Moral perspectives on covert research
Date
2014-11-04
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Health & Medical Publishing Group
Abstract
The term ‘covert research’ refers to research on human subjects for which informed consent is not, and allegedly cannot, be solicited – not because of wilful negligence or the deliberate transgression of research ethics guidelines on the part of the researcher(s), but because the revelation of the nature of the research to the involved research participants would necessarily invalidate the research results. While covert research is deemed necessary in a number of sciences, such as ethnography, such research nevertheless elicits major ethical concern due to the fact that it seemingly violates the values of respect for autonomy and the protection of research subjects – values that have, since the first formulations of the Nuremberg Code, the Belmont Declaration and the series of Helsinki accords, become almost axiomatic in our understanding of the basic tenets of responsible and ethical research on human subjects. In this article, I contend that while subject autonomy is a pivotal value in morally legitimate research generally, there is more to morally legitimate research than informed consent. I conclude by formulating a few guidelines for the identification of circumstances under which covert research might and might not be morally in order.
Description
CITATION: Van Niekerk, A. A. 2014. Moral perspectives on covert research. South African Journal of Bioethics and Law, 7(2):55-58, doi:10.7196/SAJBL.320.
The original publication is available at http://www.sajbl.org.za
The original publication is available at http://www.sajbl.org.za
Keywords
Covert research, Informed consent (Medical law), Research -- Moral and ethical aspects, Medical ethics
Citation
Van Niekerk, A. A. 2014. Moral perspectives on covert research. South African Journal of Bioethics and Law, 7(2):55-58, doi:10.7196/SAJBL.320.