A very common question that is asked is to ‘Discuss ethical considerations with research into….’ A very common, but incorrect, way to answer this is to think of the most unethical study you can, and blast away at it! Instead, re-read the question, which is asking about ethical considerations, in other words ‘What do researchers need to consider when planning … Read More
Ethics of animal research
A few months ago, we posted about how we could use animals for research. Today we are looking at the ethics surrounding the decision to conduct research using nonhuman animals. Most students can reel off the ethics involved in conducting research on humans (informed consent, lack of harm, right to withdraw, privacy, etc.) but when we talk about the ethics … Read More
We’re all just animals, aren’t we?
The question of when to use non-human animal studies as evidence for human behaviour is a tricky one. Because it remains unethical to lesion the brain of a live human to look for a correlation between brain damage and behaviour (at the moment!), animal studies are used in large numbers at the biological approach. However, many people are becoming more … Read More