The Puzzles in Research-Ethics Review

There are puzzles in research-ethics review that confound researchers in the social sciences. First, how did the biomedical research ethics process capture the research-ethics perspectives in the social sciences? Second, why has it proved impossible to recognize the relevance of stepping outside the biomedical paradigm? Third, what institutional agencies have not permitted researchers in the social sciences to abandon the biomedical paradigm and adopt one that is relevant for social scientists? There are particular elements that characterize the ethics-review process. Some phrases as 'rigor' dissuade inductive researchers, the power of hierarchical nature of research-ethics committees inevitably impose the biomedical stance in research, the colonizing nature of research-ethics betrays its American bias, and the insistence that all researchers implement a data-management plan is not relevant to the social sciences. Some of the more common suggestions to improve the situation are unworkable.