What are the core ethical principles underpinning human subjects research?

What are the core ethical principles underpinning human subjects research?

• A. Autonomy, confidentiality, and nonmaleficence
• B. Respect for persons, beneficence, and justice
• C. Beneficence, justice, and autonomy
• D. Respect for persons, privacy, and justice

Answer: (B)

The Belmont Report's three ethical principles guide human subjects research: respect for persons, beneficence, and justice. Respect for persons means recognizing individuals as autonomous agents and protecting those with diminished autonomy, which shows up in informed consent, voluntary participation, and extra safeguards for vulnerable groups. Beneficence calls for maximizing potential benefits while minimizing possible harms, so researchers design studies to reduce risks and carefully weigh benefits to participants and to society. Justice focuses on fair subject selection and distribution of the burdens and benefits of research, ensuring that no group is unfairly exploited or denied its benefits. This is why the option pairing these three principles is the best answer. The other choices mix related ideas—such as confidentiality versus privacy or nonmaleficence versus beneficence—or substitute terms (like autonomy) that are encompassed within respect for persons, rather than naming the core trio directly.

The Belmont Report's three ethical principles guide human subjects research: respect for persons, beneficence, and justice. Respect for persons means recognizing individuals as autonomous agents and protecting those with diminished autonomy, which shows up in informed consent, voluntary participation, and extra safeguards for vulnerable groups. Beneficence calls for maximizing potential benefits while minimizing possible harms, so researchers design studies to reduce risks and carefully weigh benefits to participants and to society. Justice focuses on fair subject selection and distribution of the burdens and benefits of research, ensuring that no group is unfairly exploited or denied its benefits.

This is why the option pairing these three principles is the best answer. The other choices mix related ideas—such as confidentiality versus privacy or nonmaleficence versus beneficence—or substitute terms (like autonomy) that are encompassed within respect for persons, rather than naming the core trio directly.