Welcome to this short film about the
principles for ethical research and evaluation
in international development.
These principles have been developed
by ACFID, the Australian Council for International Development,
and the Research for Development Impact Network.
Shortly, you will learn about the four principles.
Each principle outlines important ethical questions
to think about before and while doing research and evaluation
in the field. Let's begin.
Principle 1 is Respect for Human Beings.
In research terms, this means making sure
each and every person involved in the research
participates by choice, and their rights
and cultures are respected.
Principle 2 is Beneficence.
Beneficence means that everyone involved
in the research gets something positive
out of it, not just the researcher.
The other important side of beneficence
is that the research must not do harm or
pose significant risk to anyone
including the researcher.
Any risks of harm should be identified early
and managed appropriately.
Principle 3 is Research Merit and Integrity.
Research Merit and Integrity means that
researchers need to be experienced and competent.
Also, the research must be well-designed,
carefully planned, and the process,
outcomes, and benefits of the research
are clear to all involved.
Principle 4 is Justice.
In this context, Justice refers to making
sure that the research is fair and inclusive.
It means making sure that no section
of a community or population is
deliberately left out.
This includes children, people with disability,
marginalized groups, and people who face
language or literacy barriers.
Now you've learned a bit about the four
principles for ethical research and
evaluation in international development.
These principles go hand in hand with guidelines.
These guidelines offer some ideas and
techniques you can use when planning research.
They also help your organization to be
ready, adaptable, and flexible
when doing research in the field.
So when the unexpected happens,
you can stick to ethical practice at all times.
For more information, visit the website.