Procedural ethics generally refers to formal ethics governance including approval processes and ethical research guidelines. Procedural ethics endeavours to uphold ethical principles of beneficence, respect and justice, and to keep children and researchers safe. An ethics review process is required prior to any research involving human participants, including children. This should focus attention on whether research is ethical not simply on procedures limited to ticking a box. Ethics review processes are usually assessed by ethics review boards or committees in institutions such as universities, medical institutions and other stakeholder institutions.
While procedural ethics are important, the ERIC approach requires researchers to also engage with ethics in practice / situated ethics.
Related Terms:
Ethics in practice,
Situated ethics
