Human beings are social creatures that naturally develop this trait from relating with each other and their surroundings. This trait originates from the ability they posses of being able to make concrete choices in relationships. In most cases, this aspect is taken for granted by fellow human being who uses it to their own benefit. This brings out the set code of conducts and rules that govern every aspect of life. Most people might have a need to participate in an activity that could benefit the whole society based on certain conditions. For example a research that involves certain illness that could be affecting the society and thus help come up with a treatment solution. However in various scenarios people engaging in this research may fail to inform the subject and instead opt to assume personal rights and freedom of participating in such a scenario. On the other hand, the researchers may enlighten the subject regarding the research but fail to highlight the limitations that could arise from the situation. These scenarios leads to questions such as Is it morally right to perform research based on mere reasons that do not justify the research. How important is research in relation to individual respect and rights?
Individual rights are important in every scenario that involves research. This should include understanding the psychological effect associated with the research to the subject, the choice of the subject regarding the research and the significance of the research in comparison to failure of doing the research. Based on the cases studies, it is evident that the importance of carrying out a research for the sake of human good surpasses the importance of a subject under research. The researchers opted to carry out research on starving children without putting into consideration that the life of the children was at stake. Regarding this case, it was important to carry out the research since it could help to understand various health conditions associated with starvation for future use. However, the researchers did not consider the moral of ethics associated with this act. The children were unaware of the research and the Canadian researchers assumed their human dignity. This is a clear indication that rules and regulations should be put in place to help control research and certain acts that are justified with research.
Based on the case studies, researchers in Canada and United States have little concern over their subject and therefore regulation of their research can be done in a number of ways which include the following:
The researchers should consult any subject of research especially human subjects before carrying out the research. This regulation exists in rules dictated by the Canada and U.S.A institutions of research, however its power is frail based on its inability to incorporate the punishment for breaking this rule. This rule should include a punishment that will ensure all researchers adhere to it such as jail sentence or stripping off academic achievements.
The rule governing the safety of the subject under research should include various aspects such as insurance policy and consent. This aspect will hold responsible the researchers and at the same time provide the subject with power to refuse or accept any issue during the research.
The purpose of a research should have more importance than its impact to the subject. A research that has more negative or life threaten impact in relation to its benefit should be carried out after taking necessary assessment of the case. This regulation can help to prevent jeopardizing the life of the subject without justifiable reason.
The research should also be done in favor of the subject and its general idea concerning the society. This regulation can help to prevent misuse of the subject's individual information and resources allocated for the research. Researchers who fail to adhere to this regulation indicate lack of positive intention in relation to the research and the society.
The purpose of any research is to ensure that it benefits the society and little harm is done to the subject unless the subject signs an agreement. This issue safeguards the interest of the subject and puts the research at a broad light for the public to access and make critics regarding the research. Therefore developing a regulation that will help researchers to communicate their research progress to the public can help to prevent escalation of any unethical matter during the research and instead provide research that is centered on subject and public interest.
The above regulations can help to combat the issue selfness in research, involve subjects in research and control research in favor of the society. These regulations are based on my opinion regarding the case studies that failed to understand the ethical issues in relation to research and the need to inform the subjects before a research.
