ABSTRACT
Research subjects are best viewed as active participants and collaborators in child services research. It is inappropriate and counterproductive to view children, adolescents, and their families as passive objects of study. The relationship between researcher and subject is most respectful and productive when the relationship is structured as a partnership. In this partnership, subjects are fully informed about the goals of the research, specific procedures to be employed by the researcher, require-ments and burdens of participation, and risks and benefits pertaining to participation. Subjects enter voluntarily into this partnership, can discontinue participation at will, are entitled to receive reliable information about the project and their own participation, and must be provided information about the scientific findings when they are available or when results at any time could affect their well-being (National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, 1995). The researcher engaged in studies of services or conducting epidemiological investigations is bound by legal and ethical responsibility to place the rights and welfare of the research subject above any other consideration pertaining to the research and above the interests of the researcher, including the interests of the institution(s) sponsoring the research activity (American Psychological Association, 1989, 1992; Department of Health and Human Services [DHHS], 1983, 1991; Fisher, 1991, 1993; Fisher & Tryon, 1990).
