Letter to the editor
The Role of Research Ethics Committees in Observational Studies:
Epidemiological Registries, Case Reports, Interviews, and Retrospective
Studies
Isaac Maldonado-Castellanos1
*
Ignacio Mora-Magaña2
1Postgraduate Program in Bioethics, Postgraduate
Unit, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City,
Mexico
2Sub-directorate of Evaluation and Educational
Programming, Instituto Nacional de Pediatría, Mexico City, Mexico
Dear Editor
The article written by González-Duarte et al.1
proposes an analysis for different research projects that use qualitative methods
presented to the ethics research committees. Notwithstanding, we believe that the
analysis proposed for this type of projects fails in not including a growing group of
qualitative techniques and methods such as ethnography, focus groups, and
biographical/narrative studies.
When gathering information, these techniques also present ethical challenges. For
instance, the technology employed (i.e., audio and video equipment) could modify the
phenomenon under study. Therefore, the ethical controversy is whether the study can be
done without informed consent so that the participants do not change their behavior and
their responses.
We believe that informed consent should be an unavoidable communication process.
Nonetheless, we urge methodologists and bioethicists to reflect as Gonzalez-Duarte1 did to find an ethical and methodologically
balanced response regarding the use of video recording while performing a qualitative
study without modifying participant’s responses.
As Miles and Huberman2 pointed out, qualitative
research is an artisanal work and must avoid the submission to strict and inflexible
methodological rules while respecting ethical guidelines.
REFERENCES
1. González-Duarte A, Kaufer-Horwitz M, Zambrano E, Durand-Carbajal
M, Alberú-Gómez J, Galindo-Fraga A, et al. The role of research ethics
committees in observational studies:epidemiological registries, case reports,
interviews and retrospective studies. Rev Invest Clin.
2019;71:149-56.
[ Links ]
2. Miles M, Huberman AM. Qualitative Data Analysis:an Expanded
Sourcebook. Thousand Oaks:SAGE Publications;1994.
[ Links ]
Dear Dr. Maldonado-Castellanos and Dr. Mora-Magaña:
We appreciate your Letter to the Editor in regards to our article1 and recognize that the observational studies mentioned in your
letter were not included in our analysis. We also agree in that these kinds of studies
are of paramount importance within the scope of modern research. Moreover, as you point
out in your Letter, a balance should be achieved regarding the need for consent and the
possibility of bias in the information obtained when a thorough description of the study
is performed. We certainly think that this important issue should be discussed in a
different article putting special emphasis on your observations. Thank you again for
your valuable comments.
Copyright: © 2020 Revista de Investigación
Clínica.