According to the Belmont report, the 3 main ethical principles for conducting research involving human subjects are:
A) Beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice
B) Respect for persons, beneficence, justice
C) Respect for persons, beneficence, nonmaleficence
D) Beneficence, justice, informed consent
E) Nonmaleficence, justice, informed consent
December 18, 2016 at 9:44 pm
Answer: B. The Belmont report, published in 1979 in the Federal Register, gives ethical principles and guidelines for the protection of human subjects of research. The 3 core ethical principles are:
1) Respect for persons: protecting subjects’ autonomy and treating them with courtesy and respect
2) Beneficence: maximize potential benefits and minimize risks of the research to subjects
3) Justice: ensuring fair and equal distribution of costs and benefits of research to all potential participants, and use of reasonable non-exploitative research procedures
Here’s a mnemonic: RESearch BE JUST (Respect, beneficence, justice)
Non-maleficence, or “first, do no harm,” is often mentioned as another fundamental ethical principle. In the Belmont report, it is included as part of beneficence, or the balancing of risks and benefits.
Three primary areas of application for these core ethical principles in research are: selection of subjects, assessment of risks and benefits of the research, and informed consent.