Reflections on the Ethics of Social Experimentation

Journal of Globalization and Development, 2015, vol. 6, issue 1, 87-112

Abstract: Social scientists are increasingly engaging in experimental research projects of importance for public policy in developing areas. While this research holds the possibility of producing major social benefits, it may also involve manipulating populations, often without consent, sometimes with potentially adverse effects, and often in settings with obvious power differentials between researcher and subject. Such research is currently conducted with few clear ethical guidelines. In this paper I discuss research ethics as currently understood in this field, highlighting the limitations of standard procedures and the need for the construction of appropriate ethics, focusing on the problems of determining responsibility for interventions and assessing appropriate forms of consent.

Keywords: consent; ethics; field experiments; human subjects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C90 C93 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1515/jgd-2014-0016

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Journal of Globalization and Development is currently edited by Joseph E. Stiglitz, Kevin Gallagher, Jeronim Capaldo, Arjun Jayadev, José Antonio Ocampo and Dani Rodrik

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