To increase knowledge of diseases and improve the treatment of patients, it's important to be able to conduct research on people. Such research is never carried out without reason. Increased knowledge gained through research is one way to achieve better results in preventing diseases, diagnosing them and to improve treatment and well-being of the patients.

Here follows information relevant to you if you are considering participating in a scientific study in the field of health. It explains how a study must be conducted to be approved, what your rights as a participant are, and the role of ethics committees.

Before you decide

Payments

The discussion on scientific ethics discusses payments or fees for participation in research. On the one hand, there is discussion about payments to researchers from sponsors of research and on the other hand, payments to participants as rewards for participation. The accompanying text (see the link at the bottom of this page) discusses the latter in particular. There are many points that either recommend payments or against them, but all of these points are linked to the fact that they can affect the decision to participate in research.

It is important that researchers respect the individual’s self-determination:

• Are participants dependent on researchers?

• Is the population sensitive?

• Is the reward offered so high that potential participants are likely to take risks that they would not take otherwise?

• Does payment affect who is chosen to participate (distortion of the population)?

• Does payment affect the scientific quality of the data collected in a study?

• Is there a conflict of interest?

It is generally accepted that it is justified to pay for the participants’ time and to refund the expenses incurred that will be attributed to participation, and that it is important to take care that rewards or fees that are offered do not directly affect the decision to participate, for example, so that a participant takes more risk or commits to inconvenience that would not have been done otherwise. The matter is more complicated than that.

You can read more about payments for research participation by clicking here.