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The relevance of relevance in research.
Journal article

The relevance of relevance in research.

  • Shaw D Institute for Biomedical Ethics, University of Basel, Missionsstrasse 24, CH-4055 Basel, Switzerland. david.shaw@unibas.ch
  • Elger BS
  • 2013-06-07
Published in:
  • Swiss medical weekly. - 2013
Ethics Committees, Research
Ethics, Research
Human Experimentation
Humans
Research
Research Design
Switzerland
United Kingdom
English A new Swiss law requires that any research involving humans must aim to answer "a relevant research question". This paper explains the relevance of the relevance criterion in research, analyses the Swiss and British guidelines on relevance, and proposes a framework for researchers and research ethics committee (REC) members that enables a clearer conception of the role of relevance in research. We conclude that research must be either scientifically or societally beneficial in order to qualify as relevant, and RECs therefore cannot avoid reviewing the scientific aspects of proposed studies. Normally only scientifically relevant studies can be of benefit to society, but research of low scientific relevance can nonetheless be relevant to society if it forms part of the education of new doctors and scientists.
Language
  • English
Open access status
gold
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://sonar.ch/global/documents/83797
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