialist doctor in Obstetrics and Gynecology, until the pregnancy age of twenty-four weeks is reached, or the subsequent pregnancy interruption, for the purpose of treatment, is in the interests of the mother or the fetus” (Art. 201, Par. 6) [ 37 ]. However, it can all be found in the phrases “therapeutic purposes” and “the interest of the mother and of the unborn child”, which predisposes the text of law to an interpretation, finally the doctors are the only ones in the position to decide what should be done in such cases, assuming direct responsibility [ 38 ].

Article 202 of the Criminal Code defines the crime of harming an unborn child, pointing out the punishments for the various types of injuries that can occur during pregnancy or in the childbirth period and which can be caused by the mother or by the persons who assist the birth, with the specification that the mother who harms her fetus during pregnancy is not punished and does not constitute an infringement if the injury has been committed during pregnancy or during childbirth period if the facts have been “committed by a doctor or by an authorized person to assist the birth or to follow the pregnancy, if they have been committed in the course of the medical act, complying with the specific provisions of his profession and have been made in the interest of the pregnant woman or fetus, as a result of the exercise of an inherent risk in the medical act” (Art. 202, Par. 6) [ 37 ].

The fact situation in Romania

During the period 1948–1955, called “the small baby boom” [ 39 ], Romania registered an average fertility rate of 3.23 children for a woman. Between 1955 and 1962, the fertility rate has been less than three children for a woman, and in 1962, fertility has reached an average of two children for a woman. This phenomenon occurred because of the Decree No. 463/1957 on liberalization of abortion. After the liberalization from 1957, the abortion rate has increased from 220 abortions per 100 born-alive children in the year 1960, to 400 abortions per 100 born-alive children, in the year 1965 [ 40 ].

The application of provisions of Decrees No. 770 of 1966 and No. 411 of 1985 has led to an increase of the birth rate in the first three years (an average of 3.7 children in 1967, and 3.6 children in 1968), followed by a regression until 1989, when it was recorded an average of 2.2 children, but also a maternal death rate caused by illegal abortions, raising up to 85 deaths of 100 000 births in the year of 1965, and 170 deaths in 1983. It was estimated that more than 80% of maternal deaths between 1980–1989 was caused by legal constraints [ 30 ].

After the Romanian Revolution in December 1989 and after the communism fall, with the abrogation of Articles 185–188 of the Criminal Code and of the Decree No. 770/1966, by the Decree of Law No. 1 of December 26 th , 1989, abortion has become legal in Romania and so, in the following years, it has reached the highest rate of abortion in Europe. Subsequently, the number of abortion has dropped gradually, with increasing use of birth control [ 41 ].

Statistical data issued by the Ministry of Health and by the National Institute of Statistics (INS) in Romania show corresponding figures to a legally carried out abortion. The abortion number is much higher, if it would take into account the number of illegal abortion, especially those carried out before 1989, and those carried out in private clinics, after the year 1990. Summing the declared abortions in the period 1958–2014, it is to be noted the number of them, 22 037 747 exceeds the current Romanian population. A detailed statistical research of abortion rate, in terms of years we have exposed in Table ​ Table1 1 .

The number of abortions declared in Romania in the period 1958–2016

Source: Pro Vita Association (Bucharest, Romania), National Institute of Statistics (INS – Romania), EUROSTAT [ 42 , 43 , 44 ]

Data issued by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in June 2016, for the period 1989–2014, in matters of reproductive behavior, indicates a fertility rate for Romania with a continuous decrease, in proportion to the decrease of the number of births, but also a lower number of abortion rate reported to 100 deliveries (Table ​ (Table2 2 ).

Reproductive behavior in Romania in 1989–2014

Source: United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), Transformative Monitoring for Enhanced Equity (TransMonEE) Data. Country profiles: Romania, 1989–2015 [ 45 ].

By analyzing data issued for the period 1990–2015 by the International Organization of Health , UNICEF , United Nations Fund for Population Activity (UNFPA), The World Bank and the United Nations Population Division, it is noticed that maternal mortality rate has currently dropped as compared with 1990 (Table ​ (Table3 3 ).

