The Role of Compensation in Clinical Research and the Ethical Considerations

Abstract

In order to ensure the generalizability of clinical research studies, researchers and study sponsors are tasked with making efforts to ensure that research participants are racially and ethnically representative of the population at large. However, minorities and women continue to be underrepresented in medical research studies. To encourage participation in medical research studies, researchers are often inclined to offer compensation for study participation. However, it is vital that researchers consider the ethical implications of monetizing participation in medical research studies. The first aim of this paper is to discuss the ethical ramifications of providing compensation for research participation. Additionally, this paper will critically analyze the various ways of handling financial compensation for participation in medical research studies involving experimental drugs, devices or surgical techniques. Information for this paper was gathered by conducting a literature review and by analyzing 121 semi-structured interviews. Using an ethical framework, and supported by qualitative data from the interviews, this paper will discuss the ethical concerns that researchers must consider when offering monetary compensation in exchange for participation in medical research. Overall, the paper aims to show that in order for clinical research to be conducted ethically, we must grant potential participants the autonomy to use their own decision making framework when deciding whether or not to participate in a medical research study. While a potential participant’s decision to join a research study in exchange for financial compensation may raise concerns to some people, autonomy requires that the research institution respect each individual’s own motivations and decisions.