Risk of harm in social and behavioral sciences generally fall in three categories, which are:

Risk of harm in social and behavioral sciences generally fall in three categories, which are:

a. Breach of confidentiality, loss of autonomy, and study procedures

b. Study procedures, breach of confidentiality, and loss of employment

c. Invasion of privacy, adverse reaction to study drug, and discrimination

d. Invasion of privacy, breach of confidentiality, and study procedures

Answer: d. Invasion of privacy, breach of confidentiality, and study procedures

In social and behavioural sciences research, it is possible to identify these three categories as the main areas in which participants can be potentially affected. Awareness of these risks helps the researchers to develop ethical research and put into practice measures to prevent harm in the studies they are conducting.

Invasion of the right to privacy means the unauthorized invasion of a person’s private life or business. For instance, questions that are posed in a survey on family relationships might be issues that are considered bad in society such as spouse abuse or child abuse. Scholars need to be careful about the amount and kind of data they collect, particularly participants’ identifiable data.

Privacy violation is defined as the failure to keep secret information that has been gathered in the course of the study, especially information regarding the participant. For example, if a survey on stress at the workplace exposes data regarding particular workers to employers, then the upshot is disadvantageous for the subjects. Researchers have to ensure strict measures towards avoiding such leakages of data leakages are taken.

Study-related risks have to do with the adverse effects that result from actual study procedures of research. For instance, an experiment on subjects’ responses to stress may temporarily expose those involved to stress. Another example could be a sociological investigation where qualitative data is collected in risky areas; in other words, the researchers themselves, or the subjects, may be endangered.

To the researchers, the identified risk categories need to be appreciated and managed when devising as well as implementing research. These include seeking participants’ permission to participate in the study, applying measures to safeguard the collected data, and devising research procedures that run a minimum risk of harming the participants while serving the intended research purpose. Ethical review boards are also useful in evaluating such risks and making sure adequate measures to protect the research participants have been put in place.