Maternal mortality estimation in Romania in 1990–2015

Source: World Health Organization (WHO), Global Health Observatory Data. Maternal mortality country profiles: Romania, 2015 [ 46 ].

Opinion survey: women’s opinion on abortion

Argument for choosing the research theme

Although the problematic on abortion in Romania has been extensively investigated and debated, it has not been carried out in an ample sociological study, covering Romanian women’s perception on abortion. We have assumed making a study at national level, in order to identify the opinion on abortion, on the motivation to carry out an abortion, and to identify the correlation between religious convictions and the attitude toward abortion.

Examining the literature field of study

In the conceptual register of the research, we have highlighted items, such as the specialized literature, legislation, statistical documents.

Formulation of hypotheses and objectives

The first hypothesis was that Romanian women accept abortion, having an open attitude towards this act. Thus, the first objective of the research was to identify Romanian women’s attitude towards abortion.

The second hypothesis, from which we started, was that high religious beliefs generate a lower tolerance towards abortion. Thus, the second objective of our research has been to identify the correlation between the religious beliefs and the attitude towards abortion.

The third hypothesis of the survey was that, the main motivation in carrying out an abortion is the fact that a woman does not want a baby, and the main motivation for keeping the pregnancy is that the person wants a baby. In this context, the third objective of the research was to identify main motivation in carrying out an abortion and in maintaining a pregnancy.

Another hypothesis was that modern Romanian legislation on the abortion is considered fair. Based on this hypothesis, we have assumed the fourth objective, which is to identify the degree of satisfaction towards the current regulatory provisions governing the abortion.

Research methodology

The research method is that of a sociological survey by the application of the questionnaire technique. We used the sampling by age and residence looking at representative numbers of population from more developed as well as underdeveloped areas.

Determination of the sample to be studied

Because abortion is a typical women’s experience, we have chosen to make the quantitative research only among women. We have constructed the sample by selecting a number of 1260 women between the ages of 15 and 44 years (the most frequently encountered age among women who give birth to a child). We also used the quota sampling techniques, taking into account the following variables: age group and the residence (urban/rural), so that the persons included in the sample could retain characteristic of the general population.

By the sample of 1260 women, we have made a percentage of investigation of 0.03% of the total population.

The Questionnaires number applied was distributed as follows (Table ​ (Table4 4 ).

The sampling rates based on the age, and the region of residence

Source: Sample built, based on the population data issued by the National Institute of Statistics (INS – Romania) based on population census conducted in 2011 [ 47 ].

Data collection

Data collection was carried out by questionnaires administered by 32 field operators between May 1 st –May 31 st , 2018.

The analysis of the research results

In the next section, we will present the main results of the quantitative research carried out at national level.

Almost three-quarters of women included in the sample agree with carrying out an abortion in certain circumstances (70%) and only 24% have chosen to support the answer “ No, never ”. In modern contemporary society, abortion is the first solution of women for which a pregnancy is not desired. Even if advanced medical techniques are a lot safer, an abortion still carries a health risk. However, 6% of respondents agree with carrying out abortion regardless of circumstances (Table ​ (Table5 5 ).

Opinion on the possibility of carrying out an abortion

Although abortions carried out after 14 weeks are illegal, except for medical reasons, more than half of the surveyed women stated they would agree with abortion in certain circumstances. At the opposite pole, 31% have mentioned they would never agree on abortions after 14 weeks. Five percent were totally accepting the idea of abortion made to a pregnancy that has exceeded 14 weeks (Table ​ (Table6 6 ).

Opinion on the possibility of carrying out an abortion after the period of 14 weeks of pregnancy

For 53% of respondents, abortion is considered a crime as well as the right of a women. On the other hand, 28% of the women considered abortion as a crime and 16% associate abortion with a woman’s right (Table ​ (Table7 7 ).

