Research Ethics & Literature

Week Overview

Week 2 addresses the ethical foundations and literature review skills essential to responsible research. You will learn how institutional review boards protect human subjects, how informed consent operates in research contexts, and how to navigate the ethical complexities that arise in vulnerable populations. Concurrently, you will develop systematic literature search skills, learning to formulate focused research questions, appraise published studies, and synthesize findings into coherent literature reviews.

Learning Objectives

• Explain the core principles of research ethics (beneficence, justice, respect for persons)
• Describe the IRB review process and its role in protecting research participants
• Conduct a systematic literature search using academic databases
• Formulate research questions using structured frameworks (PICO, SPIDER)
• Critically appraise the quality and relevance of published research