What is a major concern under the ethical principle of beneficence?

The ethical principle of beneficence is fundamentally about maximizing potential benefits and minimizing possible harm to participants in a study. The focus here is on the careful consideration of how the benefits of the research may enhance understanding while ensuring that participants are not subjected to unnecessary risks.

Choosing to ensure that the benefits outweigh the risks involved aligns perfectly with this principle, as it emphasizes the importance of safeguarding participants’ well-being while still allowing for valuable findings to emerge from the research. This involves a thorough risk-benefit analysis, where the researchers must demonstrate that the potential positive impacts of their study justify any possible negative consequences for participants.

In contrast, other choices, while important ethical considerations in research, do not directly encapsulate the core of beneficence. For example, maintaining anonymity of participants, providing adequate debriefing, and obtaining informed consent are all integral components of ethical research practices but are more closely related to other ethical principles, such as confidentiality, respect for persons, and the right to information. Therefore, while these elements are significant in conducting ethically sound research, the primary concern of beneficence is unequivocally about ensuring that the potential benefits of participation significantly outweigh any associated risks.