Respect for Persons
Researchers should treat human participants as autonomous agents, acting under deliberation of personal goals. If the subjects have diminished autonomy, the researchers must protect them since they do not have self-determination. Additionally, they need to be excluded from those research activities that may harm them.
Beneficence
Researchers treat human subjects ethically by making deliberate efforts to secure their well-being, protect them from harm, and respect their decisions. This principle covers aspects of charity or kindness exceeding strict obligations. Sometimes, previously accepted routine practices can be dangerous, and the purpose of the research is always to ensure the subjects are protected from harm.
Justice
This principle is concerned with what is deserved or the fairness of distributing the research’s benefits and burdens. A human subject is treated unjustly when a person does not get the benefits accrued to them.
Confidentiality and Privacy
The participants’ information obtained for purposes of research needs to be confidential. Thus, according to this confidentiality principle and privacy, if this information is published, the subjects’ identity needs to be protected.
Protection of Participants
During the study, the researchers must protect their participants from mental and physical harm. Thus, before the research, the subjects need to be asked about any factors that might harm them to exclude them from participating to avoid the risk. Thus, researchers using human subjects need to be mindful of the subjects’ well-being.