"The Belmont Report" was written in 1979 to address the abuse of human participants in biomedical research. In the report, three ethical principles were described: (1) "beneficence," which describes an act of charity or kindness that maximizes possible benefits while minimizing possible harms; (2) "justice," described…

Criticizes an earlier essay that questioned the validity of contemporary educational research practices, especially those involving experimentation. Argues that research using experimentation is valid and can lead to new and generalizable knowledge. (FMW)

Legal, ethical, and procedural guidelines for the participation of mentally retarded people in research were solicited from 167 agencies, of which 67 responded. A variety of documents was cited by the respondents. The documents appeared to establish the outside limits of ethical practice but did not establish actual procedure. Furthermore, the…

Excerpt from a two year study concluded by a National Academy of Sciences panel.

This paper reports two studies that examined changes in the participants' level of moral reasoning after exposure to the Kohlberg cognitive-developmental intervention model (1975). This approach focuses on universal moral principles which are manifested in a series of developmental stages. Knowledge of these stages provides one with an outline for…