Sharing Results with Research Participants: Establishing Ethical Practices for Development Economics

越来越多的经济学研究使用随机对照试验（RCTs），研究参与者被随机分配到对照组或实验组。在经济学中使用随机对照试验存在伦理挑战，包括在研究结束后如何恰当地向参与者解释研究结果。该项目将记录现有的随机对照试验实践，确定伦理和实践义务，并支持形成与当地社区分享研究成果的新规范。该项目将包括对现有研究方案的深入审查，以确定当前的做法。此外，它将实施与发展经济学家和当地社区的访谈，以创建一个最佳实践指南，以启动研究人员和研究参与者之间的对话。该项目将产生一系列研究和教育成果，重点是改变与研究参与者分享成果的规范。该项目的重点是利用随机对照试验收集发展经济学领域的数据。研究小组有三个目标。第一个目标是记录当前在经济学和相关社会科学学科中传播研究成果的做法。第二个目的是收集经济学家和研究参与者关于随机对照试验经验的观点。该小组将通过对发展经济学家和研究参与者进行调查和访谈来收集定量和定性数据。第三个目标是制定一份最佳做法指南，将通过包括出版物和会议在内的若干战略公开分享。该项目由社会、行为和经济科学理事会和国际科学与工程办公室通过ER2计划共同资助。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

An increasing amount of economics research makes use of randomized control trials (RCTs), where research participants are randomly assigned to a control or experimental group. There are ethical challenges relating to the use of RCTs in economics, including how to explain research findings to participants appropriately once a study ends. This project will document existing RCT practices, identify ethical and practical obligations, and support the formation of new norms around sharing research results with local communities. The project will include in-depth reviews of existing research protocols to establish current practices. In addition, it will implement interviews with development economists and local communities to create a best practices guide to initiate conversations between researchers and research participants. The project will result in a series of research and educational outputs centered on changing the norms around the sharing of results with research participants. The project focuses on the use of RCTs to collect data in the field of development economics. The research team has three aims. The first aim is to document current practices for disseminating research findings in economics and related social science disciplines. The second aim is to gather perspectives from economists and research participants regarding the experiences with RCTs. The team will collect quantitative and qualitative data by conducting surveys and interviews with development economists and research participants. The third aim is to develop a best practices guide that will be openly shared through several strategies including publications and at conferences. This project is jointly funded through the ER2 program by the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences and the Office of International Science and Engineering.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.