Violations of Human Rights That Led to Ethical Review Boards
A concern for ethics in research emerge historically from a number of incidents of unethical behavior. One of the earliest examples in this country was the Tuskegee syphilis study that included a 40-year study of the effects of syphilis on the body of a group of poor African American men from Alabama in the 1930s (Reamer, 2010). These men were not given the standard treatment for syphilis so that the researchers could study the nature of the progression of the disease when untreated. They were also deceived about the nature of the experiment. Some, of course, died from the disease. Another example given by Reamer (2010) was an experiment (the Willowbrook study) where a group of retarded children were deliberately infected with hepatitis so that the trajectory of the disease when left untreated could be studied.
According to Reamer (2010), the first prominent regulation to prevent these abuses was enacted in the United States in 1966 when the surgeon general issued a directive that the Public Health Service would not fund research unless the procedures for the research would ensure that certain ethical principles were enacted. Documentation of these procedures were required. In social work, the Code of Ethics has become more specific with regard to principles related to ethical conduct in the use of human subjects in research.
The Kinds of Research That Are Reviewed
Not all forms of collection and analysis of data are classified as being subject to review by the IRB. A key is whether the data are for research that will be made public because it has the purpose of contributing to our collected knowledge about the theme of the study or if its purpose is for nonpublic uses such as the improvement of your practice with a given group of clients. If the report of the research has no public intent, it is not normally subjected to IRB review because it is not classified as research in the nomenclature of the IRB. As an example, the collection of depression scores for a single client for the purpose of improving service would not normally be subject to review unless you plan to make these data public, like through a publication or a public presentation of some kind.
Research using existing data from records normally does not require formal review. An exception would be for data where the individual can be identified with his or her data. If there was no way for the researcher to identify the data for a given subject, the study normally would not be subject to review.
If you collect data from human subjects (surveys, interviews, etc.) on a research topic where the results will be made public, you will normally be expected to engage in the procedures required by your IRB. It does not matter if the data are obtained anonymously or if confidentiality is assured. If you collect data from human subjects for the purpose of advancing knowledge, and if you plan to make these data public, then you must complete the forms used by your IRB. The members of the IRB will review your information to see the level of review that is necessary.
The IRB Review Process
For some situations, the procedures for IRB review will be simple; for others, it will be more complex. The greater the danger that ethical rights will be violated, the more complex will be the process you will encounter.
The IRB typically has several levels of review. Some proposals for studies will be exempted from full review because of the limited nature of the study procedures. For example, if you are conducting a social survey of adults where the questions posed are not the ones that could put study subjects at risk of harm or violation of privacy, you may find that your IRB has an expedited review process whereby your report is not presented to the full board for review. This normally takes less time. The full review, of course, takes much more time because the entire board must review your proposal, and the board will normally have regular meetings where it reviews as many proposals as time permits.
Advice for the Social Work Researcher
The social work researcher must, of course, abide by the principles enumerated in this part of the chapter. This means achieving voluntary participation from nonvulnerable populations, protecting privacy, and causing no harm by your research procedures.
Your interaction with your IRB will be less complicated if certain things are present in your research situation. If you are engaging in a study where the results are not being made public (publication, poster presentation, newsletter, etc.), you are in a situation where some IRBs will not consider your work to be subject to review by the board because it is not designed for the achievement of general knowledge.
If you intend to make your research results public, you are likely to be expected to provide some form of report to your IRB. You will be in better shape if you can collect your data anonymously, use a harmless questionnaire or scale, and obtain the voluntary participation of adults who are not in a place like a prison where people are considered especially vulnerable. Failure to achieve any of these elements of research will make your interaction with your IRB more complicated.
Section B: Cultural Competence in Social Work Research
In this section, you will examine the nature of cultural competence and understand why you should be attentive to this subject. The second theme is the influence of cultural competence on how you conduct research, including a reference both to the types of research and to the research process. The third theme is a set of recommendations for strategies for culturally competent research. The final topic is how we might rethink the concept of cultural competence.
The Nature of Cultural Competence
Cultural competence refers to your ability to take culture into consideration in your practice. This requires sufficient knowledge of culture to engage in practice that is well informed. It also requires sufficient self-awareness to avoid the interference of your own life experiences with regard to culture. Being aware of the similarities and differences between your culture and that of others is a critical part of this self-awareness.
Culture has a major influence on all aspects of social work practice. The National Association of Social Workers has articulated 10 standards related to cultural competence among social workers. These are as follows: (1) ethics and values, (2) self-awareness, (3) cross-cultural knowledge, (4) cross-cultural skills, (5) service delivery, (6) empowerment and advocacy, (7) diverse workforce, (8) professional education, (9) language and communication, and (10) leadership. There are suggestions within each of these 10 categories. For example, embracing culture as essential to effective practice is one of the values enumerated for the first item of this list. The standard about self-awareness suggests that social workers must demonstrate an appreciation of their own cultures as well as the cultures of others. In addition, social workers must develop both knowledge and skills related to cultural competence.
Cultural Competence Among Types of Research
You have viewed purpose as a guide for classifying research studies. Descriptive studies, for example, are designed only to describe people, while explanatory studies attempt to explain by the examination of relationships among variables. Exploratory studies review relatively unknown themes where research and theory are not well developed. Moreover, evaluative studies examine the success of social work programs and interventions.
When we undertake exploratory studies, we start with little information on the details of the phenomenon under investigation. We should always consider culture as a theme in these studies because of the widespread influence of culture on human behavior. To what extent have we developed a research methodology that is suitable for the inclusion of culture as a theme? Will we examine things that will reveal this?
When we conduct descriptive studies, we must construct measurement tools that are sensitive to cultural differences. An advantage of the descriptive study is that it is easily undertaken by way of a social survey with a large sample. Therefore, measurement sensitivity