Opinion on abortion: at the border between crime and a woman’s right

Opinions on what women abort at the time of the voluntary pregnancy interruption are split in two: 59% consider that it depends on the time of the abortion, and more specifically on the pregnancy development stage, 24% consider that regardless of the period in which it is carried out, women abort a child, and 14% have opted a fetus (Table ​ (Table8 8 ).

Abortion of a child vs. abortion of a fetus

Among respondents who consider that women abort a child or a fetus related to the time of abortion, 37.5% have considered that the difference between a baby and a fetus appears after 14 weeks of pregnancy (the period legally accepted for abortion). Thirty-three percent of them have mentioned that the distinction should be performed at the first few heartbeats; 18.1% think it is about when the child has all the features definitively outlined and can move by himself; 2.8% consider that the difference appears when the first encephalopathy traces are being felt and the child has formed all internal and external organs. A percentage of 1.7% of respondents consider that this difference occurs at the beginning of the central nervous system, and 1.4% when the unborn child has all the features that we can clearly see to a newborn child (Table ​ (Table9 9 ).

The opinion on the moment that makes the difference between a fetus and a child

We noticed that highly religious people make a clear association between abortion and crime. They also consider that at the time of pregnancy interruption it is aborted a child and not a fetus. However, unexpectedly, we noticed that 27% of the women, who declare themselves to be very religious, have also stated that they see abortion as a crime but also as a woman’s right. Thirty-one percent of the women, who also claimed profound religious beliefs, consider that abortion may be associated with the abortion of a child but also of a fetus, this depending on the time of abortion (Tables ​ (Tables10 10 and ​ and11 11 ).

The correlation between the level of religious beliefs and the perspective on abortion seen as a crime or a right

The correlation between the level of religious beliefs and the perspective on abortion procedure conducted on a fetus or a child

More than half of the respondents have opted for the main reason for abortion the appearance of medical problems to the child. Baby’s health represents the main concern of future mothers, and of each parent, and the birth of a child with serious health issues, is a factor which frightens any future parent, being many times, at least theoretically, one good reason for opting for abortion. At the opposite side, 12% of respondents would not choose abortion under any circumstances. Other reasons for which women would opt for an abortion are: if the woman would have a medical problem (22%) or would not want the child (10%) (Table ​ (Table12 12 ).

Potential reasons for carrying out an abortion

Most of the women want to give birth to a child, 56% of the respondents, representing also the reason that would determine them to keep the child. Morality (26%), faith (10%) or legal restrictions (4%), are the three other reasons for which women would not interrupt a pregnancy. Only 2% of the respondents have mentioned other reasons such as health or age.

A percentage of 23% of the surveyed people said that they have done an abortion so far, and 77% did not opted for a surgical intervention either because there was no need, or because they have kept the pregnancy (Table ​ (Table13 13 ).

Rate of abortion among women in the sample

Most respondents, 87% specified that they have carried out an abortion during the first 14 weeks – legally accepted limit for abortion: 43.6% have made abortion in the first four weeks, 39.1% between weeks 4–8, and 4.3% between weeks 8–14. It should be noted that 8.7% could not appreciate the pregnancy period in which they carried out abortion, by opting to answer with the option “ I don’t know ”, and a percentage of 4.3% refused to answer to this question.

Performing an abortion is based on many reasons, but the fact that the women have not wanted a child is the main reason mentioned by 47.8% of people surveyed, who have done minimum an abortion so far. Among the reasons for the interruption of pregnancy, it is also included: women with medical problems (13.3%), not the right time to be a mother (10.7%), age motivation (8.7%), due to medical problems of the child (4.3%), the lack of money (4.3%), family pressure (4.3%), partner/spouse did not wanted. A percentage of 3.3% of women had different reasons for abortion, as follows: age difference too large between children, career, marital status, etc. Asked later whether they regretted the abortion, a rate of 69.6% of women who said they had at least one abortion regret it (34.8% opted for “ Yes ”, and 34.8% said “ Yes, partially ”). 26.1% of surveyed women do not regret the choice to interrupted the pregnancy, and 4.3% chose to not answer this question. We noted that, for women who have already experienced abortion, the causes were more diverse than the grounds on which the previous question was asked: “What are the reasons that determined you to have an abortion?” (Table ​ (Table14 14 ).

