ABSTRACT
Whenever human beings (and for that matter all sentient animals) are involved in research, ethical issues arise. Whether the involvement is active (e.g., participating in a focus group) or passive (e.g., having case records “mined” for data), every researcher must give serious attention to whether even the best intentioned research activity might do harm to those involved. This is most obvious in medical and pharmaceutical research but it applies as well to social work research. And, it matters little whether the person doing the research is a “famous” research professor or a social work student conducting a small-scale study for that professor’s research course assignment. In pursuing knowledge, the watchwords for both are do no harm.
