Legal Issues in Research

Abstract

Chapter SummaryThis chapter addressed the administrative consequences that could result from a breach of an ethical responsibility to the participants in research or to the institution. It should be noted again that ethical obligations are not invariably coextensive with legal obligations and vice versa. As we saw in chapter 4, the overriding theme is the protection of the research participants and the consequences of a failure to do so. However, it is also clear from the discussion in chapter 5 that there are legally-imposed limits on the extent to which participants may be protected from the disclosure of information about them and/or their behavior.