The reasons that led the women in the sample to have an abortion

The majority of the respondents (37.5%) considered that “nervous depression” is the main consequence of abortion, followed by “insomnia and nightmares” (24.6%), “disorders in alimentation” and “affective disorders” (each for 7.7% of respondents), “deterioration of interpersonal relationships” and “the feeling of guilt”(for 6.3% of the respondents), “sexual disorders” and “panic attacks” (for 6.3% of the respondents) (Table ​ (Table15 15 ).

Opinion on the consequences of abortion

Over half of the respondents believe that abortion should be legal in certain circumstances, as currently provided by law, 39% say it should be always legal, and only 6% opted for the illegal option (Table ​ (Table16 16 ).

Opinion on the legal regulation of abortion

Although the current legislation does not punish pregnant women who interrupt pregnancy or intentionally injured their fetus, survey results indicate that 61% of women surveyed believe that the national law should punish the woman and only 28% agree with the current legislation (Table ​ (Table17 17 ).

Opinion on the possibility of punishing the woman who interrupts the course of pregnancy or injures the fetus

For the majority of the respondents (40.6%), the penalty provided by the current legislation, the imprisonment between six months and three years or a fine and deprivation of certain rights for the illegal abortion is considered fair, for a percentage of 39.6% the punishment is too small for 9.5% of the respondents is too high. Imprisonment between two and seven years and deprivation of certain rights for an abortion performed without the consent of the pregnant woman is considered too small for 65% of interviewees. Fourteen percent of them think it is fair and only 19% of respondents consider that Romanian legislation is too severe with people who commit such an act considering the punishment as too much. The imprisonment from three to 10 years and deprivation of certain rights for the facts described above, if an injury was caused to the woman, is considered to be too small for more than half of those included in the survey, 64% and almost 22% for nearly a quarter of them. Only 9% of the respondents mentioned that this legislative measure is too severe for such actions (Table ​ (Table18 18 ).

Opinion on the regulation of abortion of the Romanian Criminal Code (Art. 201)

Conclusions

After analyzing the results of the sociological research regarding abortion undertaken at national level, we see that 76% of the Romanian women accept abortion, indicating that the majority accepts only certain circumstances (a certain period after conception, for medical reasons, etc.). A percentage of 64% of the respondents indicated that they accept the idea of abortion after 14 weeks of pregnancy (for solid reasons or regardless the reason). This study shows that over 50% of Romanian women see abortion as a right of women but also a woman’s crime and believe that in the moment of interruption of a pregnancy, a fetus is aborted. Mostly, the association of abortion with crime and with the idea that a child is aborted is frequently found within very religious people. The main motivation for Romanian women in taking the decision not to perform an abortion is that they would want the child, and the main reason to perform an abortion is the child’s medical problems. However, it is noted that, in real situations, in which women have already done at least one abortion, most women resort to abortion because they did not want the child towards the hypothetical situation in which women felt that the main reason of abortion is a medical problem. Regarding the satisfaction with the current national legislation of the abortion, the situation is rather surprising. A significant percentage (61%) of respondents felt as necessary to punish the woman who performs an illegal abortion, although the legislation does not provide a punishment. On the other hand, satisfaction level to the penalties provided by law for various violations of the legal conditions for conducting abortion is low, on average only 25.5% of respondents are being satisfied with these, the majority (average 56.2%) considering the penalties as unsatisfactory. Understood as a social phenomenon, intensified by human vulnerabilities, of which the most obvious is accepting the comfort [ 48 ], abortion today is no longer, in Romanian society, from a legal or religious perspective, a problem. Perceptions on the legislative sanction, moral and religious will perpetual vary depending on beliefs, environment, education, etc. The only and the biggest social problem of Romania is truly represented by the steadily falling birth rate.

Conflict of interests

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.