The overall theme of these three criteria is the concern for protecting individuals from any and all potential harm. This concern for protection includes harm to the participants, the researcher, and the institution approving the research.

 

The determination of risk can be somewhat subjective, and thus REBs attempt to apply consistent and standardized criteria.

 

Although there might sometimes be some risk involved in research, the benefits must outweigh the costs in order for a project to be justified and approved. Currently, our ethical standards must consider any potential physical, psychological, emotional, behavioral, economic, and social harm that might occur when participating in the research.

 

Examples of potential harm in SoTL research could include:

 

• Damage to the self-esteem of a student through reflection on personal performance or comparison of performance to other students (emotional harm).

 

• A proposed intervention for a classroom following a quasi-experimental design that provides a learning opportunity for one course section but not another, which may result in a stratification in grade distribution (social harm).

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