rules for including/excluding human subjects in research. Subject selection should be equitable, i.e. subjects should be included or excluded for legitimate scientific or ethical reasons. For example, a clinical trial might exclude subjects who do not have the disease under investigation or are too sick to take part in the study safely. See Risk minimization, Justice.

a measure of the degree that an observed result (such as relationship between two variables) is due to chance. Statistical significance is usually expressed as a p-value. A p-value of 0.05, for example, means that the observed result will probably occur as a result of chance only 5% of the time.

rules and procedures for performing an activity, such as conducting or reviewing research.

 the idea, defended by philosopher Peter Singer, that treating human beings as morally different from animals is a form of discrimination similar to racism. Singer argues that since all animals deserve equal moral consideration, most forms of animal experimentation are unethical. See Value, scale of.

1. the social benefits expected to be gained from a scientific study, such as new knowledge or the development of a medical treatment or other technology. 2. The ethical principle that human subjects research should be expected to yield valuable results for society.

in science, the obligation to avoid harmful societal consequences from one’s research and to promote good ones.

an international research ethics code developed at the 2nd World Conference on Research Integrity in Singapore in 2010.

regulation of an activity by individuals involved in that activity as opposed to regulation by the government. See also Law.

in science, deceiving one’s self in the conduct of research. Self-deception is a form of bias that may be intentional or unintentional (subconscious).

processes, procedures, and methods used to ensure that a study is well-designed to test a hypothesis or theory.